Awards In 2013,
Two Boys Kissing received the following awards and accolades: •
Lambda Literary awarded it a Lammy in Children/Young Adult Literature. This is awarded based on a book's literary merit and content related to LGBT+ lives. • The
National Book Foundation placed it on the 2013
National Book Award Longlist for Young People's Literature. • Readers nominated it for a
Goodreads Choice Award for Young Adult Fiction. Goodreads Choice Awards are the only awards chosen by readers. In 2014,
Two Boys Kissing received the following awards and accolades: • The American Library Association named it a 2014 Stonewall Honor Book for Children's and Young Adult books. • The Milwaukee County Federated Library System Young Adult Services Committee (MCFLS YASC) nominated it for the Milwaukee County Teen Book Award. This award is provided to quality books published for teen readers. • The New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association (NAIBA) named it a 2014 NAIBA Young Adult Book of the Year. This award recognizes an author who lived in the New Atlantic or a book that takes place in the region. Booksellers nominate and vote upon titles and award one book the Book of the Year Award in five categories (fiction, nonfiction, young adult, middle grade, and picture).
Challenges Two Boys Kissing has frequently been challenged. According to the
American Library Association's Office of Intellectual Freedom,
Two Boys Kissing was the 18th-most banned and challenged book in the United States between 2010 and 2019. Additionally, it topped the organization's top ten list three times: 2015, 2016, and 2018 because of homosexual and sexually-explicit content, as well as because it condones public displays of affection. In 2014, a parent of a child at Fauquier County High School appealed for
Two Boys Kissing to be removed from the school district's libraries because of the cover artwork, which shows two boys kissing, which violates the school's rules against public displays of affection, as well as because the book has 117 references to words like "sex" and "kiss." A public hearing with the Fauquier County School Board led to a committee unanimously deciding that the book would remain on the shelves. On October 19, 2018, religious activist Robert Dorr borrowed four LGBT+ books from the Orange City Public Library in Orange City, Iowa (including Levithan's
Two Boys Kissing) and proceeded to burn the books while streaming the video on social media. Dorr claimed he was "exercis[ing] his
freedom of speech and the freedom of [his] Biblical faith." In 2019, Dorr was convicted of fifth-degree criminal mischief for destroying library property. 42% of which “feature LBGTQ+ characters and or themes.” • The material "is patently offensive in the description or depiction of nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, sadomasochistic abuse, or excretion" • The material, on the whole, "does not have serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value." ==References==