A Florida school district has banned eight books by romance novelist Nora Roberts, and the author is speaking out against it.
In an op-ed in the Washington Post, Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman report that the Martin County School District pulled the novels, including the four installments of Roberts’ Bride Quartet and the three books in her Dream trilogy.
The books were removed after objections by an activist from Moms for Liberty, a right-wing group behind several other book challenges, including a recent ban of a graphic adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary.
Roberts called the ban of her novels “shocking,” telling the Post, “If you don’t want your teenager reading this book, that’s your right as a mom—and good luck with that. But you don’t have the right to say nobody’s kid can read this book.”
The Martin County ban didn’t just target Roberts’ novels, but also Judy Blume’s Forever…and Bernard Malamud’s The Fixer. The district previously banned 20 novels by Jodi Picoult and two by Toni Morrison.
Roberts has previously spoken out against censorship. Last year, she donated $50,000 to a Michigan library that was defunded by voters after it refused to remove LGBTQ+ books from its shelves.
Roberts told the Post that her novels banned in the district did contain sex, but that she didn’t believe the scenes were objectionable.
“I’m surprised that they wouldn’t want teenagers to read about healthy relationships that are monogamous, consensual, healthy, and end up in marriage,” she said.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
