It’s Banned Books Week once again — a national celebration of the freedom to read! Check out these children’s and young adult books that have been challenged in the past year because of gay- or lesbian-related content.
The American Library Association reports that the following books were “challenged, restricted, removed, or banned in 2012 and 2013 as reported in the Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom from May 2012 to May 2013”:
Picture books:
- The Family Book, by Todd Parr
. This one was banned from an elementary school in Erie, Illinois, the ALA tells us, “because of a line that reads, ‘some families have two moms or two dads.’ The district also banned everything furnished by GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network), including learning materials and various programs aimed at preventing bullying.”
- Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, by Sarah Brannen. “Challenged, but retained” at the Brentwood, Missouri Public Library.
(See my piece on the first challenge to this book, and a librarian’s awesome response.)
- And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell. “Marked for removal” because the real-life tale of two male penguins
who hatch and raise a chick scared some people in the Davis, Utah School District.
- In Our Mothers’ House, by Patricia Polacco. A lovely book about a multiracial adoptive family. Removed from elementary schools in Davis, Utah, but reinstated after a lawsuit from a parent and the ACLU.
Middle readers – young adult:
- The Popularity Papers: Research for the Social Improvement and General Betterment of Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang, by Amy Ignatow. One of the two main characters has two dads. It’s not a major plot point, but it was enough for the book to be challenged (though ultimately retained) at two Prosser, Washington elementary school libraries.
- Totally Joe, by James Howe. This book about a gay teen was also “marked for removal” in the Davis, Utah School District.
These are all wonderful books, in my opinion, and I’d recommend them heartily.
Many of the books that were reported by the ALA as challenged or removed this year did not have LGBT content, however. Violence and unspecified sexual explicitness seemed the predominant reasons.
My take on all this? Different parents may want their children exposed to different topics at different ages (or not at all), but they shouldn’t try to impose those values on anyone else’s kids. And sometimes our kids will pick up something from the library, or be asked to read it in school, that makes us uncomfortable. I’ve learned from experience that we can’t always predict when our kids may stumble upon difficult topics, whether through a book, a television commercial, a conversation with a friend, or any other reason. The best we can do is to stay involved enough in their lives to know when this happens, and to talk things through with them so they understand our perspectives and can share their own. Banning books from other people’s children is never the answer.
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