Book Discussion Post: Gender Queer

Welcome to our Banned Graphic Novels book club! This go round we’ve selected three graphic novels that have been banned or challenged for various reasons. Each of our books –Class Act by Jerry Craft, Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, and This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki – have their own Discussion Posts. Even if you weren’t able to get your review written yet, don’t worry – all are welcome here in this post’s comments or our Social Media platform discussions where we’ll have some additional prompts so please join us there as well.

Registered participants in this year’s Cannonball Read 15 can join the #CannonBookClub Zoom Book Club on Saturday October 7 at 6 pm EDT/ 3 pm PDT. Those Cannonballers should have already received connection details by email. (Contact us if you haven’t!) If you’re not registered, but would like to; please drop us a line to get signed up and receive the Zoom details. 

For those of you returning or who might be joining in for #CannonBookClub for the first time (hello new friends!) all are welcome, you don’t have to be registered for CBR15. The topics are numbered, so please refer to them below by that number to help people find the conversations they are looking for; and only respond to one topic per comment to help keep things clear. If you are responding to someone else’s thoughts, please try to reply directly to that comment.

Onto the questions:

1. Do you think it’s important to differentiate between banned and challenged? Why or why not?
2. Is there a metaphor that most stood out to you in Gender Queer?
3. How does the age range of YA books (12-18) affect challenges to books like Gender Queer (challenged for LGBTQIA+ content and claims it was sexually explicit)?
4. Media and art are important for Kobabe’s self-discovery. From music to books, e seeks out art that reflects emself. What is a piece of media that has helped you understand yourself, and how does that relate to Kobabe’s experiences? 
5. How do Kobabe’s metaphors for gender evolve and change over time? They range from two-half souls, to the scale, and the sleeping seed. How do the various aspects of gender become more nuanced in Kobabe’s writing? 
6. Who do you think is the primary audience for Kobabe’s work?
7. I’ve got something to talk about that isn’t covered above, meet me in the comments!