Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen was published in 2006.
BANNED in Alachua, Clay, Collier, Duval, Lake, Leon, Manatee, Nassau, Okaloosa, Orange, Pinellas, Polk, Santa Rosa, Seminole and St. Johns County public schools
Water for Elephants is a coming-of-age novel following 23-year-old Jacob Jankowski. After a family tragedy, Jacob abandons his Ivy League veterinary education to join a circus during America’s Great Depression.
On August 29, 2023, a Leon County resident or parent of a public school student submitted to Leon County Schools a re-evaluation request for Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants. The objection to the novel states: “The explicit sexual content violates Florida Statute 847.12,” which prohibits distribution of obscenity to minors.
The re-evaluation request cited a review of Water for Elephants from BookLooks.org. BookLooks.org was a website with the mission to “write and collect detailed and easy to understand book content reviews centered around objectionable content.” The website stated it did not support banning books despite its connection to a book-banning group, Moms for Liberty.
The objectionable content cited in BookLooks’ review of Water for Elephants includes “sexual nudity; sexual activity; and profanity.” One such passage describes the main character’s first time seeing a woman naked. Leon County Schools found this content violated Florida Statute 847.12.
BookLooks.org shutdown March 23, 2023, stating: “It has been quite the ride with many ups and downs since God called us to this work in 2022, but after much prayer and reflection it has become apparent that His work for us here is complete and that He has other callings for us.”
In 2007, Water for Elephants was awarded an Alex Award. The award is “given to 10 books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18.” The novel was adapted in 2011 as a PG-13 movie starring Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon. In 2024, the novel was adapted as a Broadway musical now touring the US.
“These are all people on the fringes of society. They are a chosen family. This is about loving people and animals, and being loved.”
— Sara Gruen, on the story of Water for Elephants