April's Book: Love, Violet

We’re excited to introduce you to this month’s featured book, Love, Violet written by Charlotte Sullivan Wild and illustrated by Charlene Chua.

Apr 07, 2025

Welcome back to Once Upon a Ban - a book club for banned and challenged picture books. We’re excited to introduce you to this month’s featured book, Love, Violet written by Charlotte Sullivan Wild and illustrated by Charlene Chua.

Violet dreams of going on adventures with her grade school crush, Mira. But whenever Mira comes around, Violet’s heart races and she gets shy. On Valentine’s day, Violet decides to make a special card to show Mira how she feels. Will Violet work up the courage to give it to her?

Love, Violet is a touching story of young love and learning how to be vulnerable with your feelings. It’s sure to bring up memories of your first childhood crush and serves as a beautiful reminder that love is the greatest adventure of all.

So, how does a book about a school crush end up challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court?

Mahmoud v. Taylor

In 2022, Maryland’s largest school district, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), updated it’s elementary school curriculum to better reflect the diversity of its community. The update introduced nine stories featuring LGBTQ+ characters, including Love, Violet, to supplement the hundreds of other books included in the curriculum.

MCPS originally allowed parents to opt their children out of the new material but stopped offering that option in March 2023. In response, a group of parents filed a lawsuit against the school district claiming their religious rights had been violated. After losing in lower courts twice, the case has been appealed and will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on April 22, 2025.

Now Love, Violet, along with eight other books are at the center of a Supreme Court case that will determine whether public schools can include LGBTQ+ stories in their curriculum without notifying parents in advance and giving them the option to opt out.

PEN America released a statement from the authors and illustrators whose books are in question: “The freedom to read means that children are free to have their own thoughts and beliefs and to make their own choices. It helps prepare them to be good citizens, to navigate and succeed in a complex and diverse world. Our most basic duty as members of society is to respect and care for each other, no matter how similar or different we may be. Children want to see themselves in books; all children need to see many different kinds of people in books.”

So, what are these stories about?

While researching this case, we checked each of the books out at our local library. We found stories filled with love, celebration, and situations designed to foster understanding. As the author bios show, many of these stories are based on personal experiences and the desire to increase both representation of and acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community.

This case could have long term effects on curriculum selection across the country. Montgomery County Public Schools has stood strong in their stance to ensure the diversity of their community is accurately represented in their curriculum, but given the pushback, will other school districts choose to do the same? Will the courts prevent them from being able to do so?

We think the respondent’s brief puts it best: “In classics like Sleeping Beauty and Peter Pan, young readers encounter stories about love and navigating life within families and communities. The MCPS ELA curriculum introduces students to similar stories— such as retellings of Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Goldilocks—and to a range of age-appropriate texts that touch on these same themes... The only difference between the storybooks and the other ELA texts is that the storybooks include LGBTQ characters and their points of view.”

Get Your Copy

Show Love, Violet some love! Request a copy from your local library or purchase one from your local bookstore. You can also purchase online through our affiliate Bookshop.org store. Once Upon a Ban earns a commission from sales through Bookshop.org. All proceeds will be donated to charities fighting to preserve our freedom to read.

Discussion Questions

Here are some questions to help get the conversation started at home.

What adventures do you want to go on with your friends and loved ones?
Why do you think Violet gets shy around Mira? What other emotions did she feel throughout the story?
What are some ways we can express love and friendship on days other than Valentine’s day?

What’s Next

In our next newsletter, we’ll hear directly from Author Charlotte Sullivan Wilde about her journey to share Love, Violet with the world and what this story means to her. Until then, feel free to send us a note at helloonceuponaban@gmail.com and tell us what you think about Love, Violet.

Spread the Word

Know someone who shares our passion for reading challenged stories like Love, Violet? Forward them this newsletter. Together, we can increase demand for these stories!

Once Upon a Ban