Book List - Banned Books Week

So this past week (Sept. 24 - Oct. 4) has been Banned Books Week.  As the site will tell you Banned Books Week, organized by the American Library Association, started in the 1980s when the rise of neo-con, religious values lead interest groups to protest books with queer, sex-positive,  non-Christian, "witch craft", "racist", and overtly political messages.  I wrote witch craft and racist with quotation marks because these reasons have been used to ban Harry Potter and The Adventures of Huck Finn, which is especially troubling since Huck Finn might use the n-word but it's actually pointing out the wrongness of racism. The habit of banning books for racism when really they are criticizing racism in society has happened again in 2010.

This month's book list is the Top Ten Banned Books of 2010.  The majority of these are YA novels, the most banned book is for young children, and one book is a non-fiction book aimed at adults (though appropriate for YA audiences as well).

The Top 10 Banned Books of 2010

1. And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson is an adorable book about two male penguins raising a baby penguin in a zoo.  I recommended this book for Pre-K/K aged children in my Book List - Gay Pride Month post in June.  It was banned for homosexuality, religious view point, and having material unsuitable to age group.
2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is a YA book and story of a 14 year old Spokane Indian boy who transfers from his reservation school to a rich, white school. It's semi-autobiographical and deals with family death, reservation life, and questions of community and identity.  This book was banned for racism, offensive language, religious view points, sex education, violence, being sexually explicit, and for being unsuited to age group.
3. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is a classic sci-fi book suitable for YA and Adult readers.  It portrays a distopian world similar to that of The Giver where there is no violence, crime, poverty or individuality.  It's a critique of society and a warning to us on par with 1984 and Fahrenheit 451.  It was banned for insensitivity, offensive language, racism, and for being sexually explicit. 
4. Crank by Ellen Hopkins is a semi-autobiographical YA novel similar to Go Ask Alice.  It deals with teenage drug addiction and rape in a relatively realistic and completely unglamorized manner.  It was banned for drugs, offensive language, racism, and for being sexually explicit. 
5. The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins is the YA story of Panem, a distopian future US where children fight gladiatorial games, and Katniss Everdeen the girl who volunteered to take her sister's place and challenged the government by refusing to play by their rules.  I reviewed it here.   The series has been banned for violence, being sexually explicit, and unsuitable for the age group.
6. Lush by Natasha Friend is a YA book where a 13 year old girl struggles to deal with her father's alcoholism and pressure from her mother and grandmother to hide it from everyone. It also deals with more typical teenage problems like crushes and puberty,  It was banned for drugs, being sexually explicit, offensive language, and unsuitable for the age group.
7. What My Mother Doesn't Know by Sonya Sones is a YA book about a typical teenage girl dealing with relationships, crushes, issues with Mom, and understanding the difference between love and lust.  It's poetic and emotionally intense and banned for sexism, being sexually explicit, and unsuitable to age group. 
8. Nickle and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich is a famous non-fiction book about the author trying to survive on minimum wage in different parts of the country.  It examines the unfairness in the US, especially for women, and explains how important Welfare and a living wage really are.  It's been banned for drugs, inaccuracy, offensive language, political viewpoints, and religious viewpoints.
9. Revolutionary Voices by Amy Sonnie is a YA anthology of stories by queer and young writers. It's autobiographical for the various writes and wonderfully edited by 22 year old Amy Sonnie.  It's been banned for homosexuality, being being sexually explicit. 
10. Twilight (Series) by Stephanie Meyer is the incredibly popular YA series about the age old tale of love between a human girl and a 100 year old sparkling vampire.  While I have objections to the series (like the quality of writing) they're a bit different then the reasons it was banned; violence, being sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, and unsuited to audience. 

Now I have two reasons I have problems with the list.  The lesser one being some of the books banned for being sexually explicit don't portray anything more intense then kissing and cuddling, the ones being banned for racism are attacking and exposing racism, and the idea that people ban books for positively portraying queer characters is offensive.  

But my main objection to this list is that it exists at all.  Books should not be banned, it's an issue of free speech and access to opposing speech and stories.  The idea of institutionally stifling or hiding voices that portray something different or something that some people find objectionable is repugnant.  This is especially true when these voices portray the experiences of real people or are something that many people face or deal with.  Teenagers go through puberty and the majority of them experience desire.  Addiction and rape happen (to adults, teenagers, and even children).  Not everyone is straight and queer people are victimized and bullied.  People of Color experience racism.  To ban books at all is wrong, but to ban them for showing the world as it really is, instead of how white, conservative Christians want it to be, is inexcusable. 

To See Where Books Are Being Banned Near You

Gay Characters in Young Adult Fiction

Over the last couple of weeks the Literary/Gay blogosphere has focused on the inclusion (or lack there of) of LGBT characters and protagonists in young adult fiction.  It began when two authors, Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith, came out about how an agent for a major publishing house told them to remove the gay point of view/relationship from their sci-fi novel.

The Post That Started It All - The two authors wrote about an experience they had while trying to publish their joint post-apocalyptic novel Stranger.  There are five POV characters, one, Yuki, is gay and his relationship is important to the plot of the story.  One, unnamed agent from an unnamed, but major, publisher told them to remove the gay POV (along with at least one other POV) and references to his relationship.  The authors refused and the agent suggested that he could be revealed as gay in a sequel.  The authors refused and some time later decided to write about their experience and use it as a jumping off point to talk about queer inclusion in YA fiction.

Several days later an agent from the publishing house, but not the one Brown and Smith were in talks with, presented the publisher's side of the story. She called Brown and Smith liars, but didn't contradict most of what they were saying, and provided justifications for why Yuki should not be a POV character and his relationship, with another boy, be removed from the novel.

Other authors, and people in publishing, speak up.  Some relate their similar experiences with "straightwashing" while others call YA the most gay-inclusive area in fiction and claim nothing so homophobic could happen in YA fiction, or publishing in general. Two bloggers address the the various points people raise and provide links to a bunch of other posts. General Summary/Points and More Points.
Meanwhile Malinda Lo addresses the claim that YA in queer inclusive by breaking down the stats and percentages on the publishing of LGBT novels in the last 50 years.  She finds there has been a general increase in characters, but that less then 1% of published YA novels have a LGBT protagonist or supporting character. Of this 1%, half are male gay characters, and a quarter are lesbians.  Transgender people makes up only 4% of all LGBT characters in YA novels.

AfterElton, a gay media site, weights in on the topic, as does writer Sarah Rees Brennan.

Now, in case it needs saying, I'm all for the inclusion of queer characters in fiction, especially YA fiction.  I think all forms of media needs to get better at portraying LGBT(QIA) folk.  Several months ago I did of Book List with children and YA books with queer characters/protagonists, which you can find here.  I agree with this post on Where Change Must Come From. It isn't enough to say readers need to buy more LGBT books, or authors need to write more, or publishers need to publish more.  All these things must happen together.  And, in my humble opinion, publishers are the ones with the most power to enact change.  I can only buy LGBT books if they publish them, and my favorite authors (some of whom self publish) whose books I buy as soon as they come out, write books with queer characters.  And I wish there are more queer books, especially ones with bi-sexual and trans characters, I want these stories, for myself, and all the children out there.  And as this event, and others before it, shows, some authors are writing books with LGBT characters, and they're being told to remove the story lines (for marketing reasons).  Until this stops, and publishers have more then 1% of their total books include prominent LGBT characters (I refuse to believe only 1% of all YA books submitted have prominent queer characters and are of quality) then the vehicle for significant change rests with the publishing houses.

Book List - Gay Pride Month

June is Pride Month in the US and in honor of that here is a list of books featuring gay characters and themes.  As with other book lists I wanted the themes/morals of the stories to be secondary to the characters.  After all if books have well developed gay characters then they'll naturally raise awareness about gay people and the issues they face.  Some of the books listed with have a primary focus of gay characters and issues while other's will be stories that happen to have gay characters.  Also a lot of the gay rights movement and Pride focus on white men to the extent of silencing or ignoring women, people of color, and other people on the LGBTQ spectrum.  The counter this I tried to find several books that focused on or included characters that were POC and LGBTQ.

Book's I have read are marked with an *.

P-K/Kindergarten
* And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell  (The charming story of Roy and Silo, two boy penguins who fall in love and are given an egg to foster by their zoo keeper.)

Daddy, Papa, and Me by Leslea Newman (A Pre-K boardbook about a young toddler playing and daddy and papa and the activities they get up to.  The writing is in short rhymes.  It also has a companion Mommy, Mama, and Me.)

King & King written and illustrated by Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland.  (This is a story of a prince who is supposed to find a princess to marry, but falls in love with a prince instead.  This book has been translated into several languages and has a sequel King & King & Family.)

The White Swan Express by Jean Davies Okimoto and Elaine M. Aoki.  (This is the story of four Chinese baby girls and the people who adopt them. One family is a lesbian couple, and another person is a single mom. )

1st - 2nd Grade
Anna Day and the O-ring written and illustrated by Elaine Wickens and Alyson Wonderland. (Evan, his two mom's, and their dog Anna Day are getting ready for Evan's birthday party when the O-ring for the tent goes missing.)

Mom and Mum Are Getting Married! by Ken Setterington.  (Rosie's mom's are getting married and she wants to be the flower girl and take care of the wedding rings.  But are Rosie and her brother Jack mature enough?)

One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dad, Blue Dads by Johnny Valentine.  (A Dr. Seuss like rhyming book about a brown boy, Lou, answering his friend's questions about Lou's two blue dads.)

3rd - 5th Grade
* The Skull of Truth by Bruce Coville.  (Charlie, a chronic lier, finds a skull (that used to belong to Shakespeare!) that makes everyone around it tell the truth.  A sub-plot of the book has to do with the revelation that Charlie's favorite uncle is gay)

Young Adult
* Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan.  (Jamie, one of the main characters of the series, is gay.  Several secondary characters are as well.  The main focus of the story is on magic and family, though additional content on Rees Brennan's web-page shows more from Jamie's, or the secondary characters, perspectives.) Reviewed by me.

The House You Pass on the Way by Jacqueline Woodson.  (Bi-racial Staggerlee has felt even more confused and different ever since she kissed her best friend Hazel.  Luckily she has a kindred spirit in her cousin Trout.)

The Pride Pack by R.J. Hamilton.  (A mystery series about gay teens and adults.  The first two books in the series are Who Framed Lorenzo Garcia? and The Case of the Missing Mother.)

* Rainbow Boys by Alex Sanchez.  (The story of Kyle, Jason, and Nelson, three gay teens growing up and falling in love in a conservative town. There are two sequels Rainbow High and Rainbow Road.  All of the books have some sexual content. Not the best written series ever but it really focuses on gay characters and themes and the later books have other LGBTQ characters.)