![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/IMG_6636.jpg\" "\\"Banned")
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A table of banned books on a display at Barnes & Noble Union Square.<\/p>\n
Photo by Jennifer Ward<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nazemian is the author of a popular young adult novel, \u201cLike a Love Story,\u201d released in 2019. Although \u201cLike a Love Story\u201d was Nazemian\u2019s third novel, it felt like his first book from the heart.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt finally empowered enough and also ready to be vulnerable enough to tell a story that was much more emotionally autobiographical,\u201d 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The book is also about the people Nazemian met throughout his life who inspired him. \u201cIn some ways, it\u2019s a book about a very tragic chapter in our history. But it\u2019s also a book about how community can come together to heal and empower,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But one spring day, Nazemian recalled, he opened his then Twitter account to see high-profile accounts such as Moms for Liberty<\/a>, 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\u2019t even read the book.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think the reason I remember it so vividly is because I made the mistake of interacting. I didn\u2019t know who the Moms for Liberty were at that point. I had heard the words Moms for Liberty and I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh cool! I love moms! I love liberty! These must be good people!\u201d Nazemian laughed, looking back. He continued that after back and forths on social media, he began receiving violent threats. \u201cI remember very vividly the feeling of vulnerability being placed in me,\u201d said Nazemian.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cLike a Love Story\u201d is just one of 23,000 books<\/a> 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a study conducted by PEN, the majority of the banned books <\/a>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<\/a>.But book bans have an often-overlooked, deleterious effect on young minds.<\/p>\n 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. <\/a>In fact, another PEN study found that schools banned 15% of books that feature activism and social movements during the 2023-2024 academic year. <\/a>\u00a0Brooklyn school teacher WK Kay warns that this will affect the kinds of thinkers schools produce.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe more diverse reading that you do, your critical thinking goes up, your empathy goes up,\u201d said Kay. \u201cSo, I think the real thing is going to be the fewer stories that get told, the fewer those things we see in our students.\u201d Not only are students losing out on an education when books are banned, they are also missing a chance to learn about themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhat 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\u2019re \u2018bad\u2019 or \u2018evil,\u2019\u201d said Bodenheimer. \u201cWhat message does that send to a young person who\u2019s just figuring themselves out about who they are?\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Abdi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/B905A15F-013F-4D44-AEF1-21AAD4F2A8716F1764AF-6EC5-4103-B33C-A7B13E9C56B0.jpeg\" "\\"Banned")
<\/a>Abdi Nazemian and his novel, \u201cLike A Love Story,\u201d which had made its way to the banned books list.<\/p>\n