This One Summer

This One Summer has been the recipient of wide praise for its honesty and importance in contributing to the young adult genre. It won several awards, including the Printz Honor, the Eisner Award, and the Governor General’s Award for illustrations. This One Summer was the first graphic novel to receive the Caldecott Honor in 2014, and this led to a long reign of popularity for the title. The Caldecott Honor is for illustrators of works geared toward children 14 years or younger, and this sparked controversy as This One Summer was interpreted by many to be a work written for younger children. According to the American Library Association (ALA), This One Summer was the most challenged book of 2016. The Office of Intellectual Freedom, which records the number of times a particular book is censored, has expressed concerns over the rampant censorship of young adult titles over the past decade, and how a disproportionate number of these titles feature LGBTQ+ themes, characters, or discussions. This is considered by many, including Mariko Tamaki herself, to be an intentional attack on LGBTQ+ people, their presence in mainstream society, and their right to free expression.

Libraries in Florida and Minnesota banned This One Summer from their shelves after several parents complained about the novel’s discussions of adult themes. The National Coalition Against Censorship protested the banning of This One Summer, causing it to be reinstated in Henning, Minnesota, but only for grades 10-12; the novel was also reinstated in three libraries in Seminole, Florida. Although This One Summer does contain depictions of preteen girls discussing breasts, oral sex, sexuality, teen pregnancy, and even engaging in “slut shaming”, there are no graphic depictions of any of these concepts; Rose and Windy themselves are never involved in them either. The girls simply discuss these matters from the perspective of curiosity and naïve confidence, and this, Mariko Tamaki argues, makes the content of the story acceptable. Mariko and Jillian Tamaki did not intend to create a purposely controversial graphic novel, and the former insists that the story’s honesty is important for young adults—as it examines topics that preteens and teenagers deal with, but which are often deemed taboo.