Every year, the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom compiles a list of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books in order to inform the public about censorship in libraries and schools in the United States. The lists are based on information from confidential reports filed by library professionals and community members, as well as news stories published throughout the US. The most common justifications supplied were false claims of illegal obscenity for minors, covering topics of race, racism, equity and social justice and inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters or themes.

I’m going to focus on those books that were challenged in 2024 for including LGBTQ+ characters and themes for this piece, but I will include the other titles at the end.

All Boys Aren’t Blue (2020) by George M. Johnson
Number of challenges: 39
Challenged for: LGBTQ+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit

 

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A young adult non-fiction “memoir-manifesto” by journalist and activist George M. Johnson, this book consists of a series of essays following the author’s journey growing up as a queer Black man. It also directly addresses Black queer boys who may not have someone in their lives with similar experiences. The book has regularly appeared on the challenged list. Johnson told Teen Vogue, “I feel like we are a blueprint generation of ‘out’ Black queer people. We have always existed but had our stories rejected, hidden, or separated from our Blackness. I wrote this book for us. Those who never got to tell their story and those who need to know the real so they don’t make the same mistakes we did.”

Gender Queer (2019) by Maia Kobabe
Number of challenges: 38
Challenged for: LGBTQ+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit

A graphic memoir, Maia Kobabe, who uses Spivak pronouns (e/em/eir), recounts eir journey from adolescence to adulthood and eir exploration of gender identity and sexuality, ultimately identifying as being outside of the binary. The book covers topics such as gender euphoria, gender dysphoria, and asexuality. It had been in the number one position of the Most Challenged Books for three years. I was inspired to read this book after I saw that it is one of the most banned books in the United States. I also wanted to understand what it is to be non-binary. Everybody’s story is different, of course, but Maia Kobabe does a good job of showing what was going on in eir head throughout. When, as discussed in the book, Maia Kobabe set out to be a comic book creator, e never wanted to tell an autobiographical story but ended up creating one of the better ones.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (1999) by Stephen Chbosky
Number of challenges: 35
Challenged for: LGBTQ+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit, depictions of sexual assault and drug use, profanity

 

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Set in the early 1990s, the novel follows Charlie, an introverted and observant teenager, through his freshman year of high school. Chbosky created the characters and other aspects of the story from his own memories. The book includes some queer characters, Sam and Patrick. They were an “amalgamate and celebration” of several people he had met; Sam was based on girls who confided in him, and Patrick was “all the kids I knew who were gay and finding their way to their own identity.”

Flamer (2020) by Mike Curato
Number of challenges: 27
Challenged for: LGBTQ+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit

 

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A semi-autobiographical graphic novel. Set in 1995, in the last week of a Boy Scouts summer camp, it tells the story of Aiden Navarro, a 14-year-old Filipino American. He is bullied for his appearance because he is biracial and considered overweight. He is also bullied as he is seen as acting in a manner considered stereotypical of gay men. Mike Curato was a scout and used his experience as a closeted teenager and growing up Catholic to write the novel. The book deals with toxic masculinity and homophobia. The title references the homophobic slur, which was used against Curato when he was a child.

Also included in the top 10 for 2024 were: The Bluest Eye (1970) by Toni Morrison (35 challenges), Tricks (2009) by Ellen Hopkins (33 challenges), Looking for Alaska (2005) by John Green (30 challenges), Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2012) by Jesse Andrews (30 challenges), Crank (2004) by Ellen Hopkins (28 challenges) and Sold (2006) by Patricia McCormick (28 challenges).