The American Library Association recently revealed their list of the 10 most challenged books of 2021. The ALA tracks challenges to library, school, and university materials each year as part of their work to ensure free access to information. In 2021, 1,597 books were targeted for various reasons.
"The DMPL strongly opposes any efforts to censor or ban access to any library materials or information," says Des Moines Public Library Director Susan A. Woody. "We read to understand each other. Reading teaches us empathy and tolerance instead of judgement and division. We celebrate authors who are brave enough to tell their stories and we will defend our patrons’ rights to read those stories."
The 10 most challenged books in 2021 were:
1. 'Gender Queer,' by Maia Kobabe
Description: Maia Kobabe’s (e/em/eir) intensely cathartic autobiography charts eir journey of self-identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fanfiction, and facing the trauma and fundamental violation of pap smears.
Reasons for being challenged: Banned, challenged, and restricted for LGBTQIA+ content, and because it was considered to have sexually explicit images.
2. 'Lawn Boy,' by Jonathan Evison
Description: In this funny, biting, touching, and ultimately inspiring novel, bestselling author Jonathan Evison takes the reader into the heart and mind of a young man determined to achieve the American dream of happiness and prosperity--who just so happens to find himself along the way.
Reasons for being challenged: Banned and challenged for LGBTQIA+ content and because it was considered to be sexually explicit.
3. 'All Boys Aren't Blue,' by George M. Johnson
Description: In a series of personal essays, George M. Johnson explores growing up in New Jersey and Virginia. From getting his teeth kicked out by bullies at age five, to his first sexual relationships, this young adult memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys.
Reasons for being challenged: Banned and challenged for LGBTQIA+ content, profanity, and because it was considered to be sexually explicit.
4. 'Out of Darkness,' by Ashley Hope Peréz
Description: Sometimes the attraction between two people is so powerful it breaks through even the most entrenched color lines. Ashley Hope Pérez takes the facts of the real-life 1937 New London, TX, school explosion as a backdrop for a riveting novel about segregation, love, family, and the forces that destroy people.
Reasons for being challenged: Banned, challenged, and restricted for depictions of abuse and because it was considered to be sexually explicit.
5. 'The Hate U Give,' by Angie Thomas
Description: Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter’s life is shattered when she witnesses the fatal shooting of her friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. His death is a national headline. Some call Khalil a thug, while protesters shout his name. What Starr does, or does not, say could upend her community.
Reasons for being challenged: Banned and challenged for profanity, violence, and because it was thought to promote an anti-police message and indoctrination of a social agenda.
6. 'The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,' by Sherman Alexie
Description: Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.
Reasons for being challenged: Banned and challenged for profanity, sexual references and use of a derogatory term.
7. 'Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,' by Jesse Andrews
Description: On the first day of his senior year, Greg Gaines thinks he's figured high school out. His strategy: remain at the periphery at all times. This plan works for exactly eight hours . Then Greg's mom forces him to become friends with a girl who has cancer.
Reasons for being challenged: Banned and challenged because it was considered sexually explicit and degrading to women.
8. 'The Bluest Eye,' by Toni Morrison
Description: This the story of eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove, a black girl in an America, who prays for her eyes to turn blue. She wants blue eyes so that she will be beautiful, so that people will look at her, so that her world will be different.
Reasons for being challenged: Banned and challenged because it depicts child sexual abuse and was considered sexually explicit.
9. 'This Book is Gay,' by Juno Dawson
Description: Lesbian. Bisexual. Queer. Transgender. Straight. Curious. This book is for everyone, regardless of gender or sexual preference. This book is for anyone who's ever wondered. There's a joke that, after "coming out," a person should receive a membership card and instruction manual. THIS IS THAT INSTRUCTION MANUAL. You're welcome.
Reasons for being challenged: Banned, challenged, relocated, and restricted for providing sexual education and LGBTQIA+ content.
10. 'Beyond Magenta,' by Susan Kuklin
Description: Author and photographer Susan Kuklin met and interviewed six transgender or gender-neutral young adults and used her considerable skills to represent them thoughtfully and respectfully before, during, and after their personal acknowledgment of gender preference. Portraits, family photographs, and candid images augment the journey each youth has taken.
Reasons for being challenged: Banned and challenged for LGBTQIA+ content and because it was considered to be sexually explicit.
Last Modified April 18, 2024
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