A school board candidate in John Green’s hometown wants to ban his novel Looking for Alaska, and the author isn’t happy about it, Vulture reports.
Green, the author of frequently challenged young adult novels like The Fault in Our Starsand Paper Towns, took to TikTok to express his dismay over the candidacy of Alicia Farrant, who’s running for Orange County, Florida, school board, and has referred to Green’s novel as “filth.” Green grew up in Orlando, and attended middle and high school there.
“You know what’s weird? When one of the candidates for school board in the school district where you were once a student wants to ban your first novel from all schools and libraries in that district,” he said.
Looking for Alaska made the American Library Association’s most banned books lists in 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2016. Complaints about the novel have focused on its language, an explicit sex scene, and content related to drugs, alcohol, and smoking.
Farrant, a member of the conservative group Moms for Liberty, held a press conference last week to object to Green’s novel as well as Let’s Talk About It, a young adult nonfiction book about sex by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan.
“I work hard to make sure my children don’t have access to things like this,” Farrant said. “Parents are sick and tired of this filth being in our schools.”
Moms for Liberty is known for its frequent challenges to books in schools and libraries, especially in Florida, where the group is based. Green took aim at the organization’s name in his video.
“There’s the surreality of the organization in question being called Moms for Liberty, when what they’re trying to do is restrict the liberty of other people’s kids to read what librarians and teachers deem appropriate for those other people’s kids to read,” he said.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
