Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Why Did They Ban this Book?

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For Mother’s Day this year, my daughter gave each of the moms in attendance a book. Each one had the same distinction – it had appeared on a recent list of banned books. The book I received was Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. According to PEN America, for the 2023-2024 school year, it was the number one most frequently banned book having been banned 98 times.

The American Library Association also puts out a list of the 100 “most frequently challenged” books of each decade. The most recent list is for 2010-2019 and Nineteen Minutes is number twenty-three.

This book was written in 2007 and is the story of a school shooting. The main characters are Josie Cormier and Peter Houghton. The author takes us back and forth in time from their childhood, through the day of the shooting, and then forward to its aftermath.

As the book opens, Josie and Peter are high school students who were friends virtually since birth, but who now find themselves in totally different social groups. She is one of the most popular girls while he is the #1 most bullied misfit.

We see from Josie’s point of view how difficult it is to hold on to popularity. This being the case, even though she is sympathetic to the treatment Peter receives at school, she is afraid to speak up on his behalf as it puts her status at risk.

And of course, we see life from Peter’s point of view. After having been bullied since the first day of kindergarten – when his lunchbox got thrown out the bus window by the big kids – he becomes the shooter. Among other things, readers are asked to consider this: if battered wife’s syndrome is a valid defense in a domestic violence situation, can there similarly be a bullied child’s syndrome?

In an AP interview from November, 2024, the author explains that thanks to these important topics and insights, the novel was originally recommended for young adults, and it was part of the curriculum in some of the same schools where it is now banned. And if you are wondering why it is banned, it’s not because of its depiction of gun violence – even though the shooter killed ten and injured many more. The reason it is banned is because it contains an explicit sex scene.

I find this to be outrageous! There are actually a couple of “sex” scenes, and they are not gratuitous. They are pivotal. They do a lot to explain the motivation of the characters, and the plot would be weakened without them. Perhaps there is a book or two “out there” that should be banned from school libraries, but this is not one of them.

For those with a similar viewpoint on censorship, please know about Banned Books Week. Launched in 1982, the annual event brings together the entire book community – librarians, educators, authors, publishers, booksellers, and readers – to support the freedom to seek and to express ideas. The next event will be held October 5-11, 2025.

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Click here to learn more about Nineteen Minutes on Amazon.

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