Johnson, whose book is currently the third most challenged book in 2021, said he believes this is intentional and driven by fears that Generation Z, the most racially diverse and LGBTQ-identifying demographic, is threatening to push major changes at the ballot box. In the school year spanning 20, PEN America - whose Los Angeles director, Allison Lee, moderated the panel - reported that nearly half of the banned books were YA novels, 41% featured an LGBTQ character and 40% had a character of color. There are concerns that these bans are disproportionately targeting queer writers and authors of color. surged, almost doubling from 2021 and setting a 20-year record, according to the American Library Assn. In 2022, the number of attempted book bans across the U.S. But “Banned Books: Defending the Right to Read,” which also featured “The Hate U Give” author Angie Thomas, was less focused on defining opponents of access to books than on the writers, librarians and students for whom the stakes are highest - and on the generation best positioned to fight back. Johnson, author of the young adult novel “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” early in a sold-out panel on Sunday at USC’s Newman Recital Hall during the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. It could also endanger her life.“This is how fascism begins,” warned George M. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.īut what Starr does-or does not-say could upend her community. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Soon afterward, his death is a national headline.

The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. Soon to be a major motion picture from Fox 2000/Temple Hill Productions. Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, Angie Thomas’s searing debut about an ordinary girl in extraordinary circumstances addresses issues of racism and police violence with intelligence, heart, and unflinching honesty.

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