Unfortunately for us all, more and more books for teens are being challenged in schools and libraries all across the nation. Here are some of the most popular banned and challenged titles, taken from our Books Unbanned project list.
In The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta, it seems Mike doesn’t fit in anywhere, or with anyone, until he joins the Drag Society at University.
Adib Khorram’s novel Darius the Great Deserves Better shows Darius, now with a boyfriend and a spot on the soccer team, struggling along with his family with money, depression, and racism. When things get to be too much, his two queer grandmothers move in with the family to help out. “This is normal, right?”
In Cinderella is Dead by Kaylynn Bayron, young women must marry by age 18 or be banished from society, in a world in which Cinderella was a real person. Sophia wants nothing to do with marriage unless it’s to her girlfriend, but society won’t allow that.
Malinda Lo’s novel Last Night at the Telegraph Club tells of Lily’s life in San Francisco’s Chinatown in the 1950s, and how it opens up when she meets Kathleen, a girl who introduces her to the women at the Telegraph Club, an illegal bar for lesbians. How long will they be able to keep their relationship a secret from Lily’s family and the authorities?
In Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera, Juliet starts an internship with a famous feminist author, but quickly learns that the white woman’s definitions of feminism often leave out people of color.
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez, follows Julia and her parents, who are grieving the loss of her older sister together. Julia starts pulling away, however, when she realizes she wants to be free to live her life without always being compared to her perfect sister.
In More Happy than Not by Adam Silvera, Aaron is grieving his father’s death by suicide and contemplates his own after a failed romance. Can a new technique that wipes his memory of bad things help him out?
Niki Smith’s graphic novel The Deep & Dark Blue follows twins Hawke and Grayson, who must join an order of women initiates in disguise when their royal family line is threatened, but once the crisis has passed, Grayson realizes he is much more comfortable being known as Grace.
Aiden Thomas’s novel Cemetery Boys follows Yadriel, who is desperate to prove himself as a brujo, and not a bruja. When he performs the rites that give him magical powers, he is able to see and help the ghost of another boy find his killer.
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas chronicles Starr’s struggles to navigate between her upper-class neighborhood and her Black family and friends. When her friend is killed by a white police officer, she must find a way to grieve while also finding some measure of justice.
In Check, Please! a graphic novel series by Ngozi Ukazu, Bitty’s life at college is a mix of baking, vlogging, singing at all hours of the night, and hockey. Can he come out to his new teammates and win the heart of the team captain, maybe with the help of home-baked pecan pie?
Jacqueline Woodson’s novel Red at the Bone follows Melody, whose coming of age ceremony is marked by the fact that she wears the dress made for her mother sixteen years earlier, who never wore it and who still must learn how to live with her daughter.
In Front Desk by Kelly Yang, Mia and her parents, recent immigrants from China, need to work immediately upon arrival, so Mia’s main task other than attending school is to run the front desk of the motel where her parents clean.
~ posted by Wally B.
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