This week marks not only the start of fall, but also Banned Books Week, the annual celebration of the freedom to read. LGBTQ-inclusive books for children and young adults are often among those challenged by parents or library patrons — but many have escaped attempts to ban or restrict them. Is this good news or bad?
Several LGBT-inclusive books were challenged in the past year, according to the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom:
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky
- The Popularity Papers, Amy Ignatow
- The Color Purple, Alice Walker
All of the above were middle-grade or young adult books (with The Color Purple really being for adults as well, IMHO). Others challenged in recent years include a number of picture books:
- And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson (which has four times held the top spot as the most-challenged book)
- Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, by Sarah S. Brannen
- King and King, by Linda deHaan
And Patricia Polacco’s In Our Mothers’ House is in 
What is surprising to me, though, is the number of LGBTQ-inclusive children’s books that haven’t been challenged (or at least not enough to make the ALA’s list), including:
- Donovan’s Big Day, by Lesléa Newman
- My Mixed-Up Berry Blue Summer, by Jennifer Gennari
- Monday Is One Day, by Arthur Levine
- My Princess Boy, by Cheryl Kilodavis
I’d like to think that this is because people are becoming more accepting of LGBTQ-inclusive children’s books. I fear, however, that it is because these books aren’t making it to libraries — and the ones above are from mainstream publishers with wide distribution. There are many more from small presses or self-publishing authors that have even fewer readers. As young adult author Julie Anne Peters told School Library Journal a few years ago:
You can’t ban a book that never makes it into a library. When I hear about authors who are up in arms about their book being banned, or removed from reading lists, I confess to a sliver of jealousy. I’d actually love for my books to be banned so at least I’d know they were once accessible to readers who needed them.
Despite the success of television shows such as Modern Family and The Fosters, which depict same-sex parents, there is still a stunning lack of representation of these families in the places that really matter: schools and libraries and home bookshelves of LGBTQ children and youth, those with LGBTQ parents, and their classmates and friends. Obviously, I’d rather these books come out and not be banned — but if bans are one sign that they’re getting out there, then maybe they are, perversely, a sign of at least some progress.
LGBT content isn’t the only reason a book may be challenged, of course. The Harry Potter series continues to top the 2000-09 decade list. And Grace Hwang Lynch notes at BlogHer that many of the challenged books are by and about women and people of color.
That’s not an encouraging landscape — but the ALA tells us there is nevertheless reason to cheer:
While books have been and continue to be banned, part of the Banned Books Week celebration is the fact that, in a majority of cases, the [challenged] books have remained available. This happens only thanks to the efforts of librarians, teachers, students, and community members who stand up and speak out for the freedom to read.
Thanks to them indeed.
What are your favorite challenged/banned books, either new or classic?
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