Hollywood hasn’t shied away from books that deal with controversial subjects. Last year, I was going to do a post on the rights to these books, figuring that most would be available. One thing that gives me hope about Hollywood is how many of these books have either been adapted for screen or optioned. 2 and Flamer, Mike Curato 's semi-autobiographical graphic novel about a 14-year-old biracial boy trying to figure out his sexuality one summer at Boy Scouts camp. 1, George Johnson 's Black teen gay romance, All Boys Aren't Blue, at No. This year's list is all sex, all the time, particularly anything to do with the LGBTQIA+ community, which accounts for seven books on the list, including Maia Kobabe 's memoir, Gender Queer, at No. Also on the list: books that engaged religion, ranging from the Harry Potter series for promoting witchcraft to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Nasreen’s Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan (for having a "religious viewpoint"). In the past, the list primarily included books with sophomoric bathroom humor aimed at young readers ( Captain Underpants was a perennial), as well as ones that touched upon the racial debate in the country, either for being anti-racist ( The Hate U Give ) or perpetuating racial tropes ( To Kill a Mockingbird for being a "white savior" story). The composition of the list has also changed. The list reflects the organized nature of challenges now and how right-wing politicians and media figures have stoked fears most of the challenges these days cite multiple titles at once versus previous years when most cited a single book. According to the ALA, 2,571 different books were challenged last year, a 38 percent jump from last year and almost 5x the number pre-pandemic, when the ALA counted 566 different titles with challenges. Welcome to The Optionist! I'm always fascinated by the American Library Association's annual list of the 10 most challenged books, that is the titles that got the most complaints for inappropriate content and requests to be removed, which just dropped this week. SNOW BUSINESS Robert Peary, on his return from the 1909 expedition during which he claimed to have set foot on the North Pole - a statement that became the subject of a fierce newspaper war.
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