BS BULLETIN:
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A Florida school board voted 5–2 to remove a graphic-novel adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984 over concerns about sexual imagery.
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The district’s roughly 200 copies of Orwell’s original novel remain untouched.
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The decision came after Florida’s education commissioner warned districts they could lose state funding for failing to remove inappropriate materials.
George Orwell wrote 1984 about a government that controls information, polices thought and decides what people are allowed to read.
Nearly eight decades later, a Florida school board has decided students can still read Orwell’s warning about censorship — just not the version with pictures.
The Duval County School Board voted 5–2 Tuesday to remove 1984: The Graphic Novel, Brazilian illustrator Fido Nesti’s adaptation of the dystopian classic, from school libraries.
The controversy centered on illustrations depicting an intimate encounter between characters Winston Smith and Julia. Board member Tony Ricardo argued that the illustrated adaptation failed to satisfy new guidance from Florida Education Commissioner Henry Mack concerning pornographic materials in schools.
“I believe it does not pass the commissioner’s litmus test for pornography,” Ricardo said.
But here’s the twist: The district’s approximately 200 copies of Orwell’s original 1984 are staying right where they are.
Ricardo defended the distinction, calling Orwell’s novel an important work of classic literature. His concern was that the graphic adaptation visually depicts material the original leaves to readers’ imaginations.
The board’s decision overturned Superintendent Christopher Bernier’s recommendation to retain the adaptation for students in grades 10 through 12, with parental permission required for ninth-graders.
Only one copy of the illustrated book was actually circulating in the district, at Jean Ribault High School.
Board member Melody Bolduc, a former English teacher, acknowledged that she didn’t initially find the illustrations pornographic.
“It wasn’t shocking,” she said.
Bolduc also recognized that graphic novels can help students who struggle with traditional reading materials. Nevertheless, after hearing concerns from others about the illustrations, she voted for removal.
Board members Cindy Pearson and Darryl Willie opposed the ban.
The vote followed a September 23 directive from Commissioner Mack instructing Florida districts to proactively examine their collections for inappropriate material.
Mack warned that districts failing to comply could risk losing state funding. His memo also criticized school officials who wait until parents discover questionable material before taking action.
The school board removed three additional titles during the same meeting: Stephen King’s Misery and Jodi Picoult’s Handle with Care and The Tenth Circle.
All four books had been challenged by Jacksonville residents who did not have children enrolled in the district.
The dispute highlights an increasingly contentious distinction in school-library debates: whether sexually explicit material is acceptable when presented as literature but inappropriate when illustrated.
For now, Duval County students can still read about Big Brother, the Thought Police and Winston Smith’s forbidden romance.
They’ll just have to picture some of it themselves.
MY QUICK TAKE
There’s a legitimate debate about what belongs in a school library. Parents have every right to ask questions about explicit material.
But the delicious irony here is that Orwell’s famous warning about the Thought Police has survived — while the illustrated version got hauled before the authorities.
Big Brother apparently doesn’t mind the book. He just wants fewer pictures.
