Texas | Jackson Public Library

Author

Description

At New York City's Central Park Zoo, two male penguins fall in love and start a family by taking turns sitting on an abandoned egg until it hatches. Based on a true story.

2) Better Nate than ever

Author

Federle, Tim

Description

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Nate Foster has big dreams. His whole life, he's wanted to star in a Broadway show. But how is Nate supposed to make his dreams come true when he's stuck in Jankburg, Pennsylvania, where no one, except his best pal Libby, appreciates a good show tune? With Libby's help, Nate plans a daring overnight escape to New York. There's an open casting call for E.T.: The Musical, and Nate knows this could be the difference between small-town blues and big-time...

3) Beyond magenta: transgender teens speak out

Author

Kuklin, Susan

Notes

This book, a collection of interviews with transgender or gender-neutral young adults, was flagged for removal by a parent in Birdville who claimed that the book, which includes descriptions of sexual abuse of minors, encourages sexual activity among young children.

Formats:

Book, eBook, Kindle

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"Author and photographer Susan Kuklin met and interviewed six transgender or gender-neutral young adults and used her considerable skills to represent them thoughtfully and respectfully before, during, and after their personal acknowledgment of gender preference. Portraits, family photographs, and candid images grace the pages, augmenting the emotional and physical journey each youth has taken. Each honest discussion and disclosure, whether joyful...

4) The Bluest Eye

Author

Morrison, Toni

Notes

This classic novel by the Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison should be banned from schools, according to a parent in the Fort Worth suburb of Birdville, because it includes a graphic description of rape.

Formats:

Book, Audio, eBook, Kindle

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NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A PARADE BEST BOOK OF ALL TIME • From the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner—a powerful examination of our obsession with beauty and conformity that asks questions about race, class, and gender with characteristic subtly and grace.

In Morrison’s acclaimed first novel, Pecola Breedlove—an 11-year-old Black girl in an America whose love for its blond, blue-eyed children...

5) breakaways

This entry no longer exists in the catalog

6) City of thieves: a novel

Author

Benioff, David

Notes

A parent in San Antonio asked the Northside Independent School District to ban this work historical fiction, set during the Nazis’ siege of Leningrad, because it includes “pornographic imagery” that is "not suited for the majority" of readers, the parent wrote, adding, "... unless you're into that."

Formats:

Book, Audio, eAudiobook

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When a dead German paratrooper lands in his street, Lev is caught looting the body and dragged to jail, fearing for his life. He shares his cell with the charismatic and grandiose Kolya, a handsome young soldier arrested on desertion charges. Instead of the standard bullet in the back of the head, Lev and Kolya are given a chance at saving their own lives by complying with an outrageous directive: secure a dozen eggs for a powerful colonel to use

...

7) Class act

Author

Craft, Jerry

Notes

A Katy mom said this graphic novel, the second in a series, should be removed from schools because it will make white children feel guilty and "kids will be brainwashed that one race is superior than the other."

Formats:

Book, Audio, eAudiobook

Description

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New York Times bestselling author Jerry Craft returns with a companion book to New Kid, winner of the 2020 Newbery Medal, the Coretta Scott King Author Award, and the Kirkus Prize. The audiobook was a 2020 Audie Awards Finalist for Middle Grade and named an Audible Best Audiobook of the Year.

This time, it's Jordan's friend Drew who takes center stage in another laugh-out-loud funny,

...

8) A court of mist and fury

Author

Maas, Sarah J

Series

Court of thorns and roses volume 2

Notes

The second in a series of young adult fantasy novels, this is one of dozens of library books that have been flagged for removal in Keller.

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

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Though Feyre now has the powers of the High Fae, her heart remains human, but as she navigates the feared Night Court's dark web of politics, passion, and dazzling power, a greater evil looms -- and she might be key to stopping it.

9) Drama

Author

Telgemeier, Raina

Notes

A parent asked administrators at the Spring Branch Independent School District in Houston to pull this graphic novel, which features gay and bisexual characters, because she claimed it might lead young students "to question their sexual orientation when they don't even comprehend what that means."

Description

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Callie rides an emotional roller coaster while serving on the stage crew for a middle school production of Moon over Mississippi as various relationships start and end, and others never quite get going.

10) Flamer

Author

Curato, Mike

Notes

The School Library Journal said this graphic novel, about a boy wrestling with his sexuality at summer camp, is "an essential book that shows readers that they are never alone in their struggles." It's one of dozens of library books that have been flagged for removal in Keller.

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"It's the summer between middle school and high school, and Aiden Navarro is away at camp. Everyone's going through changes--but for Aiden, the stakes feel higher. As he navigates friendships, deals with bullies, and spends time with Elias (a boy he can't stop thinking about), he finds himself on a path of self-discovery and acceptance."--Provided by publisher.

11) Fun home: a family tragicomic

Author

Bechdel, Alison

Notes

This illustrated memoir, which recounts the author’s coming of age as a lesbian, is unsuitable for schools, according to a parent in Birdville, because it includes graphic descriptions of sexual violence.

Description

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This book takes its place alongside the unnerving, memorable, darkly funny family memoirs of Augusten Burroughs and Mary Karr. It's a father-daughter tale perfectly suited to the graphic memoir form. Meet Alison's father, a historic preservation expert and obsessive restorer of the family's Victorian house, a third-generation funeral home director, a high school English teacher, an icily distant parent, and a closeted homosexual who, as it turns out,...

12) Gender queer: a memoir

Author

Kobabe, Maia

Notes

This illustrated memoir by a nonbinary author, which includes sexually explicit cartoon images, triggered attempted bans — and even threats of criminal charges — in several Texas school districts.

Description

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"In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographical comic e would ever write. At the time, it was the only thing e felt comfortable with strangers knowing about em. Now, GENDER QUEER is here. Maia's intensely cathartic autobiography charts eir journey of self-identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to...

13) George

Author

Gino, Alex

Notes

This book, lauded for its portrayal of a transgender child, is one of dozens of library books that have been flagged for removal in Keller.

Description

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Knowing herself to be a girl despite her outwardly male appearance, George is denied a female role in the class play before teaming up with a friend to reveal her true self.

14) Ghost boys

Author

Rhodes, Jewell Parker

Notes

According to a Houston parent, reading this novel about a Black boy killed by police might cause white children who attend the Spring Branch Independent School District to “feel ashamed based on color of their skin.”

Description

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"After seventh-grader Jerome is shot by a white police officer, he observes the aftermath of his death and meets the ghosts of other fallen black boys including historical figure Emmett Till." -- Provided by publisher.

15) Girls Like Us

Author

Giles, Gail

Notes

This novel, which includes descriptions of sexual abuse, is one of dozens of library books that have been flagged for removal in Keller.

Formats:

eBook, Kindle

Description

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A 2015 Schneider Family Book Award Winner
With gentle humor and unflinching realism, Gail Giles tells the gritty, ultimately hopeful story of two special ed teenagers entering the adult world.
We understand stuff. We just learn it slow. And most of what we understand is that people what ain't Speddies think we too stupid to get out our own way. And that makes me mad.
Quincy and Biddy are both graduates of their high

...

16) The giver

Author

Lowry, Lois

Series

The Giver Quartet

Formats:

Book, Audio, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

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Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.

17) The giving tree

Author

Silverstein, Shel

Description

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A young boy grows to manhood and old age experiencing the love and generosity of a tree which gives to him without thought of return.

18) Go with the Flow

Author

Schneemann, Karen

Formats:

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High school students embark on a crash course of friendship, female empowerment, and women's health issues in Lily Williams and Karen Schneemann's graphic novel Go With the Flow.
Good friends help you go with the flow.
Best friends help you start a revolution.
Sophomores Abby, Brit, Christine, and Sasha are fed up. Hazelton High never has enough tampons. Or pads. Or adults who will listen.
Sick of an administration

...

19) A Good Kind of Trouble

Author

Ramée, Lisa Moore

Notes

An Eanes parent asked administrators to get rid of this novel, about a 12-year-old girl who gets involved in the Black Lives Matter movement, because it might cause a white child to feel "confusion or distress."

Formats:

eBook, Kindle

Description

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From debut author Lisa Moore Ramée comes this funny and big-hearted debut middle grade novel about friendship, family, and standing up for what's right, perfect for fans of Angie Thomas's The Hate U Give and the novels of Renée Watson and Jason Reynolds.

Twelve-year-old Shayla is allergic to trouble. All she wants to do is to follow the rules. (Oh, and she'd also like to make it through seventh grade with her best

...

20) A good kind of trouble

Author

Ram�ee, Lisa Moore

Description

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Twelve-year-old Shayla is allergic to trouble. All she wants to do is to follow the rules. (Oh, and she'd also like to make it through seventh grade with her best friendships intact, learn to run track, and have a cute boy see past her giant forehead.) But in junior high, it's like all the rules have changed. Now she's suddenly questioning who her best friends are and some people at school are saying she's not black enough. Wait, what? Shay's sister,...