We do not have a challenge to any book," Haney said. "If we would have had a challenge from a patron/employee with standing according to the policy, then the policy outlines how the district would proceed."

He added, "But just because we don't have an official challenge to a book doesn't mean we can't review titles for content." when Claudia has a pseudo break-down, the school nurse administers a narcotic sedative via a shot (in what universe does this story take place?); It’s crucial for authors to not only respect the victims but also respect the families by doing solid research and making their stories appropriately different. Additionally, in all of my school talks and book chats, I make it a point to teach kids the difference between ‘based on’ vs. ‘inspired by’ so that readers are fully aware my books are not the carbon copy of someone’s tragedy. The removal appears to violate the district's own policies for what happens when someone has concerns about books owned by a school library.Gender Queer is a graphic memoir published in 2019 by nonbinary illustrator Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns. The book charts eir discovery of eir gender identity through adolescence. Kobabe’s memoir has been challenged in states like Iowa, New Jersey, and Virginia. In a Washington Post op-ed, Kobabe dismissed parents' claims that the book “promoted pedophilia” (because of its depiction of an erotic Greek vase) as “a common accusation against work with themes of queer sexuality.” 5. Melissa (Previously known as George) by Alex Gino When you have "before" "after" and "one year / two years before the before", it's pretty easy to get lost. It would really pull me out of my immersion when I had to pause and say, "wait, what? where / when are we right now?" And some of that is clearer later on and some isn't. But it could definitely prevent some people from getting into the book at all.

I am appalled," she said. "I guess I assumed it was possible, which is why we prepare for something like this. I don't think as a librarian you ever expect it. You don't expect people to go against their own policies, for one thing. ... But access to information is such a universally, bipartisan concept. I just don't understand in what realm you decide limiting access to information is going to take you down a good path." Book challenges up nationwide It's a compelling premise, to be sure, but the novel's confusing timeline paired with lots of padding drained every bit of tension and urgency out of the story. Where Allegedly had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish, Monday's Not Coming failed to make my heart pound and my jaw clench like the author’s first book. The mystery of what happened to Monday did intrigue me. The big issue with this book is the timeline. It makes more sense once you finish the book because it explains things a bit better. However, this isn't any help when you're reading the book for the first time making that not matter much. I got to the point that I stopped trying to make sense of the timeline and just went with it because I wanted to know where Monday was. Come to find out, there is actually three timelines going on at once. The only bits that made sense were the scenes from before Monday ever went missing because that's pretty clear that this is showing us Claudia & Monday's friendship. There didn't seem to be much importance to those beyond that, though. But the different after bits got very confusing about when they were actually happening. one of the two police who eventually investigate Monday's disappearance is the same cop who patronizingly refused to listen to Claudia's concerns earlier on (and Claudia does not disclose this later when it would be important);It doesn't make any sense to me," he said. "It's like they're looking for a cause to fight for. Maybe it made more sense 50 years ago." But the woman, who asked that only her first name be used, said she never asked for the books to be pulled from the shelves.

It's first time I am talking about chapter titles , but the way the chapters are named it waa so innovative and creative , like I was really impressed by the revelation which will lead to discovery of why the chapters are named this way .

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Out of Darkness," by Ashley Hope Perez, a novel set in 1937 in New London, Texas that examines segregation, love, family and racism. If you read the synopsis there is this comment by Laurie Halse Anderson "mesmerizing punch in gut" ACCURATE ! Carmen Maria Machado’s memoir about being in an abusive queer relationship was permanently pulled from a Texas school district’s book clubs and classroom libraries in December 2021. Like many other LGBTQ+ stories, In the Dream House has been challenged for explicit content with one parent saying that having children read the book was akin to “child abuse.” Machado has been outspoken about the latent homophobia in these claims, writing in The New York Times that “those who seek to ban my book and others like it are trying to exploit fear… and distort it into something ugly, in an attempt to wish away queer experiences.” 7. All Boys Aren’t Blue

In the “One Year Before the Before” chapters, the novel shows that a close friendship can be an extremely valuable source of support and safety. For instance, because of their close friendship, Monday and Claudia are able to effectively navigate a difficult bullying situation at school. Because they have each other to lean on, they usually find that it’s not even worth it to respond to their classmates’ taunts—they’ll never have to try to befriend them, anyway. Further, though Claudia doesn’t realize it until the end of the novel, the girls’ friendship offers Monday an important and necessary escape from the abuse and neglect she suffers at home. At Claudia’s house, Monday is able to see what a healthier relationship between two parents and between parents and children looks like; she’s able to eat full meals and have a clean, warm place to sleep; and perhaps most importantly, she’s temporarily safe from Mrs. Charles’s abuse. Michael, Claudia’s boyfriend in the “After” timeline, even suggests outright that Claudia saved Monday for years, simply by lessening the amount abuse that Monday could have otherwise suffered. The novel shows that traumatic experiences can cause a person to repress and misremember uncomfortable truths, even though doing so is ultimately unhelpful. For instance, after it’s revealed that Mrs. Charles murdered Monday and August, Claudia shares a secret with readers: on some level, she knew all along that Monday was dead—but she hoped that Monday had been murdered by a stranger, not by her mother, which is why she repressed the truth and kept searching for answers. It’s far more palatable for Claudia to simply forget that Mrs. Charles brutally murdered Monday and kept her body in the freezer for almost a year than it is to spend years searching for a different outcome. And Claudia has other reasons for refusing to accept the truth: accepting that Monday is gone means that Claudia would have to put Monday’s memory to rest, which Claudia can’t bear to do. Further, accepting Monday’s death would mean that Claudia would also have to accept that she’s on her own in life—a wildly uncomfortable prospect for her, given that Claudia relied on Monday for everything. Overwhelmingly, then, the novel suggests that Claudia buries the fact that Monday is dead in an attempt at self-preservation. The truth is far more difficult and uncomfortable to face than the prospect that Monday might still be out there, waiting for Claudia to rescue her.This is the story of how my best friend disappeared. How nobody noticed she was gone except me. And how nobody cared until they found her . . . one year later. But worse than that was the constant jumping around between different timelines. There's Claudia in the "Before", as she is discovering that Monday has disappeared, Claudia in the "After", which is later when she knows what happened, and then we get chapters like "Two Years Before the Before", which not only sounds stupid, but also makes for a very confusing read. Across the country, books are disappearing from library shelves. In an offshoot of the conservative movement to restrict how teachers can talk about the history of race and racism in the United States, parents and politicians have demanded the removal of books they deem inappropriate for kids and teens. According to The Washington Post, between September and November of 2021, the American Library Association saw the highest number of book challenges in any three-month period since they started collecting data in 1990.