A group in Jacksonville, Florida, recently proposed banning three books from Duval County Public Schools: 11/22/63 by Stephen King, along with Vanishing Acts and The Pact by Jodi Picoult. The proposal sparked anger online, as many residents felt the attempted “censorship” was unwarranted.
Best-selling author Jodi Picoult took to Facebook to criticize the proposal, noting that two of her books were affected and urging fans to speak up. Local media outlets reported that a member of the group, Blake Harper, defended the proposal by saying, “These books violate state law, period, end of story. It’s a binary situation, a black or white situation.”
Florida has become notorious for its school book-removal practices, which aim to take books with certain types of content out of public schools. In 2024 alone, for example, more than 700 books were removed from K-12 schools across the Sunshine State.
Florida Residents React to Proposed Book Ban on Duval County Schools
The initiative enraged social media users, particularly in communities such as Reddit’s r/Florida. “Can’t imagine being so bored that I’d try to remove books from libraries. A lot of these people don’t even have kids in Duval County schools. Just a weird power move that makes them look lame as hell,” one person said. Another user expressed frustration that this keeps happening in the state, ironically referring to the “‘free’ state of Florida.”
Some users were angered by how these kinds of authoritarian measures gain traction, arguing that parents could simply “act like a parent and check what your kids read.” Many also compared the situation to the novel Fahrenheit 451, which is famous for its book-burning scenes.
One person was outraged by Harper’s claim that it was a “binary situation” because the books violate the law, likely referring to the sexual content in these works. They responded, “Just challenge the Bible,” suggesting that the religious text also contains graphic descriptions of sexual acts, adultery, and prostitution. By that logic, they argued, it would make sense to remove that as well.
It remains to be seen whether these three books will indeed be banned from Duval County Public Schools, but it is clear that controversies surrounding book bans in Florida are far from over.
