This presentation discusses the current status of book bans in the United States and the negative implications for adolescent development, particularly for people with marginalized identities. The American Library Association and PEN America have documented huge rises in recent years in the numbers of book bans in public libraries and school libraries – individual titles and number of bans overall. These bans disproportionately target books by and about people of color and the LGBTQ+ communities. This presentation argues that book banning, particularly in its current guise, damages adolescent development because it denies young people with marginalized identities the opportunity to see themselves reflected in literature, which can harm the development of a secure self-identity. In addition, book bans limit all young people’s ability to develop empathy and understanding of communities other than their own. These two effects can contribute to the longer-term health issues that come with living with a marginalized identity in the United States of America.
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