All of Us with Wings

Name: All of Us with Wings
Author: Michelle Ruiz Keil

Michelle Ruiz Keil · 2024

Literary fiction

Banned in 1 country

About this book

This young adult fantasy debut about love, found family, and healing is “a fantastical ode to the Golden City’s postpunk era,” told through the eyes of a Mexican-American girl (Entertainment Weekly). “Complex and beautiful, blending folklore, San Franciscan history, the music scene, vampires, magic . . . hard to put down.” —School Library Journal Seventeen-year-old Xochi is alone in San Francisco, running from her painful past: the mother who abandoned her, the man who betrayed her. Then one day, she meets Pallas, a precocious twelve-year-old who lives with her rockstar family in one of the city’s storybook Victorians. Xochi accepts a position as Pallas’s live-in governess and quickly finds her place in the girl’s tight-knit household, which operates on a free-love philosophy and easy warmth despite the band’s growing fame. But on the night of the Vernal Equinox, as a concert afterparty rages in the house below, Xochi and Pallas perform a riot-grrrl ritual in good fun, accidentally summoning a pair of ancient beings bound to avenge the wrongs of Xochi’s past. She would do anything to preserve her new life, but with the creatures determined to exact vengeance on those who’ve hurt her, no one is safe—not the family Xochi’s chosen, nor the one she left behind.

Why it was banned

In 2024, "All of Us with Wings" by Michelle Ruiz Keil was banned at the school level in the United States due to its LGBTQ+ content, themes of race and colonialism, and other factors. The banning authority cited these reasons as justification for the removal of the book from school libraries. There are no documented legal challenges or public statements from the author or publisher regarding this ban.

Censorship history

In 2024, "All of Us with Wings" by Michelle Ruiz Keil faced bans in various school districts across the United States, primarily due to its LGBTQ+ content and themes related to race and colonialism. Notably, the book was challenged during a school board meeting in a California district, where parents expressed concerns about its appropriateness for young readers. As a result of these challenges, the book was removed from several school libraries, with ongoing discussions about its reinstatement still taking place in some districts.