Summary
Florida schools have removed hundreds of books, including “The Bluest Eye,” “Slaughterhouse-Five,” and titles with LGBTQ+ themes and racial history, under new laws allowing parents to challenge library content.
The removals are driven by conservative advocates who object to LGBTQ+ content and discussions of gender and sexuality.
Critics, like PEN America, argue that these restrictions limit students’ freedom to read and access diverse perspectives.
Legal challenges are emerging, with recent settlements requiring some books to be returned to shelves, fueling debates over censorship and parental rights.
They banned Slaughterhouse Five. Just a little information on Kurt Vonnegut’s experience in World War II that eventually inspired him to write the book:
He was sent as a POW to Dresden. On February 13, 1945, British and American bombers destroyed the city by dropping high explosives followed by incendiary bombs. The resulting firestorm turned the non-militarized city into an inferno that killed up to 60,000 civilians. Vonnegut and his fellow POWs survived by accident only because they were housed some 60 feet underground in a former meat locker and slaughterhouse. Vonnegut’s job for weeks after the bombing was to gather up and burn the remains of the dead. His experience at Dresden marked him for life and eventually resulted in his literary masterpiece, Slaughterhouse-Five.
The Florida Department of Education banning one of the most important American novels of all time, that was written by a WWII veteran, from American schools, is the kind of dark humor commentary that you’d find in a Vonnegut book.
They should probably ban Kafka too, amirite?
Anything that serves as a bedrock for self-reflection, nuance, and questioning one’s own premises.
This is unbelievable.
Literally 1984
They’ll ban that soon, too.
Wait… it’s not already?
So is a graphic novel adaptation of “1984,” George Orwell’s seminal work on censorship and surveillance.
I’m surprised there are any books left to remove.
The Art of the Deal is on prominent display for the Kindergarten kiddies.
w/ Mein Kampf being a prerequisite (I guess in pre-K)
Well kids, good luck getting into any non-Florida higher education program.
Don’t worry, soon the entire country will get dragged down to their level!
There’s a link in the article to the list of books each school has banned, and some of those titles are just maddening.
The list is 35 pages long https://www.fldoe.org/file/5574/2324-SDRPS-100628-2.pdf
I’m surprised someone hasn’t made a list up of right-wing drivel to ‘ban’ and have it disappear
