Gender Queer, Maia Kobabe’s touching graphic novel memoir about gender identity, topped the American Library Association’s list of most challenged books for 2022. It’s the second year in a row that Gender Queer has landed in the No. 1 spot.
The ALA’s annual top 10 list of the most challenged books expanded to 13 for 2022, which saw a record number of 1,269 book challenges for 2,571 unique titles (many challenges include more than one book). Most of the targeted books in the top 13 were written by or about members of the LGBTQIA+ community and people of color.
“By releasing the list of Top 10 Most Challenged Books each year, ALA recognizes all of the brave authors whose work challenges readers with stories that disrupt the status quo and offer fresh perspectives on tough issues,” said ALA President Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada. “The list also illustrates how frequently stories by or about LGBTQ+ persons, people of color, and lived experiences are being targeted by censors. Closing our eyes to the reality portrayed in these stories will not make life’s challenges disappear. Books give us courage and help us understand each other.”
Gender Queer was published by Oni Press in 2019 and went on to receive a Stonewall Honor Award and an Alex Award. Oni republished it last year as a deluxe edition with a new cover (shown above), exclusive art and sketches, a foreword from ND Stevenson and an afterward by Kobabe.
Also landing in the top 10 was a second graphic novel, Flamer by Mike Curato. The Lambda Literary Award-winning book is about a teenage boy at Boy Scout camp coming to terms with being gay.
Here’s the full top 10 list of the most challenged books:
1. “Gender Queer,” by Maia Kobabe
Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit
2. “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” by George M. Johnson
Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit
3. “The Bluest Eye,” by Toni Morrison
Reasons: depiction of sexual abuse, claimed to be sexually explicit, EDI content
4. “Flamer,” by Mike Curato
Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit
5. (TIE) “Looking for Alaska,” by John Green
Reasons: Claimed to be sexually explicit, LGBTQIA+ content
5. (TIE) “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: Claimed to be sexually explicit, LGBTQIA+ content, depiction of sexual abuse, drugs, profanity
7. “Lawn Boy,” by Jonathan Evison
Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit
8. “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: Claimed to be sexually explicit, profanity
9. “Out of Darkness,” by Ashley Hope Perez
Reasons: Claimed to be sexually explicit
10. (TIE) “A Court of Mist and Fury,” by Sarah J. Maas
Reasons: Claimed to be sexually explicit
10. (TIE) “Crank,” by Ellen Hopkins
Reasons: Claimed to be sexually explicit, drugs
10. (TIE) “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,” by Jesse Andrews
Reasons: Claimed to be sexually explicit, profanity
10. (TIE) “This Book is Gay,” by Juno Dawson
Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content, sex education, claimed to be sexually explicit
For more on the growing attempts at censorship and how you can fight back, see the ALA’s 2023 State of America’s Libraries.