Ann Patchett and Jenna Bush Hager talk about book bans

Jenna Bush Hager and Ann Patchett are open about book bans PEN America recently reported this have increased by more than 200% in the 2023-2024 school year.

On the October 31 episode of Bush Hager’s podcast: Open book with JennaPatchett, 60, recalled hearing that two of her own books had been banned in Cook County, Florida.

“What I didn’t know until then, when I went to check that night, there were over 700 books banned in Cook County, Florida, from Mrs. Bovary And Paradise lost named after a thriller from the 70s Coma by Robin Cook,” Patchett said.

“What happens is that someone who has no connection with the school, who doesn’t have a child at the school, can just call and say, ‘I want this book banned,’” the author said. “And they put it on the list, and apparently large numbers of books come from one person. And then, if you want the book to be taken off the list, you really have to make a case and fight and try.”

Ann Patchett in 2013.

Jesse Dittmar for The Washington Post via Getty

“People ban books they don’t even read,” the author added.

Bush Hager, 42, talks about her passion for reading, and has also spoken about her children’s love for books. In March the Read with Jenna The book club host shared a photo of her daughter, Mila, 11, reading the young adult novel The summer I became beautiful by Jenny Han.

“My daughter loves Jenny Han, loves all her books, and so do I,” Bush Hager said. ‘Mila loves them, reads them and devours them.’

“I posted a picture and there was a bit of an uproar,” Bush Hager added. “And I just thought, ‘Okay, so I can have my daughter read a book at our house, and she can come to me with questions about what’s going on.’”

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

Bush Hager also noted how books can be a way to connect, as she did with her father, former President George W Bush.

Jenna Bush Hager and her father George W. Bush in 2021.

Nathan Congleton/NBC/NBCU Photobank via Getty

“I think what books do is they start conversations,” Bush Hager said. “They start conversations between parents and children. I got a text from my dad today saying, “I’m reading All the colors of the dark. It’s very interesting.’ You know? And I think that’s great.”

“That’s how he contacted me,” Bush Hager added. “This is how we stay connected. I think we need more of that too: talking and really listening.”

Patchett, whose new children’s book, The Verts: a story of introverts and extrovertswhich came out in September, recalled how she was late learning to read as a child because her family was constantly on the move.

Never miss a story – sign up PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up to date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“I was always showing up at a new school, not going to school as much as I should have and then not being accountable,” Patchett said. “And so I really didn’t learn to read. And when people say to me, ‘Why did you know you wanted to be a writer at such a young age?’ Sometimes I think, ‘Was it just because I wanted to be able to write?’”