The banning of books has become an increasingly scary issue across the country. In order to educate Ramapo students on the topic and to encourage them to read these texts, the Midnight Book Club hosted a banned books meeting on March 26.
President of the club Rebecca Bleich ran the meeting with energy and passion. To kick off the event, she gave a very detailed and informative presentation on what banned books are, where the issue is most prevalent, why they are banned or challenged, what happens in the aftermath and what we can do to help.
She also provided a list of resources students can use to track banned books and fight the ongoing problem.
“I have been wanting to do a meeting or presentation on banned books,” Bleich told the Ramapo News. “I think it is an important conversation to have and share on campus so that we can help out in any way possible.”
Following the presentation, students were encouraged to engage in such conversations with their peers, fill out a banned book bingo, check out a list of banned texts and were able to take a look at a spread provided by George T. Potter Library.
Books on the bingo card included “Charlotte’s Web” by E. B. White, “Hop on Pop” by Dr. Seuss, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky and “The House on Mango Street” by Sandra Cisneros.
Each book has its reason for being challenged, but Bleich explained that it is usually due to profanity, sexual content and LGBTQ+ themes.
At the front of the classroom sat the spread of books that students were allowed to read and even check out with the help of Samantha Wittenberg, a system and web development librarian at the library who also runs the library’s semester-long book club.
From “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison to “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, many attendees noted that these novels were ones read in their high school English classes — ones that had a significant impact on them as both readers and empathetic people.
For more information on the Midnight Book Club, contact them at midnightbc@ramapo.edu. For more information on banned books, head to the American Library Association or PEN America.
ajones11@ramapo.edu
Featured photo by Amanda Jones
