New President-Elect of American Library Association Is Also a Lesbian Mom
The American Library Association (ALA) has elected a 20-year library veteran and self-described Marxist—who is also a lesbian mom—as its president-elect.
american library association
“Gender Queer” Tops Most Challenged Book List in Record Year for Book Challenges
In a record year for book challenges, a memoir about growing up nonbinary and asexual has topped the American Library Association’s (ALA’s) annual Top 10 Most Challenged Books list, and books with LGBTQIA+ and Black characters remained dominant among all censorship attempts.
“These Necessary Stories” — 2022 Rainbow Book List Shows Increasing Diversity of Content and Authors
The 2022 Rainbow Book List is here! This annual list from the American Library Association contains 122 librarian-approved books with “significant and authentic” LGBTQIA+ content for children and teens.
Queer-Inclusive Books Win Big at Youth Media Awards
A children’s book with a transgender protagonist and a transgender author earned a Newbery Honor for the first time ever, and other queer-inclusive children’s and young adult books—and their queer authors—also won big at this year’s American Library Association (ALA) Youth Media Awards.
Fighting Back Against the Attacks on Diverse and Inclusive Books
Preschooler Heather is no stranger to opposition. Lesléa Newman’s 1989 Heather Has Two Mommies, the first picture book to depict happily coupled same-sex parents and their child, faced opprobrium from conservatives since shortly after it was published. Now, it is one of a record number of books for children and teens, largely about people with marginalized identities, that are under attack across the country.
5 Ways to Celebrate Banned Books Week 2021
It’s Banned Books Week, the annual event celebrating the freedom to read! LGBTQ-inclusive children’s books are among those most frequently banned, along with books that have themes of race and racial justice. Here are five things you can do now to celebrate and support banned books.
Children’s Book with Transgender Protagonist Tops Most-Challenged List Again, Though Challenges to Antiracist Books Rise
For the third year in a row, George, a book about a transgender girl, topped the American Library Association’s (ALA’s) annual list of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books, and LGBTQ-themed books remained dominant among all the censorship attempts tracked by the ALA. Unlike in the previous few years, however, books with themes of race and racial justice, not LGBTQ themes and characters, made up the majority of books in the top 10. That’s still awful.
2021 Rainbow Book List Shows Record Increase in LGBTQ Kids’ Books
The American Library Association has just announced its 2021 Rainbow Book List—with a record-setting number of 129 librarian-approved LGBTQ-inclusive children’s and young adult books! There are so many, in fact, that for the first time, there are two Top 10 sub-lists of books with “exceptional merit,” one for younger children and one for older youth readers. Learn more and see some charts that illustrate just how the genre has grown.
Board Book with Same-Sex Parents, Gender Creative Kids, and Pregnant Trans Man Wins Prestigious Stonewall Book Award
The American Library Association (ALA) today announced its 2021 Stonewall Book Awards for LGBTQ-inclusive children’s and young adult books, part of the Youth Media Awards that also include the prestigious Newbery and Caldecott Medals. The winner was a board book that includes not only same-sex parents, but also gender creative kids and a pregnant transgender man.
LGBTQ Children’s/YA Books Dominate Decade’s Banned Books List
Once again, it’s Banned Books Week—and a new list of the Top 100 Most Banned and Challenged Books from the last decade reminds us that LGBTQ-inclusive books for kids remain among the most (needlessly) controversial.