Ripley’s Fights FL Book Bans With Book Giveaways For Residents

FLORIDA — Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Has launched a book giveaway in response to book banning in Florida schools.

The company will give its annual book to Florida residents for free through May 15, according to a news release. Residents can request a book be mailed to them at ripleys.com/general/floridabooks.

They can also pick one up in person at a Florida Ripley’s Believe It or Not! attraction in Panama City Beach, Orlando, and St. Augustine with a Florida ID while supplies last.

Earlier this year, Escambia County Public Schools flagged and removed more than 1,600 books from its classroom and media center shelves. This included hundreds of nonfiction reference books — encyclopedias, dictionaries and three of Ripley’s titles.

Ripley’s titles affected by this massive book challenge include “A Century of Strange,” “Seeing Is Believing” and “100th Anniversary,” a coffee table book celebrating its centennial, Ryan DeSear, vice president of attraction operations and technology, told Patch.

“Were we surprised? Maybe a little. A little disappointed, obviously, and the banning of books is something I, personally, wouldn’t do,” he said. “Our company is not political in any way, but we thought we’d tackle this in a funny manner, and more than anything else, let people decide for themselves whether these books should be banned or not.”

DeSear added, “Remember, the pen is mightier than the sword.”

As of Wednesday morning, less than 24 hours after launching the book giveaway, about 1,500 books have been given away.

“It’s surprising to us that it’s taken off as much as it has. That’s great,” he said. “Our whole mission is to get people to read. If you want people to read books, just ban them — then they’ll want to read them. There are books on that list I might not have read, but I’m going to now; I promise you that.”

The books challenged in Escambia County are wide-ranging with titles from authors Stephanie Meyer, Maya Angelou, Ernest Hemmingway and Charles Dickens among them.

“It’s nice to be characterized with Agatha Christie and Ernest Hemingway,” DeSear said. “It’s kind of an interesting group, for sure.”

Ripley’s books are “fun” and “completely noncontroversial,” he noted. “Our whole goal is to celebrate humanity’s uniqueness across the globe … It’s a matter of bringing humanity together a little bit more. A lot of people, a lot of children don’t get to experience and travel the world like we do. It’s good for them to experience the world through the lens of Ripley’s.”

The Florida book giveaway is a way for the company to “turn lemons into lemonade and let people decide for themselves,” DeSear added. “And for free, you can’t beat the price.”