Banned Books Week

Book banning is nothing new. In fact, it has been around for centuries. What is considered the first book ban in the United States took place in 1637 in what is now known as Quincy, Massachusetts. Thomas Morton published his New English Canaan which was subsequently banned by the Puritan government as it was considered a harsh and heretical critique of Puritan customs and power structures.

Check out this timeline of bannings and burnings in history by Freedom to Read.

On March 20, 2022, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 1467 which requires districts to catalog every book on their shelves and put a formal review process in place for complaints.  Specifically, schoolbooks must be reviewed by an employee holding a media specialist certificate to ensure they're free of pornography or certain race-based teachings.

To put into perspective the size of reviewing the titles, 54 librarians across all schools and the districts have taken on the task of reviewing more than 1.6 million titles.

Florida classroom shelves empty after bill goes into effect

Which books are allowed?

Penguin House publishing company sues a Florida school district over restricting books