5 of 10 Most Challenged Books in U.S. Include LGBTQ Content

• Books for Kids • american library association, censorship
Top 10 Challenged Books 2018. Artwork courtesy of the American Library Association
Click to enlarge. Artwork courtesy of the American Library Association,

Once again, five of the top 10 books in the American Library Association’s (ALA’s) annual list of the most challenged books in the U.S. are there because of their LGBTQ content, among other reasons.

The list, released as part of the ALA’s annual State of America’s Libraries Report during National Library Week, includes the top 10 most challenged books of 2017. “Challenges” are documented requests to remove materials from schools or libraries, calculated from censorship reports submitted through the ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom (OIF) as well as media mentions of challenges.

Challenges to LGBTQ-inclusive children’s and young adult books are nothing new. Heather Has Two Mommies, one of the first, earned a top-10 spot on the ALA’s Most Frequently Challenged Books list for 1990-99. Most librarians supported it, though, author Lesléa Newman told me in 2015, and it mostly stayed on shelves. Queer-inclusive books populated much of the ALA’s list in most subsequent years as well.

This year, like last, five queer books were in the top 10, but unlike last year, none were in the top four:

  • Censorship by the Numbers. Artwork courtesy of the American Library Association
    Click to enlarge. Artwork courtesy of the American Library Association,

    Drama, by Raina Telgemeier, a graphic novel about a girl in middle school trying to navigate the social world of the drama club; one of her friends is gay;

  • George, by Alex Gino, about a transgender girl;
  • Sex is a Funny Word, by Cory Silverberg and Fiona Smyth, an inclusive book about bodies and sexuality;
  • And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson (who were kind enough to speak with me in 2011 about their reaction when Tango made the list for the fifth time);
  • I Am Jazz, by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings, the autobiographical story of a trans girl

The ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, which compiles the list, tells us that last year, they tracked 354 challenges to library, school and university materials and services (including books, DVDs, magazines, programs, databases, games, exhibits, displays). Those challenges targeted 491 library materials, including 416 books. More worryingly, they tell us:

  • OIF is seeing an increase in “blanket bans”: removing collections of books that share commonalities. For example, removing all LGBT books, books by a certain author, or all R-rated DVDs.
  • OIF is noticing more censorship incidents where administrators remove books without following policy because they are trying to (unsuccessfully) avoid controversy.

And OIF estimates that 82-97% of challenges remain unreported. That’s our cue. If you hear of a challenge in your community, report it to OIF. It might not trigger a SWAT team of librarians descending from helicopters (more’s the pity), but it will help us all better understand the scope and targets of censorship as a first step to addressing it.

In the meantime, please enjoy this short video about the latest group of most challenged books. It’s notable, though sad and troubling, that they lead with books about gender identity. Books are for many a portal to understanding. Banning books about gender identity is a small step away from banning people whose gender identities don’t match certain expectations—and that’s unacceptable.

On the positive side, the fact that these books are being challenged means they’re being published and are gaining visibility. Now we just have to make sure they stay visible.

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