Laurie Halse Anderson - Speak
Jason Reynolds - American Boys, Stamped
Pam Muñoz Ryan/Elizabeth Acevedo - Esperanza Rising/The Poet X
Benjamin Alire Sáenz - Aristotle and Dante
Melinda Lo -Last Night at the Telegraph Club
Gene Luen Yang - American Born Chinese
Jerry Craft - New Kid
Francisco Jiménez - The Circuit
Nicola Yoon -The Sun is Also a Star
Nic Stone- Dear Martin
The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom tracked 729 challenges to library, school, and university materials and services in 2021. Of the 1597 books that were targeted, here are the most challenged, along with the reasons cited for censoring the books:
Everyday books are still being challenged and removed from shelves, libraries, classrooms and reading lists across the USA. Challenged and removed books mean that somewhere a child can no longer access that book. Challenged books nearly always include content about marginalized groups. Removal of these books remove a child's sense of inclusion and belonging.
This is a direct attack on our intellectual freedoms, and yes, kids have those rights too.
See all of the books listed on ALA's top 100 lists currently available in the CSULB Library:
Facing Challenges (how can we respond?):
Wait! What about removing books (especially older books) that we now know to be racist, sexist and/or homophobic? We don't want these books around but we don't want to be book banners! We just need to be VERY careful in our reasons for removing a book. Is our reasoning personal biases? Is there a general belief that this book is harmful? Watch the slippery slope. Also consider books as historical research, representing thinking at a time in history, for older children's learning, vs. younger children.
Beyond banning: What other barriers exist for access:
