A table of banned books on a display at Barnes & Noble Union Square.
Photo by Jennifer Ward
Authors coming to terms with their books being banned by governments in the U.S. are confronting an unfortunate but common reality. Abdi Nazemian knows this matter well.
Nazemian is the author of a popular young adult novel, “Like a Love Story,” released in 2019. Although “Like a Love Story” was Nazemian’s third novel, it felt like his first book from the heart.
“I felt finally empowered enough and also ready to be vulnerable enough to tell a story that was much more emotionally autobiographical,” Nazemian recalled on writing the book. It tells a story close to home, of a young immigrant from Iran moving to New York and coming to his queer awakening. The book is set in 1989, a time when being queer was synonymous with the stigma of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, more commonly referred to as AIDS.
The book is also about the people Nazemian met throughout his life who inspired him. “In some ways, it’s a book about a very tragic chapter in our history. But it’s also a book about how community can come together to heal and empower,” he said.
But one spring day, Nazemian recalled, he opened his then Twitter account to see high-profile accounts such as Moms for Liberty, a conservative nonprofit organization focused on education for children, taking sentences of his book out of context. When he would confront them, they would admit they didn’t even read the book.
“I think the reason I remember it so vividly is because I made the mistake of interacting. I didn’t know who the Moms for Liberty were at that point. I had heard the words Moms for Liberty and I’m like, ‘Oh cool! I love moms! I love liberty! These must be good people!” Nazemian laughed, looking back. He continued that after back and forths on social media, he began receiving violent threats. “I remember very vividly the feeling of vulnerability being placed in me,” said Nazemian.
“Like a Love Story” is just one of 23,000 books banned in classrooms nationwide, according to PEN America, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting free speech and the freedom to write. It began tracking banned books in 2021, with conservative governments and school boards initiating most of these bans.
Abdi Nazemian and his novel, “Like A Love Story,” which had made its way to the banned books list.
In a study conducted by PEN, the majority of the banned books focus on racism, homophobia, or simply feature people of color and queer characters. Another study by PEN found that schools banned 15% of books that feature activism and social movements.But book bans have an often-overlooked, deleterious effect on young minds.
According to a study by American University, children lose compassion, media literacy, civic engagement and critical thinking skills when the content of what they read about becomes limited. In fact, another PEN study found that schools banned 15% of books that feature activism and social movements during the 2023-2024 academic year. Brooklyn school teacher WK Kay warns that this will affect the kinds of thinkers schools produce.
“The more diverse reading that you do, your critical thinking goes up, your empathy goes up,” said Kay. “So, I think the real thing is going to be the fewer stories that get told, the fewer those things we see in our students.” Not only are students losing out on an education when books are banned, they are also missing a chance to learn about themselves.
In reading books that are deemed inappropriate, spokesperson for the Brooklyn Public Library Frizi Bodenheimer believes young queer children could lose an opportunity to read about a character that may allow them to discover something new about themselves. Or perhaps, a young child of color may read about a character having similar experiences they have faces, and feel less alone in their struggles.
“What does that message send to you in all the books about people that look like you, or all the books about people of color, are taken off the shelf because they’re ‘bad’ or ‘evil,’” said Bodenheimer. “What message does that send to a young person who’s just figuring themselves out about who they are?”
Banned books not only affect red states, but blue states such as New York have also seen a rise in bans. According to the Albany Times Union, in 2023, 57 books were challenged in New York. In resistance, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) created a model policy encouraging schools to create a district-wide committee that includes teachers, students and reading content specialists. This would allow an opportunity to vote on whether a book should be banned.
Host of the “This Queer Book Saved My Life” podcast, John Parker, says those who want to ban books aim to err on the side of caution. They hideaway books about queer individuals to prevent certain conversations, although he says, “kids are having the conversations, whether you want them to or not.”
“This is about something much greater than books,” said Bodenheimer. “We have freedom of the press–so far– we have freedom of speech, you can practice whatever religion you want or none at all,” said Bodenheimer. “Books are really an extension of that, you should be able to read any book that you want from all different perspectives. Just because you don’t like a book doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be on the shelf for other people.”
“Any book you think should be banned, I hope you’ve read it first,” said Kay. “I think a lot of these stories are not as objectionable as these folks think that they are. They are being told by other people what these books say and what these books mean to their children.”