The American Library Association found that 2,571 titles were challenged last year, an increase of nearly 40 percent over 2021. Many of the most banned titles deal with L.G.B.T.Q. themes or race.
Here are the most frequently targeted books →
Gender Queer, by Maia Kobabe
This graphic memoir, illustrated by the author, explores Kobabe’s experience of being nonbinary. It includes some confusing sexual encounters, and has been the most banned book in the United States for the past two years. According to the free speech group PEN America, it was banned in 56 school districts.
All Boys Aren’t Blue, by George M. Johnson
In this memoir, Johnson describes growing up Black and queer, including his sexual experiences and sexual assault. The Times’s reviewer called the book “exuberant” and “unapologetic,” noting that “Johnson lays bare the darkest moments in his life with wit and unflinching vulnerability.”
The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
Morrison’s 1970 debut novel centers on a Black girl who longs for blue eyes so that she can fit in with conventional white beauty standards. The novel, which deals with racism and sexual abuse, launched Morrison to literary fame, and was praised in The Times for “prose so precise, so faithful to speech and so charged with pain and wonder that the novel becomes poetry.”
Flamer, by Mike Curato
Curato draws on his own experiences in his debut graphic novel for young adults, which follows a 14-year-old Filipino American boy at Boy Scout camp as he comes to terms with being gay. The book has been banned because of sexually explicit and L.G.B.T.Q. content, according to the American Library Association.
Looking For Alaska, by John Green
A coming-of-age story about young-adult relationships, this novel is about a high school student, Miles Halter, who goes to boarding school, and becomes fascinated by a girl named Alaska. The American Library said the book has been challenged because of sexually explicit and L.G.B.T.Q. themes.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
This book, a best-selling touchstone for young adult literature, is set in the early 1990s and follows an introvert through his freshman year of high school in the suburbs. Challenges to the book have included concerns about profanity, drugs, sexually explicit and L.G.B.T.Q. content.
Read more about the rise of book bans in the United States.
- Book Bans Rising Rapidly in the U.S., Free Speech Groups Find
- A Fast-Growing Network of Conservative Groups Is Fueling a Surge in Book Bans
Mary Mathis for The New York Times
(Contributed by Michael Kelly, H.W.)