Duval County decided to ban the book from its schools Guess What? by Australian author Mem Fox, based on a law supported by conservative Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
In Florida, Duval County, which includes the city of Jacksonville, has decided to ban children’s books from its schools. Guess What? (In your opinion in its French translation, editor’s note).
Written by the Australian novelist Mem Fox and illustrated by Vivienne Goodman, it invites, through a series of questions, its young readers to guess the occupation of a witch, named Daisy O’Grady.
A witch taking a bath
But the naive nature of the work apparently did not convince Duval County officials, who deemed it “pornographic” and banned from all schools under their responsibility, reports the Guardian.
In question? An illustration where we see the famous witch taking a bath, with only her legs and arms visible.
contacted by GuardianMem Fox’s agent said Florida County’s ban was “insignificant.”
“We have nothing to say on that subject. Duval County is a county of 997,000 people in Florida. It doesn’t matter,” he said.
Culture war led by Ron DeSantis
This ban is part of a real culture war waged in Florida, under the leadership of Republican Governor Ron DeSantis. The latter, seen as the most serious opponent of Donald Trump for the 2024 presidential election in the conservative camp, has promulgated several texts under his mandate, aimed at strongly regulating the content of Florida classrooms.
He is thus at the origin of the law “on parental rights in education”, nicknamed “Don’t say gay”, because it aims in particular to prohibit all educational staff from mentioning subjects relating to sex education. and gender identity in the classroom.
To ban the Australian book, Duval County officials relied on a legislative ban passed in 2022 by the Florida Parliament, which prohibits the distribution to children of “any image, photograph, drawing…of a person or part of the human body that depicts nudity or sexual behavior, sexual arousal, violence sexual, bestiality or sadomasochistic abuse and which is harmful to minors”.
A book already criticized for representing “punk-rock”
In the past, the book by Mem Fox, who is one of Australia’s most popular children’s authors, had already been criticized across the Atlantic. According l’American library associationover the period 1990-1999, it is the 66th book which received the greatest number of complaints from libraries or political figures.
In addition to showing a witch taking her bath, it is criticized for conveying a positive image of the supernatural, and even for including several references… to “punk-rock”. But this is the first time that it has been considered “pornographic”.
In addition to the book telling the stories of the witch Daisy O’Grady, many other works have been victims of the cultural censorship that is sweeping Florida. According to free speech organization PEN America, 565 books have been banned from Florida schools. Among them, the books of Margaret Atwood, or those of the Nobel Prize for Literature Toni Morrison.
Also according to PEN America, Florida teachers have even been instructed to “fish on the side of caution”, since the introduction of the “Don’t say gay” law, and entire libraries have been emptied.
Teachers in Duval County, where the Guess what? book has been banned, have been ordered to submit all the books in their classrooms for approval.
