Book bans are happening in school libraries across the country. We all know the usual suspects: 1984, To Kill a Mockingbird, or Catcher in the Rye, but there are more recent titles that have been removed from school libraries because their subjects have been deemed inappropriate for children. But are they really inappropriate?
Many of today’s banned books are about young adults dealing with sexual orientation, gender identity, racism, poverty, abuse, or atrocities like slavery. These are real issues that real teens face, but they’re not allowed to read about them. Parents believe these topics are anti-American, confusing, and, basically, make white students “feel guilty for being white.“
The authors of these three books want to educate readers about people from all walks of life and situations that can happen to anyone, no matter their background. Given the commonly banned titles, are parents actually worried about exposing their kids to violence and sex or exposing them to books that don’t praise the United States and have white, heterosexual characters?
#1: Weird Girl and What’s His Name (Great title for a book, right?)
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Weird Girl and What’s His Name by the Meagan Brothers was released in 2015. Best friends Lula and Rory feel like outsiders in their small North Carolina town. Lula is obsessed with the mother who abandoned her, and Rory is gay. When Lula discovers Rory is having an affair with his boss, her sexuality is thrown into question, and she takes off to find her mother without telling anyone.
This book was challenged in Loudoun County, Virginia, in 2020 and suggested for removal in Keller, Texas, in 2022 for its LGBTQIA+ characters. It is not overly sexual or trying to push an agenda; it can be argued that the story is more about Lula and Rory finding and accepting themselves and less about who they’re interested in romantically.
Teens can definitely handle Weird Girl and What’s His Name. They may even identify with Lula and Rory’s struggle to fit in.
#2: Monday’s Not Coming
Tiffany D. Jackson’s Monday’s Not Coming is a riveting and popular read. Released in 2018, it’s about a 14-year-old girl named Claudia whose best friend Monday is missing, but nobody seems to care. While Monday’s mother isn’t concerned and the police write her off as one of many runaways, Claudia begins to dig into the past and her best friend’s private life for clues.
The book was challenged in Virginia and Texas and banned in Utah. Critics say it has sexual content and focuses too much on race. Jackson’s book tackles abuse, neglect at the hands of police, the trials of growing up, black family dynamics, and systematic racism. Monday’s Not Coming is a realistic story that many teens can relate to.
If real 14-year-olds are being brushed off by the police and unjustly suffering through abuse, why can’t other kids read about it? Are book bans, especially books like Jackson’s, put in place to shield teens from reality for as long as possible?
#3: The Truth About Alice
The Truth About Alice hit the shelves in 2014. Through four alternating perspectives, Jennifer Mathieu introduces us to Alice Franklin, the girl who was sexting popular football player Brandon Fitzsimmons while he was driving and caused the car accident that killed him. Or so everyone thinks.
The real reason behind Brandon’s death is revealed, and readers learn an important lesson about female shaming culture, bullying, and self-esteem. It was challenged in Florida schools in 2023 for having “pornography,” but after Flager Palm Coast High School and Matanzas High School reviewed it, they decided against pulling it from their libraries.
What happens in The Truth About Alice–rumors, bullying, and shaming–happens in schools, and kids can’t be shielded from what’s already happening in front of their faces.
About the Author
Kameryn has loved books for as long as she can remember. If she’s not watching too much TV, writing novels, or spending time with her family, she’s reading. She graduated from Central State University with a bachelor’s degree in English literature, so it only makes sense to share the amazing books she reads through her other passion: writing.
