‘Unbanned Book Club’ criticized for wanting to put ‘explicit’ books in Duval County library boxes

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (FLV) – An “Unbanned Book Club” initiative was launched in Duval County to put challenged school books in library boxes around the community. 

Residents have challenged questionable books in schools across the state, claiming they include pornography and inappropriate material. Some of those books have been pulled from the shelves as a result.

The “Unbanned Book Club” was launched by Venables Bell + Partners in partnership with Little Free Library, which is a nonprofit organization that provides book-sharing boxes for anyone to freely remove and add books.

“An unprecedented number of books have been banned and challenged in America in recent years, silencing authors with diverse viewpoints and eliminating the chance for readers to feel seen and represented in their stories,” Executive Director of Little Free Library Greig Metzger said.

The groups want to put books including “The Bluest Eyes” by Toni Morrison, “This Book is Gay” by Juno Dawson, and “It’s Perfectly Normal” by Robie Harris in these library boxes.

Those books have received harsh criticism for depicting explicit, sexual and graphic images and material. Some of those have been pulled from Duval County school shelves.

Sen. Clay Yarborough, R-Jacksonville, told Florida’s Voice that if the “Unbanned Book Club” wants to put these books in community library boxes, then they “need to be upfront” about the “graphic material” in them that parents may find “objectionable.”

“They are not putting in there clearly that some of these banned books are pornographic and explicit in nature,” Yarborough said. “And the reasons for which they were pulled was because some of them show very explicit, graphic, sexual acts.”

A spokesperson said the “Unbanned Book Club” libraries are still being placed, however, an initial ‘Unbanned Book Club’ library box is already located in Northside Jacksonville. 

They will be managed in collaboration with 904WARD, a nonprofit Jacksonville-based organization that aims to create a “community of inclusion” and “racial healing and equity.”

Publishers HarperCollins and Penguin Random House have donated the books free of charge. 

Venables Bell + Partners Group Creative Director Byron Del Rosario said there is an opportunity to provide these challenged books to students now that school is out for the summer. 

“A core mission guides The Unbanned Book Club: When they ban books in schools, we un-ban them in the communities,” Rosario said.

The “Unbanned Book Club’s” website provides a summer reading list of books for kids that have been challenged or taken out of schools.

Yarborough said some of the books are marketed for adults or older teens and are “very inappropriate for children to look at.”

“If it’s gonna go in a community library, you know, any child could walk up and pull that out and start looking at it. So, my caution to parents would be beware of what may be in these libraries,” Yarborough said.

There has been a national conversation surrounding controversial books in schools. The DeSantis administration and Florida Republicans have given parents more leverage to challenge books they believe are inappropriate for children.

Under a new Florida law, challenged books are required to be removed from circulation until a decision is made on whether they are appropriate for grade levels.

Critics of legislation like those provisions have said the state is wrongfully “banning books.” They claim the legislation will lead to certain voices and ideas being silenced.

Gov. Ron DeSantis responded to claims that his administration is “banning books” in March by releasing a video showing graphic content found in school library books.

The video included pictures from books that were found in schools that contained sexual imagery. It also listed out the schools that some of the books were located in.

“That’s [book ban] a hoax. And that’s really a nasty hoax, because it’s a hoax in service of trying to pollute and sexualize our children,” DeSantis said during a press conference in March.

DeSantis said exposing the book ban “hoax” is important because it reveals that “some are attempting to use our schools for indoctrination.”

“In Florida, pornographic and inappropriate materials that have been snuck into our classrooms and libraries to sexualize our students violate our state education standards. Florida is the education state and that means providing students with a quality education free from sexualization and harmful materials that are not age appropriate,” DeSantis said.

Florida’s Voice previously reported on multiple books that have been pulled, or are under review, including “This Book is Gay” by Juno Dawson,  “Assassination Classroom” books by Yusei Matsui, “Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation” by Ari Folman, and more.