John Green and Jodi Picoult Join Publishers, Authors and Advocates in a Lawsuit Against Florida Book Bans
Six major publishing companies and authors including John Green and Jodi Picoult have alleged that Florida's book bans are unconstitutional
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John Green, Jodi Picoult, and Angie Thomas are all plaintiffs in publishers' case against the State of Florida.A group of book publishers and renowned authors — along with students, their parents and The Authors Guild — are suing the state of Florida for its decision to implement the state's book-banning law.
On Thursday, Aug. 29, Penguin Random House announced in a press release that it — along with Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan Publishers, Simon & Schuster and Sourcebooks — would be filing a suit against the state to challenge House Bill 1069.
Also joining the suit are two students, two parents, the Authors Guild and the individual authors Julia Alvarez (The Cemetery of Untold Stories) Laurie Halse Anderson (Speak), John Green (The Fault in Our Stars), Jodi Picoult (By Any Other Name), and Angie Thomas (The Hate U Give).
Back in 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 1069 into effect, giving parents a say in what books schools can and can’t have in their libraries. The Associated Press reported at the time that the law would require Florida schools to provide a searchable list of all books in their libraries, and school boards have to give notice to the public if adding in new reading materials.
The law has resulted in hundreds of books being removed from school libraries indefinitely, and the AP also reported that a PEN America study found that 72% of objections to school library materials in the first half of 2024 came from Florida.
According to Penguin Random House's press release, some of these titles include classic novels such as Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, as well as non-fiction titles such as The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.
One of the attorneys representing the group of plaintiffs, Dan Novack said in the press release that the law's "complex and overbroad provisions have created chaos and turmoil across the state, resulting in thousands of historic and modern classics — works we are proud to publish — being unlawfully labeled obscene and removed from shelves."
"Students need access to books that reflect a wide range of human experiences to learn and grow," Novack continued. "It's imperative for the education of our young people that teachers and librarians be allowed to use their professional expertise to match our authors’ books to the right reader at the right time in their life."
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Anne Frank's "Diary of a Young Girl," also named in the suit.The lawsuit, filed Thursday, alleges that HB 1069's book removal requirements violate a Supreme Court decision from 1973, which found that media works with obscene content should be reviewed in their entirety for their "literary, artistic, political and scientific value." The suit also argues that "trained educators" should be the ones making the decisions of what to include and not include in school libraries.
"There is no greater gift than hearing that your words have deeply impacted someone's life," the authors wrote in a joint statement. "We share our stories in hopes that they will resonate with readers, help them feel understood and introduce them to new perspectives. Laws like HB 1069 in Florida deprive students of this opportunity and must be stopped."
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The suit asks the U.S. District Court to rule that the prohibition of these books is unconstitutional, and asks for "just and proper" financial relief.
"Book bans censor authors’ voices, negating and silencing their lived experience and stories," Mary Rasenberger, CEO of the Authors Guild added in the release.
"These bans have a chilling effect on what authors write about, and they damage authors' reputations by creating the false notion that there is something unseemly about their books," she continued. "Yet, these same books have edified young people for decades, expanding worlds and fostering self-esteem and empathy for others. We all lose out when authors’ truths are censored."
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