"Wow, look at this — I can tell you that Sapphire is right here," Sandler tells New Times as he cross-references book titles on his shelves with the banned-book list shared by PEN America, a nonprofit that advocates for literary free expression. "Handmaid's Tale — we have a copy of it right now. Of Mice and Men is actually within arm's reach."
According to PEN America, which tracks book-banning incidences, Florida tallied the third-highest number of school book-banning incidents in the nation, trailing only Texas and Pennsylvania. While books have been banned in the U.S. since the days of the Mayflower, there has been a recent surge as an unprecedented number of parents, activists, and elected officials request scores of books to be banned from classrooms and libraries.
In Florida, the majority of banned books touch on race (How to Be an Antiracist by Ibrahim Kendi, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison), sexuality (Forever by Judy Blume, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley), and sexual orientation and gender identity (Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan, Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe). This comes as the Republican-led Florida legislature has passed laws such as the Stop WOKE Act (HB 7), which prohibits teaching Critical Race Theory in schools, and the so-called Don't Say Gay bill, which bans instruction involving gender and sexual orientation for many young students.
Though book-banning incidents have been recorded in seven Florida school districts, none has been documented in South Florida to date. The Miami-Dade and Broward County public school districts could not immediately answer New Times' emailed questions asking whether they’ve received any book-ban requests.
But that hasn't stopped Miami's local bookstore owners from taking note of the trend and speaking out against the bans.
"It's extremely disturbing. But it's no surprise, given where our politics are today, that book banning and these cultural divisive issues will be exploited in order to make a political statement or to gain political advantage," Books & Books owner Mitchell Kaplan tells New Times. "The language is vague in some of these bills. Basically, it leaves educators in the dark."
There's a hand-painted mural at Books & Books' Coral Gables store that reads "CENSORSHIP LEAVES US IN THE DARK" and lists dozens of books that have been banned over the years, including One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Lord of the Rings, Ulysses, and To Kill a Mockingbird.
Skimming PEN America's list of banned books, Kaplan notes that many "wonderful" stories are being banned. He is disheartened that a group of people want to prevent students from not just reading them, but experiencing their overarching messages about acceptance, diversity, inclusivity, and love.
But Kaplan notes that censorship can sometimes backfire.
Whenever a book is banned and appears on the news, Kaplan immediately notices a larger demand for that novel at his stores. For example, after a Tennessee school board voted in January to ban the Holocaust novel Maus from its classrooms, Kaplan says, sales for the book went "through the roof."
Sandler, whose used bookstore offers visitors one free book per visit, concurs that book bans can sometimes achieve the opposite of their intended effect: Instead of deterring children from a specific book, the bans could inevitably make students curious and seek it out — a phenomenon known as the "Streisand effect." (In 2003, Barbra Stresiand tried to sue an aerial photographer documenting coastal erosion for publishing images of her Malibu home. The photo had only been accessed six times at the time of the lawsuit, but after the media picked up the story, the image received more than a million views.)
"Ron DeSantis isn't going to be able to eradicate all material that has Black people, Jewish people, gay people, trans people — he just won't be able to do that," Sandler says. "But what he can do is tell you that he is moving in that direction. And to me, that's a display of power."
Bookleggers, which bills itself as "a no-kill shelter for books," relies on book donations, and many of the books on Sandler's shelves were headed to the dumpster. That's why, he says, patrons will always find banned books at his library, and he relishes giving forsaken or unwanted stories a second chance.
"Whatever Ron DeSantis and his ilk are hoping to do by banning books," Sandler declares, "we, of course, have a promise to the community that those books will be accessible here for as long as the organization is here."
Essentially, a government or school district or parent can't simply eradicate a concept in a certain book by banning it — or, as Sandler likes to say, quoting the famous phrase from Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov, "manuscripts don't burn."
Here, listed in alphabetical order by county and by author, are all the books banned in Florida's school districts since July 2021:
Brevard Public Schools
The Haters by Jesse Andrews
Damsel by Elana K. Arnold,
Infandous by Elana K. Arnold,
Red Hood by Elana K. Arnold,
What Girls Are Made Of by Elana K. Arnold,
Forever... by Judy Blume,
This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson
Crank (Crank Series) by Ellen Hopkins
Tilt by Ellen Hopkins
Triangles by Ellen Hopkins
Tricks (Tricks Series) by Ellen Hopkins
Monday's Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson,
Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
Sold by Patricia McCormick
The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed
Push by Sapphire
Lucky by Alice Sebold
Not My Problem by Ciara Smyth
This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki
Clay County School District
All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson
Flagler Schools
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
School District of Indian River County
Ace of Spades by Àbíké-Íyímídé, Faridah
The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo,
How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship & Musical Theater (Edward Zanni Series) by Marc Acito
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Girls Like Us (2019) by Cristina Alger
The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
Hear These Voices: Youth at the Edge of the Millennium by Anthony Allison
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Feed by M. T. Anderson
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews
The Haters by Jesse Andrews
Wishtree by Katherine Applegate
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Sorted: Growing Up, Coming Out, and Finding My Place by Jackson Bird
Boy2Girl by Terence Blacker
Bowery Girl by Kim Taylor Blakemore
Someone I Used to Know by Patty Blount
Forever... by Judy Blume
Black Girl Unlimited: The Remarkable Story of a Teenage Wizard by Echo Brown
Ready or Not (All-American Girl Series) by Meg Cabot
King and the Dragonflies by Kacen Callender
Draw Me a Star by Eric Carle
Graceling (Graceling Realm Series) by Kristin Cashore
Awakened (House of Night Series) by P. C. Cast
Betrayed (House of Night Series) by P. C. Cast
Burned (House of Night Series) by P. C. Cast
Chosen (House of Night Series) by P. C. Cast
Destined (House of Night Series) by P. C. Cast
Hidden (House of Night Series) by P. C. Cast
Hunted (House of Night Series) by P. C. Cast
Marked (House of Night Series) by P. C. Cast
Redeemed (House of Night Series) by P. C. Cast
Revealed (House of Night Series) by P. C. Cast
Tempted (House of Night Series) by P. C. Cast
Untamed (House of Night Series) by P. C. Cast
The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments Series) by Cassandra Clare
Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck by Adam Cohen
The Kingdom of Little Wounds by Susann Cokal
Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert
The Facts Speak for Themselves by Brock Cole
Rift (Nightshade Prequel Series) by Andrea Cremer
Mexican Whiteboy by Matt de la Peña
Blended by Sharon M. Draper
Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
Perfect Chemistry (Perfect Chemistry Series) by Simone Elkeles
Who Am I Without Him?: A Short Story Collection about Girls and Boys in Their Lives by Sharon G. Flake
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
The Carnival at Bray by Jessie Ann Foley
Dime by E. R. Frank
The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person by Joseph Frederick
Lush by Natasha Friend
A Quick & Easy Guide to Queer & Trans Identities by Mady G.
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay
Melissa (George) by Alex Gino
Joshua and the City by Joseph F. Girzone
The Vincent Boys (The Vincent Boys Series) by Abbi Glines
Cross My Heart (Cross My Heart Series) by Sasha Gould
Looking for Alaska by John Green
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
What We Saw by Hartzler, Aaron
Black Lives Matter: From a Moment to a Movement by Hillstrom, Laurie Collier
Crank (Crank Series) by Ellen Hopkins
Perfect (Impulse Series) by Ellen Hopkins
Traffick (Tricks Series) by Ellen Hopkins
Triangles by Ellen Hopkins
Tricks (Tricks Series) by Ellen Hopkins
The Kite Runner by Hosseini, Khaled
Brave Face: A Memoir by Hutchinson, Shaun David
Brave New World by Huxley, Aldous
This Book Is Anti-Racist: 20 Lessons on How to Wake Up, Take Action, and Do the Work by Jewell, Tiffany
The Breakaways by Johnson, Cathy G.
All Boys Aren't Blue by Johnson, George M.
This Is My America by Johnson, Kim
Exit, Pursued by a Bear by Johnston, E. K.
How to Be an Antiracist by Kendi, Ibram X.
They Called Me Red by Kilbourne, Christina
The Music of What Happens by Konigsberg, Bill
Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Kuklin, Susan
Trail of Crumbs by Lisa J. Lawrence
My Book of Life by Angel by Martine Leavitt
I'll Be the One by Lyla Lee
Rape On Campus by Bruno Leone,
Fly on the Wall: How One Girl Saw Everything by E. Lockhart
Real Live Boyfriends: Yes. Boyfriends, Plural. If My Life Weren't Complicated, I Wouldn't Be Ruby Oliver by E. Lockhart
Thanks a Lot, Universe by Chad Lucas
A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
Charmed by Carrie Mac
Strange Fruit: Why Both Sides Are Wrong in the Race Debate by Kenan Malik
Did I Mention I Need You? (DIMILY Series) by Estelle Maskame
The Truth About Alice: A Novel by Patricia McCormick
Sold by Joy McCullough
Blood Water Paint by Charlton D. McIlwain
Black Software: The Internet & Racial Justice, from the Afronet to Black Lives Matter by Richelle Mead
Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy Series) by Meg Medina
Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Tony Medina
I Am Alfonso Jones by J. P. Miller
Brave Leaders and Activists by Ken Mochizuki
Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Monster by Walter Dean Myers
l8r, g8r by Lauren Myracle
The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle
The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
The Witch Boy (The Witch Boy Series) by Molly Knox Ostertag
The Best at It by Maulik Pancholy
Sisters/Hermanas by Gary Paulsen
Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez
grl2grl by Julie Anne Peters
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult
The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed
The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed
All American Boys by Jason Reynolds
Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds
Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes
Living Proud! Coming Out and Seeking Support (Living Proud! Growing Up Lgbtq) by Robert Rodi
Lucy Peale by Colby Rodowsky
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Aristotle and Dante Series) by Benjamin Alire Saenz
Bait by Alex Sanchez
Rainbow Boys (Rainbow Trilogy Series) by Alex Sanchez
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez
Lucky by Alice Sebold
Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys
The Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow
Safe by Susan Shaw
More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera
Marriage of a Thousand Lies by S. J. Sindu
Grasshopper Jungle (Grasshopper Jungle Series) by Andrew Smith
The Opposite of Innocent by Sonya Sones
What My Mother Doesn't Know (What My Mother Doesn't Know Series) by Sonya Sones
Maus 1: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman
Deogratias: A Tale of Rwanda by Jean-Philippe Stassen
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Dear Martin by Nic Stone
Odd One Out by Nic Stone
A Bad Boy Can Be Good for a Girl by Tanya Lee Stone
This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki
Drama: A Graphic Novel by Raina Telgemeier
Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
#BlackLivesMatter: Protesting Racism by Rachael L. Thomas
Blankets by Craig Thompson
Gossip Girl: A Novel by Cecily von Ziegesar (Gossip Girl Series) by Cecily von Ziegesar
Spinning by Tillie Walden
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
Empty by K. M. Walton
A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb
What Is Black Lives Matter? (What was...? Series) by Lakita Wilson
Doing It!: Let's Talk About Sex by Hannah Witton
Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America by Ibi Zoboi
Orange County Public Schools
Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
Pinellas County Schools
Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
Polk County Public Schools
Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
Melissa (George) by Alex Gino
The Vincent Boys (The Vincent Boys Series) by Abbi Glines
It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health by Robie H. Harris
Tricks (Tricks Series) by Ellen Hopkins
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini,
I am Jazz by Jazz Jennings
Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher
Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan,
Real Live Boyfriends: Yes. Boyfriends, Plural. If My Life Weren't Complicated, I Wouldn't Be Ruby Oliver by E. Lockhart
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera
Drama: A Graphic Novel by Raina Telgemeier
