Top Authors Speak Out, Slam Floridas Book Bans As Arbitrary And Egregious

Bestselling authors Jodi Picoult and James Patterson have joined in on calling Floridas book bans troubling and truly egregious after their own books among dozens of others were recently stripped from one countys school libraries.

Patterson, whose Maximum Ride young adult novels were among a list of books recently axed in Martin Countys public schools, located north of West Palm Beach, called the censorship arbitrary and borderline absurd in a statement Monday.

If you find this kind of mindless book banning troubling or confusing, send a polite note to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, he told his nearly 141,000 Twitter followers.

If you find this kind of mindless book banning troubling or confusing, send a polite note to Floridas @GovRonDeSantis here: https://t.co/E1LdWt3Fga pic.twitter.com/8YNWIaDqH4

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If you find this kind of mindless book banning troubling or confusing, send a polite note to Floridas @GovRonDeSantis here: https://t.co/E1LdWt3Fga pic.twitter.com/8YNWIaDqH4
James Patterson (@JP_Books) March 13, 2023

Picoult, who has authored 20 books on the list, also lashed out in an op-ed Monday that accused DeSantis ban of wrongly challenging childrens ability to think for themselves, develop empathy, and help kids see the world in a different way.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a parent deciding a certain book is not right for her child. There is a colossal problem with a parent deciding that, therefore, no child should be allowed to read that book, she stated.

The published list of banned works also includes material by Margaret Atwood, Judy Blume, and Nobel laureate Toni Morrison.

DeSantis insisted last week that only reading material that is porn or violent are targeted by his legislation. At a press conference , he called the book ban a hoax, though he flagged specific books that he said were removed from Florida public schools for including pornographic imagery.