It’s that time of year again when we “celebrate” the books that have been challenged or banned in school districts and libraries across the country. The past few years Banned Books Week has taken a deeper significance as challenged and banned books has come to an all time high. According to the ALA.org Banned Book website, there were 821 challenge attempts against libraries and a total of 2, 452 targeted in 2024. While that number is lower than 2023, we do know that accurate numbers cannot really be given due to well….you know what’s going on in America right now. Which makes this week even more important as schools and libraries continue to fight without much media support. So, we are doing our part.

This week we will be highlighting a number of challenged and banned books that we have reviewed or shared a spotlight on our website as the majority of the challenged and banned books are written by Black and POC authors and LGBTQIA authors.  

All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson

In a series of personal essays, award-winning author and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson’s All Boys Aren’t Blue explores their childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia. From the memories of getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to flea marketing with his loving grandmother, to his first sexual relationships, this young-adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys.

Both a primer for teens eager to be allies as well as a reassuring testimony for young queer men of color, All Boys Aren’t Blue covers topics such as gender identity, toxic masculinity, brotherhood, family, structural marginalization, consent, and Black joy. Johnson’s emotionally frank style of writing will appeal directly to young adults. (Johnson used he/him pronouns at the time of publication.)

 Contributor Crystal read Johnson’s book. Check out the Review Here 

Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez

“This is East Texas, and there’s lines. Lines you cross, lines you don’t cross. That clear?”

New London, Texas. 1937. Naomi Vargas and Wash Fuller know about the lines in East Texas as well as anyone. They know the signs that mark them. They know the people who enforce them. But sometimes the attraction between two people is so powerful it breaks through even the most entrenched color lines. And the consequences can be explosive.Ashley Hope Pérez takes the facts of the 1937 New London school explosion—the worst school disaster in American history—as a backdrop for a riveting novel about segregation, love, family, and the forces that destroy people.  

Contributor Audrey read Perez’s book. Check out the review here.

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.

Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.

But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.  

Check out our discussion of this powerful book here.