‘Huckleberry Finn,’ ‘Princess Diaries’ among challenged books at Palm Beach County schools

Here’s what to know about which books have been challenged at Palm Beach County schools this year and what happened to each book.

The Palm Beach Post | By Katherine Kokal | March 5, 2024

While news of book bans in Florida has spread across the country, even informal challenges to books in Palm Beach County remain rare.

Between the start of the 2023-24 school year on Aug. 10 and Feb. 15, four books were challenged in Palm Beach County through complaints to individual schools, according to district records. Only one was temporarily removed from the shelves.

A book is permanently removed only if a formal challenge is submitted to the school’s principal, it’s reviewed by the superintendent, it’s heard in a public meeting and its removal is approved by the school board. No books have been formally challenged this school year.

The last book to be formally challenged in Palm Beach County was The Bible. The objection was denied four times: first by Olympic Heights High’s material review committee, then by the school’s principal, then by Superintendent Mike Burke and finally by the school board following the public hearing held last July. It remains on school library shelves.

Outside the formal challenge process, parents can submit informal complaints to schools about certain books. Complaints of this type may prompt a review by the school’s principal and material review committee.

Sign holders carrying messages in opposition to book bans stand facing eastbound traffic on the south side of Forest Hill Boulevard outside of the School District of Palm Beach County’s Fulton-Holland Educational Services Center in Palm Springs, Fla., on July 19, 2023. THOMAS CORDY/THE PALM BEACH POST

Here’s what to know about the books that have been informally challenged this year:

Which books have been challenged in Palm Beach County schools?

The books that Palm Beach County parents informally objected to were:

• “When Aiden Became a Brother,” a children’s picture book that celebrates the changes in a transgender boy’s life from his initial coming out to becoming a big brother. The book, written by Kyle Lukoff, was challenged at Meadow Park Elementary in West Palm Beach.
• “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” a book by Mark Twain that continues the story of the “Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” It is about a young boy’s adventures down the Mississippi River with a man who has escaped enslavement. The book was challenged at Palm Beach Gardens High.
• “Princess on the Brink,” the eighth book in the “Princess Diaries” series by Meg Cabot, which follows a high school-age girl who discovers she’s heir to the throne of a small European country. The book series was adapted into movies that starred Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews. The book was challenged at Eagles Landing Middle in Boca Raton.
• “Drama,” written by Raina Telgemeier, a graphic novel that follows the story of a girl who takes charge of the set design for her middle school’s play and balances the on-stage and off-stage drama of friendship and crushes. The book was challenged at Calusa Elementary in Boca Raton.

Three of the four books were reviewed by the school’s principal and left on the shelves. “Princess on the Brink” was “weeded” from the school’s library and sent to the school district for review.

All four books were challenged by parents whose children attended the respective schools.

Book cover: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Random House

In their challenge of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” the parent of the 11th-grader said they didn’t feel the language and representations of certain characters were appropriate for “this day and age,” according to school district records.

In the challenges of the other three books, parents said they thought the books were inappropriate for their students’ grade levels. The parent of a fourth-grader who challenged “When Aiden Became and Brother” did not specify what they found objectionable.

The parent who challenged “Princess on the Brink” found the language in the book inappropriate for their seventh-grade student and the parent who challenged “Drama,” said the book’s pictures were not suitable for their fourth-grader.