Fifteen Books That People Want Banned in Colorado

During his 24 years with Douglas County Libraries, James "Jamie" LaRue, the author of On Censorship, estimates that he fielded some 250 challenges to what the public library system offered: books, films, magazines, music, even exhibits and speakers. He's currently in the midst of another controversy in Garfield County, where he's the executive director of the library system and Japanese manga is under attack.

Manga is a relative outlier in the book-banning world; most challenges in Colorado have focused on LGBTQ+ issues or race. And some even involve both: Clutch your pearls!

What books have been challenged in this state? Here are fifteen titles that star in recent Colorado cases, listed alphabetically by the surname of their authors.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Steven Chbosky
The acclaimed Young Adult (YA) novel from 1999 (made into a hit film in 2012) follows a young man through the perils of adolescence.
Reasons for challenge: LGBTQ+ issues and sexual content.

This Book Is Gay, Juno Dawson
A frank and entertaining "instruction manual" on understanding gender and sexual identity.
Reason for challenge: because it's a frank and entertaining "instruction manual" on understanding gender and sexual identity.

Prison School, Akira Hiramoto
One of the manga being attacked in Garfield County libraries, Hiramoto's graphic novel is definitely meant for adults in terms of both its comedy and sexual content, but it's telling that one of the specific complaints was "It appears that a lot of people are pushing gay pride on children."
Reason for challenge: ostensibly for adult content, but clearly LGBTQ+ issues as well.

Identical, Ellen Hopkins
A New York Times best-selling novel about disturbing and dark family secrets.
Reason for challenge: sexual content.

Middle School's a Drag, You Better Werk!, Greg Howard
A comic YA novel about an enterprising boy who starts his own junior talent agency and signs a thirteen-year-old aspiring drag queen as his first client.
Reason for challenge: LGBTQ+ content.

Some Girls Bind, Rory James
A novel-in-verse about a young girl confronting her own tendency to bind and wondering if that means she's "genderqueer."
Reason for challenge: LGBTQ+ issues.

All Boys Aren't Blue, George M. Johnson
A series of essays that make up the memoir of journalist and activist George M. Johnson.
Reason for challenge: Johnson's activism was in support of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Gender Queer, Maia Kobabe
Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, presents an intense, honest and cathartic autobiography in graphic novel form.
Reason for challenge: LGBTQ+ issues.

The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish Swish Swish, Lil Miss Hot Mess
A take-off on "The Wheels on the Bus" in which a drag queen does her routine in front of an appreciative audience. Reason for challenge: LGBTQ+ issues.

Julián Is a Mermaid, Jessica Love
Julián is a kid who likes to dress like a mermaid and run around in his underpants.
Reason for challenge: As Lauren Boebert sneered, “He can freely express himself.”

Let’s Talk About It: The Teen's Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human, Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan
This inclusive and accessible graphic novel offers a friendly guide to growing up, from gender and sexuality to consent and safe sex. Perfect for any teen starting to ask: Is what I'm feeling normal?
Reason for challenge: sex, and an apparent need on the part of some parents to define what "normal" is for everyone else.

The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
Morrison's classic first novel about race and identity focuses on a 1941 African-American family in Ohio, and is one of the true classics of twentieth-century literature.
Reason for challenge: the attempted whitewashing of America.

Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts), Lev A.C. Rosen
Another YA novel having to do with young love and sexual identity, told in an unapologetic manner.
Reason for challenge: LGBTQ+ issues, and probably that unapologetic part, too.

Push, Sapphire
The award-winning novel that was developed into the 2009 Oscar-winning film Precious.
Reason for challenge: supposedly sexual details, but race plays a far larger role in the book.

Lucky, Alice Sebold
The author of The Lovely Bones writes about her own harrowing experience suffering a brutal rape as a freshman in college.
Reason for challenge: details of sexual assault and its aftermath.