"What are you gonna do, ban this Ban this Book book?" - quote from Ban this Book book banned. Gratz, its author, called the Indian River County decision "incredibly ironic."
In Florida, apparently so.
Source: Tallahassee Democrat
School officials in Florida have banned a book about book banning.
The Indian River County School Board voted to remove "Ban This Book" by Alan Gratz from its shelves in a meeting last month, overruling its own district book-review committee's decision to keep it.
The children's novel follows a fictional fourth grader who creates a secret banned books locker library after her school board pulled a multitude of titles off the shelves.
Indian River County School Board members said they disliked how it referenced other books that had been removed from schools and accused it of "teaching rebellion of school board authority," as described in the formal motion to oust it.
The book, which had been in two Indian River County elementary schools and a middle school, was challenged by Jennifer Pippin. She's the head of the area's local chapter of Moms for Liberty, a national conservative group that has become one of the loudest advocates for removing books they deem inappropriate.
The book has also been challenged at least one other time in Florida, by someone in Clay County, but school officials there decided to keep it in circulation.
Gratz, its author, called the Indian River County decision "incredibly ironic."
"They banned the book because it talks about the books that they have banned and because it talks about book banning," he said in an interview with the USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida. "It feels like they know exactly what they're doing and they're somewhat ashamed of what they're doing and they don't want a book on the shelves that calls them out."
Whenever someone uses a pejorative to describe Florida it's things like this that come immediately to mind.
