News & Features

The most challenged graphic novel this fall: Gender Queer. And the award-winning Maia Kobabe memoir remains a frequent target nationwide. Graphic novels are more vulnerable, says Jonathan Friedman of PEN America, as older people simply are less comfortable with them. 

SLJ rounds up censorship news around the country, with reports of books threatened with removal in Arizona, Iowa, Missouri, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

SLJ is reporting on the surge of book challenges across the country and telling the library's perspective on this important story. What is your story? Responses can be anonymous. 

The Front Desk author tweeted a call to action to her colleagues, as she tries to "motivate and mobilize" people to fight coordinated efforts to remove books from schools and libraries.

A Twitter campaign organized by #FReadom prompted authors—including Cynthia Leitich Smith, Laurie Halse Anderson, Alex Gino, Jarrett J. Krosoczka, and others—to share the heartfelt messages they have received from young people who connected with their books.

Penguin Young Readers is offering an educator guide for teaching the 1619 Project’s picture book, Born on the Water, along with Change Sings and The Hill We Climb; ALA speaks out against censorship; and other industry news.

Tools for handling challenges to diverse books programs.

Pat Scales answers questions about a recommended booklist; culling biographies for "questionable behavior," and titles that might upset kids in foster care.

Malinda Lo's Last Night at the Telegraph Club won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. In her speech, the author asked viewers to help ensure the stories of the LGBTQ community and people of color continue to be told and available in libraries and schools.