Florida Schools Remove Book About Holocaust Survivor

Florida Schools Remove Book About Holocaust Survivor

West Palm Beach’s NBC affiliate reports:

A new list shows dozens and dozens of books have been removed from library shelves in the Martin County School District. This comes as the state puts in new requirements for school librarians to review reading material, and districts must have a process allowing community members to challenge books.

Books by well known authors like James Patterson, Toni Morrison, and Jodi Picoult are now off the shelves in Martin County schools.

“99% of the books we have filed challenges on are highly sexually explicit books,” said Julie Marshall, who leads Moms For Liberty in Martin County and filed many of the objections. Jennifer Pippin, a fellow Moms For Liberty activist in Indian River County, said they share lists and work together.

The Washington Post reports:

The removal list includes Picoult’s novel “The Storyteller” about the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor who meets an elderly former SS officer. It contains some violent scenes told in flashbacks from World War II and an assisted suicide.

“Banning ‘The Storyteller’ is shocking, as it is about the Holocaust and has never been banned before,” Picoult told us in an email.

“Martin County is the first to ban twenty of my books at once,” Picoult said, slamming such bans as “a shocking breach of freedom of speech and freedom of information.” Picoult said she’s puzzled by the ban, because she does not “write adult romance,” as objections filed against her books claimed.

Insane: Under Ron DeSantis's book crackdown, 20 books by Jodi Picoult just got banned at one county's schools.

One of them is "The Storyteller," about the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor.

"Banning 'The Storyteller' is shocking," Picoult tells us:https://t.co/y0tKdxz6Ws
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) March 10, 2023

Virtually all the objections that resulted in dozens of books getting removed were filed by one person, according to documents supplied to @FLFreedomRead and to us.

She heads the local Moms for Liberty chapter.

Here's how this process really works:https://t.co/y0tKdxz6Ws pic.twitter.com/r24ekN36lg
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) March 10, 2023

The vagueness of DeSantis's directives appears deliberately designed to create a climate of fear and rampant snitching. It encourages teachers to censor themselves and invites parents/activists to become despotic little commissars of local book purging:https://t.co/y0tKdxz6Ws pic.twitter.com/RqKtJYW9ub
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) March 10, 2023

We have updated the piece with a response from the local Moms For Liberty leader. As we reported, this one person was the primary objector to dozens and dozens of books, leading to their removal:https://t.co/y0tKdxz6Ws pic.twitter.com/hWieaL0fAW
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) March 10, 2023

Sporkfighter2 hours ago

“I like Florida; everything is in the eighties: the temperature, the ages, and the IQs.” —George Carlin

Mike C2 hours ago

This is the point I always make. You ask these people to show you the “pornographic” books and whoopsy-poopsy it’s a bunch of books about the Holocaust, slavery, Jim Crow America, on and on and on….

Halou Mike C2 hours ago

I would be really happy if one of them were to ever hold up a copy of a “pornographic” book at one of their rant rallies, because it means I would get to alert the cops to a crazy person displaying / distributing pornography to the public.

Zorba Mike C2 hours ago

But…but…but…Any book that shows white, Christian people doing hateful things is obviously pornographic. Right? Right? /s

SkokieDaddy – wiener dog dad James Parson (Zero-One-∞ Rule) 2 hours ago

Why are only right wing wackos challenging books? A gutsy liberal could challenge the bible. Of course they’d need 24/7 security, bulletproof windows and and armored vehicle to travel in because Florida is filled with dangerous raging cultists.

Jean-Marc Canada – ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ2 hours ago

When exactly will the Florida Führer finally face push back, because he’s storm trooping along with nary a pebble blocking his way.

What, me worry? Jean-Marc Canada – ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ2 hours ago

I think that right now, people are in shock. It’s like having a firehose turned on them.

(((GC))) – End the filibuster! amy cuscuriae2 hours ago

Let’s hope you’re right! Right now he seems to be steamrolling right along in creating not a bastion of “liberty” for moms and kids and dads and other adults, but a SLAVE STATE.

Halou 2 hours ago edited

a fellow Moms For Liberty activist in Indian River County, said they share lists and work together.

So none of them have a goddamn clue what is even in the books they find so offensive, and if pressed on why they want to ban any particular book they would be unable to really explain it.

What, me worry? JoeMyGod2 hours ago

And like most of these morality groups, they probably don’t even have children in the public schools.

bambinoitaliano2 hours ago

At what point do majority of the Americans and the rest of the world realize we are repeating history again? Until millions of people shove into the oven? Or until it get so uncontrollable that nations need to set off multiple nuclear bombs in the US to make blowing up Hiroshima looks like popping a balloon?

Friday bambinoitaliano2 hours ago

The press actually reporting on this to the general public would sure help.

Todd20036 2 hours ago

No surprise. At all. Mustn’t show books that depict white people as bad guys