It's pretty easy to forget how long book banning has been an issue for authors, librarians, and the link. It's gotten a lot more attention over the past five years or so, but today's Vlogbrothers video is one element of proof that this isn't a new issue. In fact, we're dealing with the same issues in school and other local libraries now that we were nearly 20 years ago, possibly even to a greater degree.
Welcome (or welcome back) to Vlogbrothers Rewatch -- an ongoing series of brief articles in which I document my journey through the Vlogbrothers YouTube channel's back catalog and provide my observations and commentary along the way. Using this playlist, I am working my way through rewatching every video on the channel in chronological order, one video per day, starting from the very beginning.
There are many reasons books still get banned, or challenged if we're using the technical term for the process. When it comes to young adult books or books for children, claims for challenges often relate to material that is deemed inappropriate for these age groups.
However, as John Green points out in the video above, Maureen Johnson's challenged book contained no material that could be considered inappropriate, in 2007 or in 2025. The only possible reason John could cite for the ban, or challenge, was the presence of gay characters in the book.
If BookTok had been around in 2007, perhaps this might be something readers and authors and editors might have been able to discuss at great length. To be clear, book banning has been going on for much longer than the internet has existed, but the internet has helped spread awareness of the issues it causes over the past few decades.
Unfortunately, this will not be the last time John Green discusses book banning on Vlogbrothers or otherwise. Some things just don't change.