Fight back against groups banning books in Florida, read challenged titles

The Universe Bulletin, a newspaper that used to be published by the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, at one time listed films that the faithful were supposed to avoid or risk committing a sin by seeing them.

Of course, as my dad tells it, this only encouraged some people — including a couple of my relatives — to watch these movies to see what all the fuss was about. I must have inherited their defiant attitude, because the recent push to ban books in Florida and other states has just led me to add some of these titles to my reading list.

I recently finished “Maus,” a Pulizer Prize-winning graphic novel by Art Spiegelmanabout his father’s experience in Europe as a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust. A school board in Tennessee removed the book from an eighth-grade school curriculum due to concerns over its "rough" language and a nude drawing of a woman — trivial issues when considering the atrocities it depicts and value of students learning about them.

Thankfully, "Maus" doesn't appear to be on any banned-book lists in Florida. But another book conveying the horrors of World War II, the novel “Slaughterhouse-Five” by Kurt Vonnegut, is among the books that the Brevard County chapter of Moms for Liberty has sought to remove from school libraries.

A high school Advanced Placement English teacher there responded by creating an online fundraiser to buy copies of “Slaughterhouse-Five” and other challenged titles for students to read over the summer. The Indiana-based Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library went further by providing free copies of the book to interested students.

More from Nathan Crabbe:

August's election will set the course of our community for years to come

Don't ignore the 16,000 Gainesville households who struggle to afford housing

UF's state-funded rise in rankings now at risk due to DeSantis, Legislature

Moms for Liberty, a group formed to fight COVID-19 mask mandates that now fights these culture-war battles, previously challenged books with racial and LGBTQ themes. These books have also been the focus of like-minded groups in other parts of Florida.

Their efforts are aided by House Bill 1467, a measure signed into law in March by Gov. Ron DeSantis that makes it easier for parents to force library books and instructional materials out of schools. The measure, along with the “Don’t Say Gay” bill also signed into law by DeSantis, has already had a chilling effect on schools.

Broward County Public Schools donated boxes of LGBTQ-oriented books to a museum this summer, claiming it was clearing needed space. But the timing, right before the “Don’t Say Gay” law went into effect, doesn’t seem coincidental. Brevard County's school district told teachers not to have classroom libraries this fall to prevent possible violations of the law.

Alachua County has so far avoided the book-banning fervor, but residents opposed to such censorship should prepare to respond appropriately. The American Library Association formed a group, Unite Against Book Bans, that offers an online toolkit to help people organize (uniteagainstbookbans.org/toolkit).

The association recorded 729 book challenges targeting 1,597 titles in 2021, the highest number since it began collecting such data in 2000. Its website includes a list of the most-challenged books (bit.ly/mostchallengedbooks), which is sure to grow this year.

Check out the list to find a title to read yourself. Better yet, form a banned book club with friends. And email me about what you're doing at letters@gainesville.com so I can follow-up on this issue in a future column — and add some new titles to my reading list.

Nathan Crabbe is The Sun's opinion and engagement editor. Follow him on social media at twitter.com/nathancrabbe and www.facebook.com/nathancrabbe.

Join the conversation

Share your opinion by sending a letter to the editor (up to 200 words) to letters@gainesville.com. Letters must include the writer's full name and city of residence. Additional guidelines for submitting letters and longer guest columns can be found at bit.ly/sunopinionguidelines.

Journalism matters. Your support matters.

Get a digital subscription to the Gainesville Sun. Includes must-see content on Gainesville.com and Gatorsports.com, breaking news and updates on all your devices, and access to the eEdition. Visit www.gainesville.com/subscribenow to sign up.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Nathan Crabbe: Fight back against groups banning books in Florida