Banned Books

Maia's 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. 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.

Awards: Alex Award (2020), Rainbow Lists (2020), School Library Journal Best Nonfiction Books (2019), YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens (2020)

A first book by the prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist shares personal essays that chronicle his childhood, adolescence and college years as a Black queer youth, exploring subjects ranging from gender identity and toxic masculinity to structural marginalization and Black joy.

Awards: Rainbow List (2021)

Miles Halter’s whole life has been one big non-event until he starts at anything-but-boring Culver Creek Boarding School and meets Alaska Young. Gorgeous, clever, funny and utterly fascinating she pulls Miles into her world, launches him into a new life, and steals his heart. But when tragedy strikes, and Miles comes face-to-face with death he discovers the value of living and loving unconditionally.

Awards: Booklist Editor's Choice (2005), Kentucky Bluegrass Award (2006), Michael L. Printz Award (2006), School Library Journal Best Books (2005), YALSA Best Books for Young Adults (2006)

Charlie is shy, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward; he is a wallflower, caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it. Charlie attempts to navigate his way through the uncharted territory of high school: the world of first dates and mix-tapes, family dramas and new friends. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective. But there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor.

Awards: YALSA Best Books for Young Adults (2000) YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (2000)

Before transitioning from a private Catholic middle school to a public high school, Aiden Navarro, 14, wants to enjoy Boy Scout summer camp. As in school, however, Aiden can’t escape the things he’s so often been bullied for: his weight, his Filipino heritage, and his effeminate voice. Emotional and raw, Curato’s story plummets Aiden deep into despair, including suicidal ideation, juxtaposing powerful moments of burning, fiery hope.

Awards: Lambda Literary Awards: LGBTQ Children's/Young Adult, Massachusetts Book  Awards: Children's/Young Adult Literature Award, Rainbow Lists (2021), School Library Journal Best Nonfiction Books (2020), YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens (2021)

Eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove, an African-American girl in an America whose love for blonde, blue-eyed children can devastate all others, prays for her eyes to turn blue, so that she will be beautiful, people will notice her, and her world will be different.

Awards: Author Nobel Prize for Literature (1993)

Five teens desperately seek to find their way through the darkness in Hopkins 's latest epic novel in verse. Eden flees an evangelical household; Cody blocks out a family illness with gambling and sex; Whitney gives up her body in exchange for the love she finds so elusive; Seth struggles to define himself as a homosexual; and Ginger comes to terms with an awful truth about her neglectful mother. Burden after burden piles on the teens' shoulders until they resort to the unthinkable in order to survive. As they near rock bottom, their narratives begin to intersect. It is only when their paths converge that a glimmer of redemption appears out of the hopelessness.

Awards: Rainbow List (2010)

This debut novel is told from the point of view of intensely self-critical Greg S. Gaines, an aspiring filmmaker. A self-described pasty-faced failure with girls, the 17-year-old spends most of his time with his friend Earl, a foul-mouthed kid from the wrong side of town, watching classic movies and attempting to create their own cinematic masterpieces. When Greg's mother learns that Rachel, one of his classmates, has been diagnosed with leukemia, she encourages him to rekindle the friendship that started and ended in Hebrew school.

Awards: Westchester Fiction Award (California), YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults (2013), YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers: Fiction (2013)

Life was good / before I / met / the monster. / After, / life / was great, / At / least / for a little while. Kristina Snow is the perfect daughter: gifted high school junior, quiet, never any trouble. Then, Kristina meets the monster: crank. And what begins as a wild, ecstatic ride turns into a struggle through hell for her mind, her soul—her life.

Awards: YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers (2005), Gateway Readers Award (2007), Soaring Eagle Book Award (2009)

When she is tricked by her stepfather and sold into prostitution, thirteen-year-old Lakshmi becomes submerged in a nightmare where her only comfort is the friendship she forms with the other girls, which helps her survive and eventually escape.

Awards: Amelia Bloomer Lists - Young Adult Fiction (2007), Booklist Editors' Choice - Books for Youth (2006), California Young Reader Medal, YALSA Best Books for Young Adults (2007), YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers (2007)