Find the full list along with lists of past years at the American Library Association’s website right here.
You may notice a common trend among these books: a.) they are by or about LGBTQIA+ people, b.) they are by or about people of color, or c.) are informational guides to puberty for younger humans who are about to go through puberty.
This is because some people believe that other people should not be allowed to learn or even know about such topics. Censorship is a mirror to society and these are the big topics that inspire big emotions and feelings within modern American society.
Gender Queer
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106 reported book challenges in 2023
Maia’s autobiography charts eir journey of identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society, bonding with friends over fanfiction, and facing the trauma of pap smears. Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual.
All Boys Aren’t Blue
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82 reported book challenges in 2023
In a series of personal essays, George M. Johnson explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years. 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 memoir weaves together the trials and triumphs faced by Black queer boys.
This Book is Gay
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71 reported book challenges in 2023
There’s a long-running joke that, after “coming out,” a lesbian, gay guy, bisexual, or trans person should receive a membership card and instruction manual. In a world full of puberty books for straight people, this is that instruction manual!
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
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68 reported book challenges in 2023
This is the story of what it’s like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie’s letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends.
Flamer
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67 reported book challenges in 2023
It’s the summer between middle school and high school, and Aiden Navarro is away at camp. Everyone’s going through changes—but for Aiden, the stakes feel higher. As he navigates friendships, deals with bullies, and spends time with Elias (a boy he can’t stop thinking about), he finds himself on a path of self-discovery and acceptance.
The Bluest Eye
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62 reported book challenges in 2023
This is Toni Morrison’s first novel, set in the author’s girlhood hometown of Lorain, Ohio. It tells the story of black, eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove. Pecola prays for her eyes to turn blue so that she will be as beautiful and beloved as all the blond, blue-eyed children in America.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
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56 reported book challenges in 2023
Greg Gaines only one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time making movies. Until Greg’s mother forces him to rekindle his childhood friendship with Rachel. Rachel has been diagnosed with leukemia but a parental mandate has been issued and must be obeyed. When Rachel stops treatment, Greg and Earl decide the thing to do is to make a film for her and it becomes a turning point in each of their lives.
Tricks
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56 reported book challenges in 2023
Five teenagers from different parts of the country. Three girls. Two guys. Four straight. One gay. Some rich. Some poor. Some from great families. Some with no one at all. All living their lives as best they can, but all searching … for freedom, safety, community, family, love. What they don’t expect, though, is all that can happen when those powerful little words “I love you” are said for all the wrong reasons.
Let’s Talk About It
55 reported book challenges in 2023
An inclusive, accessible and honest comic book guide to puberty, from gender and sexuality to consent and safe sex. Perfect for any teen starting to ask…Is what I’m feeling normal? Is what my body is doing normal? Am I normal? How do I know what are the right choices to make? How do I fix it when I make a mistake?
Sold
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53 reported book challenges in 2023
Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her desperately poor family in a small hut in the mountains of Nepal. When the harsh Himalayan monsoons wash away all that remains of the family’s crops, Lakshmi’s stepfather says she must leave home and take a job. He introduces her to a glamorous stranger who tells her she will find her a job as a maid working for a wealthy woman in the city. But she soon learns the unthinkable truth: she has been sold into prostitution.