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February reading. I think The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet topped the list, but as should be evident I’m really enjoying the Dungeon Crawler Carl series too. And Cory Doctorow’s second Martin Hench novel was another one-night pageturner (one that, this time, I was smart enough not to begin reading when it was already past my bedtime).

@molly0xfff’s February 2025 reads
Babel, R.F. Kuang
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, Becky Chambers
A Closed and Common Orbit, Becky Chambers
Heavy Weather, Bruce Sterling
Dungeon Crawler Carl, Matt Dinniman
Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, Matt Dinniman
The Bezzle, Cory Doctorow
The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, Matt Dinniman
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The DOE “book banning hoax” press release claimed that challenged books are “age-inappropriate, sexually explicit, or obscene”. Only 13% of banned books in 2023–24 included “on the page” sexual scenes—but 36% featured PoC characters and 25% featured LGBTQ characters.

Certain identities are being removed from library shelves en masse. During the 2023-2024 school year, 36% of all banned titles featured characters or people of color and a quarter (25%) included LGBTQ+ people or characters. Of titles with LGBTQ+ people or characters, over a quarter (28%) feature trans and/or genderqueer characters.
Erasure of identities is pervasive within banned illustrated and graphic-heavy titles. For example, 73% of all graphic and illustrated titles feature visuals with LGBTQ+ representation, of people or characters of color, or that address race/racism. More specifically, 64% of banned picture books have pictures or illustrations that depict LGBTQ+ characters or stories.
For all the inflammatory rhetoric about “explicit books,” only 13% of banned titles had “on the page” descriptions of sexual experiences, compared to 31% with “off the page” sexual experiences. Overall, 40% of banned titles include sexual experiences (some contained both “on” and “off the page”). 
Books banned during the 2023-2024 school year overwhelmingly address violence (65%), death and grief (55%), and abuse (43%); all very real human experiences.
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