Too ‘Wicked’? Novel that spawned movie is often removed from Florida school shelves
Tallahassee Democrat | By Douglas Soule | December 3, 2024
“Wicked” is wicked popular. It had the biggest opening weekend for a film based on a Broadway musical ever and continues to defy gravity in the box office.
That Broadway hit is based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel, “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” which itself reimagines characters from “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” — the 1900 classic by L. Frank Baum that inspired the iconic 1939 film adaptation starring Judy Garland.
The new movie has heightened interest in Maguire’s book, which is known for its exploration of themes like morality, power and corruption. It’s currently ranked near the top of Amazon’s “Best Sellers in Contemporary Literature & Fiction” list.
A large swath of Florida students, though, won’t be able to get it from their high school libraries: A number of school districts have pulled the book in recent years.
To be sure, the book is a lot different from the musical and the PG movie. It contains drinking, drugs, rape, prostitution, crime and sex parties between humans and animals.
Review websites aren’t encouraging it for anyone not at least in their late teens — with minimum reading age recommendations varying from 15 years old to 18.
“What do you believe might be the result of a student using this material?” reads a question in a 2022 Clay County District Schools “Wicked” book objection form filed by Bruce Friedman, who also submitted hundreds of others.
His answer: “DAMAGED SOULS!”
School officials there removed the title. It was also removed in the School District of Manatee County.
“The book may mislead some that think that the book is similar to the Broadway musical ‘Wicked’ which revealed the Wicked Witch of the West as someone entirely misunderstood or they may even think it is a continuation of the ‘Wizard of Oz’ movie,” wrote county resident Cynthia Martens in a 2024 objection. “Either way they would be mistaken — this book is sick and twisted from the start.”
Martens has filed other challenges, including of classics like “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “The Kite Runner.”
Are Florida school districts ‘choosing the easy way out’?
But not everyone thinks “Wicked” should be removed from school shelves — and that includes some school boards.
When “Wicked” was challenged in Alachua County Public Schools, its review advisory council recommended that it remain on the shelves. In response, the complainant requested a hearing — but didn’t show.
“The hearing officer recommended the book remain on the shelf,” wrote Jackie Johnson, spokesperson for the district, in an email. “The School Board approved that recommendation and the book was returned to the shelves.”
Stephana Ferrell, whose organization Florida Freedom to Read tracks book removals, said she doubted commonly targeted books like “Wicked” would be removed as frequently if school districts held public review processes more often. Instead, many books are pulled behind the scenes, regardless of how the majority of the public may feel about it.
“The movie ended up being PG, but even if it was R, a high school audience could still go to the movie, your 17- and 18-year-olds, your juniors and seniors,” Ferrell said. Her group provided the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida with the “Wicked” objections. “So why are we holding them back from reading the entire book?”
It’s been removed in multiple other school districts, including Indian River, Martin, Polk and St. Johns counties. The book has also been pulled pending review in various districts, such as Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.
Michael Ollendorff, a spokesperson for public schools in Orange County, said the book had been taken from classroom libraries but remains in “campus media centers.”
“The determination was made by trained district Media Specialists in accordance with statute and rules” set by the Florida Department of Education, he wrote in an email. “It is important to note that the novel is very different than the adaptation used in the movie and the musical.”
Several laws passed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the state’s GOP legislative supermajority that focus on school libraries have largely triggered the book removal surge. This has led Florida to have more school book bans and objections than any other state, according to free speech groups. It’s also prompted a slew of First Amendment lawsuits.
DeSantis and other conservatives reject that book bans are happening in Florida, though say “sexually explicit materials” don’t belong in schools.
Amid the fallout of the laws, which have been interpreted very differently by local education leaders, Ferrell said some districts were “choosing the easy way out.”
They’re “not actually asking each other to think critically about the literary value of these works and what we’re denying our kids when we choose to remove these books,” she said.
