Jodi Picoult Responds to Book Banning

Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors. She writes mainstream fiction, but with so much passion and clarity, her work takes my breath away. She tackles complex, troubling contemporary issues with integrity and nuance. (See below for a few of my reviews of her work.)

Now a Florida high school library has pulled 20 of her books from the shelves because one parent, who admitted she had not even read Picoult's work, decided the books were "adult romance." Not an elementary school library, mind you; this is high school. And, as Picoult points out, not only does she not write "adult romance" but there is hardly a kiss in her books. ABC News reporters Gio Benitez and Kayna Whitworth interviewed her here. It's worth reading the whole interview, but here are some highlights.

BENITEZ: Why do you think your books are getting banned, especially there in Florida?

PICOULT: That is an excellent question. But unfortunately, in Martin County, Florida, and in many places in Florida, one parent can decide to pull a book from a shelf without even giving a reason for that. And the one parent who wanted to ban all 20 of my books said on her form that she had not read the book, she admitted to that. And she said that some of them were adult romance, which is really interesting because I don't write adult romance. And, in fact, half of the books she pulled do not even have a single kiss in them. But they do have topics like gun rights and women's reproductive health rights and gay rights and things that make—

BENITEZ: Because all of your books are very topical. It's like what's happening in the moment.

PICOULT: Yeah, so they're books that are to encourage kids to think for themselves. 

Here are some of my reviews. I encourage you to check out her work for yourself. Review it, talk about it, give work like this the buzz to reach everyone. 

A Spark of Light. Tackles the abortion debate and pulls no punches.  

Wish You Were Here. A heart-wrenching novel of Covid times.

Small Great Things. Racism, white privilege, and courage.

The Book of Two Ways. Ancient Egyptology, death, and choices.