All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson

I watched the Oscar nominated short documentary "The ABC's of Book Banning", which I loved, and from which I got a list of books to read that have been banned in school districts. This Young Adult book is about growing up Black and queer, and always feeling different but not having the words to express it. Over the past couple of years, at least 29 school districts have banned the book because of its LGBTQ content and for being sexually explicit. It is both sad and ironic because part of what he is writing about is how hard it was for him to come to terms with himself, at least partly because there wasn't much in the way of information about people like him, and how he suffered for it. The goal is less to protect than it is to further ignorance, to perpetuate prejudice, and to augment suffering. Oh, but you probably already knew that. The book opens with a prologue that warns there is some disturbing and explicit material contained within. That is true, but it is mostly about his growing up experience; the challenges he faced due to growing up in poverty, being black, figuring out he was gay, and how to inhabit himself in a comfortable way. None of these are straightforward tasks, and he does have a loving family around him, but mostly he has to figure it out on his own, and he does, and then he shares that journey with the rest of us.