The Escambia County Board has voted to remove 15 books as recommended by the superintendent.
At this week’s school board meeting, Superintendent Keith Leonard recommended the removal of the books from all media centers and classroom libraries. The board also approved removing three books that have been identified as pornographic by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier.
He cited the following reasons: “These are all classified as adult novels. They contain graphic descriptions and depictions of sexual conduct which are not appropriate for minors in Escambia County Public Schools. Additionally, no school district employee holding a media specialist certification has selected these titles for inclusion in their library collections; accordingly, they cannot be made available to students through a school district media center.”
Most of the books have already been removed by at least one other county in Florida, while one — “Lexicon” by Max Barry — has never been checked out by a student in Escambia County since it was first acquired in 2014.
The 15 books being removed on the recommendation of the superintendent 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
The three books removed to follow the attorney general’s recommendation are:
What Girls are Made of” by Elana Arnold
“Beautiful” by Amy Reed
“Breathless” by Jennifer Niven
