ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – Drug use, sex, animal cruelty and violence.
There are all topics various authors mentioned in four books that the St. Johns County School District considered banning on Tuesday for high school readers. The books came under fire from a parent who said the subject matter was inappropriate for the school system.
The school board ultimately decided not to pull the books from shelves but instead, further restrict them to higher grade levels.
TELL US: What do you think of SJC considering banning 4 more books?
The four books under consideration were:
- “Slaughterhouse Five” by Kurt Vonnegut, a semi-autobiographic novel detailing a pilgrims capture in World War II
- “Freedom Writer’s Diary” by The Freedom Writers, a collection of journal entries from high school students who overcame adversity through education
- “L8r, G8r” by Harry N. Abrams, a young adult series written entirely as instant messages
- “A Stolen Life” by Jaycee Dugardm, a personal memoir of one girl’s nightmare at the hands of kidnappers
Vonnegut’s book is often taught in AP Literature classes and is a frequent target of book bans because of sexual scenes, violence and obscene language.
“It contains sexual activity involved rape, sexual molestation, and references to bestiality, sexual violence, drug use and references to animal cruelty, and keep and mind these events are happening to an 11-year-old girl,” parent Jean Moore told school board members.
Moore said if a PG-13 or R-rated movie isn’t allowed to be shown in school, then the same content shouldn’t be available for students in the library.
Some agreed with Moore, but Superintendent Tim Forson pointed out that the books in question are not part of any lesson plan.
“While there’s sensitive material in each book, I’d like to remind you that these books are for high school students, written for those students on the way to adulthood,” Forson said.
All four books were restricted for 9-12th graders before Tuesday’s hearing, but the board decided to further restrict them.
“Slaughterhouse-Five” is now limited to grades 11th and 12th, “The Freedom Writer’s Diary” and “L8R G8R” are now restricted to 12th grade only with parent permission and “A Stolen Life” is now restricted 11th and 12th grades.
Nancy Tray, who has three children enrolled at SJC schools, said she was concerned because the books already went through the objection process.
“These books already went through a district-wide review committee that was comprised of parents, and district employees and community members. And they carefully read the entire work and considered it and its entirety as a whole and whether it had artistic value or literary value and whether it was appropriate for our kids,” Tray said. “It’s such a waste to me that we’re spending time defending these great books instead of dealing with real issues facing our kids in our schools today.”
St. Johns County keeps a much longer list of books with objections. You can find that here: https://www.stjohns.k12.fl.us/media/libraries/books-with-objections/.
The list is updated when books are either removed or retained. Books already removed include “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Water for Elephants” and “Thirteen Reasons Why.”
Tray said she wants her children to have access to the books.
“Slaughterhouse Five is a classic,” Tray said. “Here we are on Memorial Day, this is a book that was written by an American soldier who fought in World War II, and he was a prisoner in a slaughterhouse there, and he came back and wrote this semi-autobiographical novel based on his experience.”
Tray said she would love for her children to have the opportunity to read that book and felt like her rights as a parent weren’t considered.
“I’ve got teenagers streaming in and out of here all day long. They deal with difficult issues. They’re trying to understand stuff that they’re going through, that their friends are going through,” Tray said. “These books have been picked by the professionals in their school to help them sort of understand their world and understand different perspectives.”