Michael Connelly, Judy Blume, other authors fight book bans

Books touching on race and LGBTQ+ topics remain the most likely targets of bans or attempted bans at public schools and libraries around the country, according to the American Library Association.

Rick Bowmer/AP

Last school year, Florida implemented more book bans than any other state in the country — accounting for more than 40% of all bans in the U.S — according to a report issued by PEN America in September.

On Wednesday, during what the American Library Association has deemed Banned Books Week, more than a dozen best-selling authors, including Michael Connelly, Judy Blume and Nikki Grimes, said they are uniting to take a stand against censorship in the state’s schools and libraries.

“It’s a crazy world when kids are told, ‘You should not read that book.’ And I think that’s a universal feeling among people who do what I do,” Connelly told NPR. The crime fiction writer, who grew up in Florida, said he developed a passion for literature thanks to titles like To Kill A Mockingbird. The book was was temporarily removed from Palm Beach County school libraries last year — and had been challenged in other schools and libraries across the U.S.

Though his own books haven’t been challenged so far, he said he feels a responsibility to use his voice and platform to address the issue. He’s already invested $1 million to a new advocacy center PEN America hopes to open in Florida by the end of the year.

“I went back to Tampa earlier this year to cut the ribbon on a new bookstore, and the first thing they did was roll out a cart with all the banned books on it right in front of the store,” he told NPR. “I don’t think we’re a…