Could book bans become a thing of the past?
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed legislation this week to stop book bans at publicly funded libraries, making it the first state in the nation to do so. While it is possible that other states will follow suit, the nation is currently dealing with a record level of book bans.
Book bans have been enforced in the U.S. going back to the 1600s – before it was even a country – but last school year came with an “unprecedented flood” of bans, according to PEN America. For example, there were an estimated 251 to 500 bans in Pennsylvania alone.
This 101-year-old advocacy group collected data from July 2021 to June 2022 to compile its Index of School Book Bans lists. It found 2,532 instances of individual books being banned, affecting 1,648 unique book titles and more than 1,200 authors, as well as other creators.
These bans reflect “the increasing organization of groups involved in advocating for such bans, the increased involvement of state officials in book-banning debates, and the introduction of new laws and policies,” said the organization.
Here’s the list:
· Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe (41 districts)
· All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M.
Johnson (29 districts)
· Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez (24 districts)
· The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (22 districts)
· The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (17 districts)
· Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison (17 districts)
· The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (16 districts)
· Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews (14 districts)
· Crank by Ellen Hopkins (12 districts)
· The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (12 districts)
· l8r, g8r by Lauren Myracle (12 districts)
· Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (12 districts)
· Beloved by Toni Morrison (11 districts)
· Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin (11 districts)
· Drama: A Graphic Novel by Raina Telgemeier (11 districts)
· Looking for Alaska by John Green (11 districts)
· Melissa by Alex Gino (11 districts)
· This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson (11 districts)
· This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki (11 districts)
Also, here is a list of the top 10 authors with the most banned books:
· Hopkins, Ellen – 14 titles – 43 bans – 20 districts
· Kobabe, Maia – 1 title – 41 bans – 41 districts
· Morrison, Toni – 3 titles – 34 bans – 25 districts
· Johnson, George M. – 2 titles – 30 bans – 29 districts
· Myracle, Lauren – 11 titles – 30 bans – 16 districts
· Pérez, Ashley Hope – 1 title – 23 bans – 23 districts
· Thomas, Angie – 2 titles – 19 bans – 17 districts
· Silvera, Adam – 9 titles – 18 bans – 13 districts
· Reynolds, Jason – 6 titles – 18 bans – 11 districts
· Maas, Sarah J. – 8 titles – 18 bans – 10 districts
In 2021, Audacy reported on a Virginia parent who called for a ban of Gender Queer, still the most-banned book in the country. According to its publisher, Simon & Schuster, the award-winning work is Kobabe’s autobiography.
The author uses e/e/eir pronouns.
“Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, Gender Queer is more than a personal story: it is a useful and touching guide on gender identity – what it means and how to think about it – for advocates, friends, and humans everywhere,” said the publishing house.
Of all the banned books on PEN America’s list, 41% (674) explicitly address LGBTQ+ themes, have LGBTQ+ protagonists or prominent secondary characters who are LGBTQ+ and 40% (659) have protagonists or prominent secondary characters of color. Additionally, 21% directly address issues of race and racism and 22% contain sexual content of varying kinds.
“Nearly half of the unique titles of banned books were young adult books, but bans also affected many books for younger readers, including 317 picture books and 168 chapter books,” said PEN America.
A list of books banned throughout history from the American Library Association includes titles that are now often included on school reading lists, including The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. According to PEN, 96% of the bans listed on its recent index “were enacted without following the best practice guidelines for book challenges,” outlined by the ALA and the National Coalition Against Censorship.
“Many Americans may conceive of challenges to books in schools in terms of reactive parents, or those simply concerned after thumbing through a paperback in their child’s knapsack or hearing a surprising question about a novel raised by their child at the dinner table,” sad PEN America. “However, the large majority of book bans underway today are not spontaneous, organic expressions of citizen concern.”
Most Americans don’t support book bans, said the organization.
States with the highest number of book bans are Texas and Florida, and some states, such as California, have no recorded bans. In Illinois, there were 67 attempts to ban books last year.
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