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 National Book Award finalist and was named one of the best books of the year by The New York Times, Time, NPR, New York Public Library, Publisher’s Weekly and School Library Journal. Kirkus Reviews named it one of the best young adult books of the century.
“19 Love Songs,” by David Levithan. Written by a New York Times bestselling author, this book is a collection of short stories that explores big and small moments in young adult relationships. Some of the stories, but not all, have LGBTQ+ themes or characters.
“Cemetery Boys,” by Aiden Thomas. This story follows a character named Yadriel, a Latino transgender teen who sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free. Written by a New York Times bestselling author, this book was a Goodreads nominee for readers’ favorite debut novel and for readers’ favorite young adult fantasy and science-fiction book.
“Between the World and Me,” by Ta-Nehisi Coates. The award-winning author writes in the form of a letter to his then-teenage son about his perception of the feelings, symbolism and realities associated with being Black in America.
“The Talk: Conversations about Race, Love & Truth,” by Wade Hudson. This book is a collection of short stories from 30 award-winning authors and illustrators that engage young people in open conversations about racism, identity and self-esteem. The New York Times rated it the best children’s book of the year, as did NPR and Bank Street College of Education.
In some confusion over that last book, DoDEA officials also accidentally banned a similar-sounding book — “The Talk,” by Darrin Bell — in all the schools that had it, according to the DoDEA employee. Bell is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist, and this book, a memoir about police brutality and anti-Blackness, has won multiple awards. It was rated a 2023 top 10 pick by the New York Public Library system and by the Chicago Public Library system, and named one of the best graphic novels of 2023 by School Library Journal.
Still, senior DoDEA officials’ focus on rooting out books that talk about transgender people stands out the most, said this DoDEA employee.
“They are really trying to deny transgender people exist,” said the employee. “It makes me physically ill.”
A second DoDEA employee told HuffPost it’s clear that, in their scramble to comply with Trump’s executive orders, the agency’s leadership has had “a tendency to err far on the side of caution.”
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DoDEA students last month sued the agency over its book bans, arguing that it is violating their First Amendment rights. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the suit on behalf of 12 students from six families, ranging in age from pre-K to 11th grade. All are children of active-duty U.S. service members stationed in Virginia, Kentucky, Italy or Japan.
In their lawsuit, they cite other books they say have been banned in DoDEA schools in response to Trump’s executive orders. They include “The Kite Runner,” a New York Times bestseller by Khaled Hosseini; “Freckleface Strawberry,” by actress and New York Times bestselling author Julianne Moore; “Hillbilly Elegy,” by Vice President JD Vance; “The Antiracist Kid,” by New York Times bestselling author Tiffany Jewell; and a preparation guide for an Advanced Placement psychology exam.
“Learning is a sacred and foundational right that is now being limited for students in DoDEA schools,” Natalie Tolley, a plaintiff on behalf of her three children, said in a statement. “The implementation of these [executive orders], without any due process or parental or professional input, is a violation of our children’s right to access information that prevents them from learning about their own histories, bodies, and identities.”
A DoDEA spokesperson said he couldn’t comment on the list of banned books obtained by HuffPost, or on any books that may have been pulled off the shelves at DoDEA school libraries, given the new lawsuit.
“I cannot comment on active litigations,” Michael O’Day, the communications director for DoDEA Americas, said in a statement.
However, DoDEA remains “unwavering in its dedication to providing an exceptional educational experience for every student,” said O’Day. “Our curriculum, rigorously aligned with DoDEA’s proven standards, has earned us the distinction of being the top-ranked school system in the United States for four consecutive years, based on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the Nation’s Report Card.”
“They are really trying to deny transgender people exist. It makes me physically ill.”
– An employee at a Defense Department-run school.
HuffPost previously talked to an active-duty military officer overseas with kids attending a DoDEA school. He described Trump’s anti-DEI policies as a constant source of stress and fear for people around him, including at home: His spouse is a DoDEA teacher and he has LGBTQ+ children.
Trump’s attacks on LGBTQ+ kids and transgender service members “hits home in so many ways,” said the officer. “It’s dehumanizing.”
Members of Congress previously wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, urging him to stop to the “Orwellian book purges” within DoDEA schools.
“We write to express our grave concern about the escalating censorship taking place in schools run by the Department of Defense,” reads a March letter to Hegseth from more than two dozen lawmakers, led by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.
“You are plainly violating the constitutional rights of DoD families,” they wrote.
A Defense Department spokesperson on Thursday declined comment on the lawmakers’ letter, saying only, “As with all congressional correspondence, we will respond directly to its authors.”