WASHINGTON – A New York Times bestseller that chronicles the true story of a nonbinary teenager set on fire by another teen while riding a bus in Oakland, California.
A collection of stories and poems by a New York Times bestselling author about the feelings and experiences of teenagers in love.
An NPR “best book of the year” award winner featuring authors and illustrators sharing personal stories about their conversations with their kids about race in America today.
This is a small sampling of the kinds of books that have been marked for “quarantine” in school libraries run by the Defense Department’s Education Activity, or DoDEA. For months, officials atop this agency have been quietly flagging and banning dozens of books in response to President Donald Trump’s executive orders requiring federal agencies to eliminate programs or materials related to diversity, equity and inclusion.
The effect is that tens of thousands of kids in U.S. military families living on military bases worldwide no longer have access at their school libraries to celebrated and highly recommended books that happen to talk about LGBTQ+ people and people of color.
HuffPost obtained an internal list of 80-something books that have been banned, or are in the process of being banned, at schools across the DoDEA system, which provides K-12 education to more than 67,000 kids in 11 countries, seven states, Guam and Puerto Rico.
HuffPost isn’t providing the full list at the request of the DoDEA employee who shared it; they feared they could lose their job. But the clear theme to these books is that in one way or another, they talk about gender identity, sexuality and race.
Some of the books on the list include:
“The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives,” by Dashka Slater. This nonfiction book tells the backstories of two very different teens and explores race, class, gender and crime. It has won multiple awards, including being ranked as a Time Magazine best young adult book for all time.
“If I Was Your Girl,” by Meredith Russo. This story follows a young trans woman who has gone to live with her estranged father after being bullied at her old school, and navigates her relationships with new friends and her first romance. It has won numerous awards and was listed as a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year.
“Pet,” by Akwaeke Emezi. A story about a Black transgender woman navigating her place in the world. This book is a…
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