9 of 10 Most Challenged Books Have Diverse Content

• Books for Kids • american library association, censorship

ALA Top Ten Most Challenged Books 2015The American Library Association (ALA) has released its annual list of the 10 most frequently challenged books — and nine of them have “diverse” content, four related to LGBTQ topics.

“Challenges” consist of “documented requests to remove materials from schools or libraries.” The ALA notes that their Top Ten list is not a complete, national roundup of book challenges, since not all challenges are reported to the ALA. Rather, it is a compilation of the reports received by the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom along with newspaper reports of challenges. They say, “Our goal is not to focus on the numbers, but to educate the masses that attempts to ban books is happening within our country, and the themes that are suggested by those challenges.”

One theme this year? “Attempts to remove materials with diverse content [defined here] are higher than ever before.” The top ten books are:

  1. Looking for Alaska, by John Green
  2. Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James
  3. I Am Jazz, by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings
  4. Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out, by Susan Kuklin
  5. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon
  6. The Holy Bible
  7. Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel
  8. Habibi, by Craig Thompson
  9. Nasreen’s Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan, by Jeanette Winter
  10. Two Boys Kissing, by David Levithan

Two Boys Kissing, Fun Home, Beyond Magenta, and I Am Jazz were all cited for “homosexuality,” among other reasons. Absent from the list this year, however, were And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, based on the true story of two male penguins who raise a chick together, and Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower, a young adult coming-of-age novel that has a gay character. Both books have been on the list several times before. In a way, it’s good that new titles are taking their places—it means new titles with LGBTQ content are being published.

Still, it is disheartening to see diverse titles being challenged. Author Malinda Lo, whose thoughtful analysis of diverse content and book challenges helped motivate the ALA’s own , has observed, “It’s clear to me that books that fall outside the white, straight, abled mainstream are challenged more often than books that do not destabilize the status quo…. The message this sends is loud and clear: diversity is actually under attack. Minority perspectives are being silenced every year.”

What to do? As a parent, think carefully before giving in to “I can’t believe that book is in my child’s classroom/library” agitation. If there is a book you don’t feel is appropriate for your child, don’t let them read it—but don’t make the decision for all parents. Be willing to have conversations with your children about hard topics (which, I would venture to say, they inevitably encounter long before we think they will). Balance books of one viewpoint with books of another, or with conversations about differing views.

On the positive side, buy diverse books for your family or check them out of the library—ones that reflect your children’s identities and experiences and ones that open up different horizons. Give them as gifts. Encourage your schools and libraries to stock them. Challenges will undoubtedly continue—but we can help show the desire for diverse books is unrelenting as well.

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