PNJ Headlines: Here’s what’s in the news Wednesday
Warrington volunteer firefighters honored, Escambia High to get new auditorium, and Navarre Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Center in Wednesday’s news
- 15 of the books have already been removed by other Florida public school districts
- 3 books were ordered removed from Hillsborough schools by the state attorney, prompting Escambia County to also take them off the shelves
Escambia County Public Schools has removed 18 additional books from its schools.
The Escambia County School Board unanimously approved the removal of the books that were recommended by Supt. Keith Leonard at its June 17 meeting. Most of the books have already been removed by other Florida public school districts. According to the school district, the books are classified as adult novels and contain graphic descriptions and depictions of sexual conduct.
15 Escambia County books removed by Supt. Keith Leonard
At the recommendation of Leonard, ECPS removed 15 books that other Florida public school districts have already pulled from the shelves. The books are:
- “Lexicon” by Max Berry
- “Milk and Honey” by Rupi Kaur
- “The God of Small Things” by Arundhati Roy
- “Oryx and Crake” by Margaret Atwood
- “Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood” by Sarah Maas
- “Triangles” by Ellen Hopkins
- “The Sun and Her Flowers” by Rupi Kaur
- “Home After Dark: A Novel” by David Small
- “Home Body” by Rupi Kaur
- “My Dark Vanessa” by Kate Russell
- “White Knight” by Sean Murphy
- “Zahra’s Paradise” by Amir & Khalil
- “Collateral” by Ellen Hopkins
- “Maestros” by Steve Skroce
- “Woodcuts of Women” by Dagoberto Gilb
Books order removed by the State Attorney James Uthmeier
ECPS also removed three books that State Attorney James Uthmeier ordered taken off the shelves of Hillsborough County Public Schools. The books are:
- “What Girls Are Made Of” by Elana Arnold
- “Beautiful” by Amy Reed
- “Breathless” by Jennifer Niven
What books have Escambia County Public Schools already removed for review?
Escambia County has consistently been cited nationwide as the school district that has removed the most books. In December 2024, the Florida Freedom to Read Project released a list of over 1,600 books that had been removed at that time from ECPS library shelves for review to ensure compliance with new legislation.
The list includes eight different encyclopedias and five dictionaries, “The Guinness Book of World Records,” “Ripley’s Believe it or Not!” “Anne Frank’s Diary of a Young Girl” and “The Autobiography of Malcolm X,” among many others.
Here are those books:
