This was a wonderful memoir that was super easy to get through. I blew through this so fast because it was so engaging. I fail to understand why there are so many consistent efforts to ban this book when it is written for young adults. The idea that someone's experience written in the form of a book must be censored is a ridiculous notion. Books like Johnson's are tied to a person's experience. Therefore, banning books like these are a denial of a person's experience.

Johnson's story highlights how important representation is in media. Censorship efforts affect LGBT+ youth and people of color more generally because there are less of those books available. They are published less often and don't get much marketing as other books. In addition to those barriers to entry, book banning affects them disproportionally more. Banning books like All Boys Aren't Blue silences voices of people with similar experiences. It implies that stories that share an experience that may be different from the status quo are not welcomed. It sends the message that they are unsafe for children or too explicit for a young adult audience because it is not perfect. Perfect people don't exist and therefore cookie cutter perfect stories should not be required to not be banned. We either have free speech and the ability to share our stories or our rights must be infringed for the comfort of organizations like Moms for Liberty.

There is so much focus on community and family in Johnson's story. My favorite part of this book was seeing how supportive and lovely so many members of Johnson's family were. They grew up with a lot of love and so many cousins, siblings, aunts, and uncles that they felt comfortable with. I am glad that they were able to bloom into their identity, and I have no doubt that their family was a major contribution to that growth. It wouldn't be such a vital part of his memoir if that wasn't the case. His fraternity also helped give him a strong sense of community in college and I am happy that they had positive experience, because so many queer people don't.

There is a sexual assault that is described at some point in the book with a minor. It was uncomfortable to read, but that's the point. Despite the inclusion of this subject manner, I still don't think those are grounds to ban this book. The target audience is teenagers, and I don't believe this is out of the scope of their experience. Teenagers and children can experience sexual assault; this book shows an example of that experienced by the author. I appreciated that in retrospect as an adult Johnson was able to recognize he was abused. I hope that this would serve those who read it that may not realize something similar has occurred to them. The way Johnson handled it was also incredibly respectful considering that the individual who assaulted them was a family member and has since died. He spoke with his family and obtained their blessing before choosing to publish his experiences with his abuser in this book. I think this was the healthiest way he could have approached this subject. It probably mitigated his guilt about sharing the experience at all. It also allowed him to share his journey, uncensored.

All of the experiences Johnson shares are personal and relatable. He explores the intersectionality of being a black man who is queer. He is a queer man who enjoyed sports growing up, joined a fraternity in college, and performed masculinity for a large portion of his life. They are someone who is not defined by their sexuality but recognizes that it is a large part of their identity and frames their experience. I think he teaches readers a lot in this book, and it is a book worthy of displaying on public shelves. 

As an aside, there is a portion of the book where the author deadnames a transgender family member. I am unsure whether this was a creative choice. Ther person they deadname in question is no longer living. I am unsure if this was a preference that they would have had if they were living or not. I don't have enough information as a reader to make a judgement call on that one. I don't believe in speaking on behalf of others, especially since they are not around to defend themselves. This is mostly just something I feel is important to know if that's a trigger.