These LGBTQ and Antiracist Books are Being Review Bombed by Book Banners

For one thing, in a list of 850 titles, no single book is getting a boost in popularity through word of mouth or media coverage: they all blend together. And in a seemingly never-ending wave of book challenges, it’s hard to think any of these titles are getting a lot of traction even if they do get news stories. The more books are challenged, and the more that the frequency makes these stories seem everyday, the less publicity those titles are getting.

More importantly, this effect would only work if people know the book is being banned or challenged. Harder to track is the kind of quiet self-censorship that leads librarians and teachers to leave books off syllabi and shelves because they fear being faced with the wrath of book banners. While the American Library Association and other groups keep track of formal book challenges, these quieter instances are impossible to record, and they can only take books away from readers.

A somewhat new factor in this war against antiracist and LGBTQ-inclusive books is review bombing. Review bombing is when a large group of people (or a small group of people with a lot of accounts) leave targeted negative reviews of a product online. When star ratings are involved, this can tank the item’s average rating.

Many of the books that have been challenged the most this year are also getting review bombed, especially on Amazon. These reviews are over-the-top and misleading, and can easily lead consumers who know nothing about this ongoing battle to be scared off purchasing, especially for their kid.

Here are some of the books getting targeted by review bombing:

Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison

Lawn Boy has been one of the most challenged books of the year, including challenges that have attempted to get the police involved. The top reviews on Amazon are 1-star, calling it “profane” and “pedophile trash.” One of the top reviews on Goodreads calls it a “woke pro-pedophile book that is designed to groom children.”

Bizarrely, Lawn Boy by Gary Paulsen is also receiving 1-star reviews from people mixing it up with Evison’s book of the same title.

Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe

The book that’s faced the brunt of this year’s censorship attempts, with new ones every week, is Gender Queer. All of the top Amazon reviews from the U.S. are 1-star, calling it “indoctrination” and “pornography” and saying, and I quote, “This book should be burned.” These reviews each have been voted up about 400 times. Revealingly, the “Top reviews from other countries” section is all 5-stars, calling it, “brave” and “moving.” One of those reviews reads, “[I]t makes me feel seen. I am not alone and neither are you.”