Read it or Weep

Banned Books Week may have ended on September 24, but it’s important to keep the conversation going as more books continue to get challenged. Most commonly, books by Authors of Color or LGBTQ+ authors get challenged (Publisher’s Weekly).  

While it’s nice to believe that challenged books get a bump in sales and promoted more, that just isn’t the case for the majority (Book Riot). Often, authors don’t even know their book was challenged as very few challenges become newsworthy. It could be as simple as a bookstore choosing to pass on buying a book because it is “subversive” or a school library quietly pulling a book from their shelves.  

One way to help combat challenges is to read! Read banned books, talk about them with friends, and let your local library know that you are glad they have books by Authors of Color, books by LGBTQ+ authors, books that reflect actual communities. Don’t know where to start? Here’s a list of the most challenged books from 2021 (ALA): 

1. Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe 
    

2. Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison 
    

3. All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson 
    

4. Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez 
    

5. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas 
    

6. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie 
    

7. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews 
    

8. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison 
    

9. This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson 
    

10. Beyond Magenta by Susan Kuklin 

-Linnea