NEW YORK (AP) — Maya Kobabe’s graphic memoir “Gender Queer” continues its troubling run as the nation’s most controversial book, taking the top spot. American Library Association “Challenged Books” list for the third year in a row.
Kobabe’s coming-of-age story was published in 2019, and received the Library Association’s Alex Award for Best Young Adult Literature. But it has since been the focus of debate over library content, such as with conservative organizations Mother for freedom Claiming that parents should have more power to determine what books are available. Politicians have condemned “gender queer” and school systems in Florida, Texas and elsewhere have banned it. Last December, police in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, responded to a custodian’s complaint about the book. Showing and exploring it in the 8th grade classroom.
ALA released its list Monday along with its annual State of America’s Libraries report.
“Some advocacy groups have made ‘gender queer’ a lightning rod,” says Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. “People are trying to shut down conversations about gender identity. ”
Many of the books on ALA’s top 10 snapshot had LGBTQ themes, including four works immediately after “Gender Queer”: George M. Johnson’s “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” Juno Dawson’s “This Book is Gay “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky and “Filmer” by Mike Curato. The other five books on the list are all sexually explicit: “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison; Alan Hopkins’ “Tricks,” Jessie Andrews’ “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,” Erica Moen and Matthew Nolan’s “Let’s Talk About It.” and Patricia McCormick’s “Sold.”
“These books are for some people simply because they touch on sex,” says Caldwell Stone.
In March, ALA reported. Bans and attempted bans again hit record highs in 2023 since the association began tracking complaints in the early 2000s. More than 4,240 works were targeted at school and public libraries, a record at the time. 2,571 books in 2022.
Many of the challenged books — 47% — have LGBTQ and racial themes.
The ALA defines a challenge as “a formal, written complaint filed with a library or school requesting that material be removed due to content or appropriateness.” The association bases its findings on media accounts and reports from librarians but has long believed that many of the challenges are numerous, or that some books are pulled by librarians in anticipation of protests.
Credit : apnews.com
