Banned Book: FLAMER

Today is the last day of Banned Books Week 2025 so I made it just under the wire with this review. 

Flamer by Mike Curato is a graphic novel based on some experiences from the author's life. It was the 10th most banned book in 2024.

It is the summer before high school. Aiden is fourteen, a boy on the cusp of manhood. He still has not has his growth spurt so he is short and pudgy for his age. He is constantly teased for his physique and bullied because he doesn't act like other boys think he should. Now at Boy Scout camp for the summer, Aiden finds that bullying hasn't stopped at the school doors. He has made some friends at camp, including his tent mate, Elias. In fact, he keeps having dreams about Elias.

Boys keep calling Aiden "gay" but it can't be true. "I know I’m not gay. Gay boys like other boys. I hate boys. They’re mean, and scary, and they’re always destroying something or saying something dumb or both. I hate that word. Gay. It makes me feel . . . unsafe."

At one point in the book Aiden is so distraught by his attraction toward Elias, the feeling of being abandoned by everyone he cares about, and the near constant bullying that he decides to kill himself.

He makes his way to camp chapel where he ends up wrestling with his soul eventually life winning out over death. The scene was a powerful reminder to any readers that all people are deserving of love and acceptance and joy.

I thought long and hard after I finished the story about how desperate a person must feel to want to end their own life and how importance it is that we accept people for what they are and not try to make everyone conform to some gender standard that is out of reach for most. Then I wondered at the type of person who would want to ban this book, making it not only not available for their child to read, but also so no child could read it.What if that child needed to read this book so they didn't feel alone? Some people are so heartless and thoughtless. I know some people are so frightened that their child might "become" gay by reading a book like this they must do whatever it takes to keep the book away from them. Obviously these people didn't read the book, or they would have seen how agonized Aiden was about his own sexual awareness and identity. This was not a choice for him. He was born this way!

I highly recommend the book. Read it even though Banned Books Week is over.

My rating: 4.75 stars 

-Anne