Upset by book bans, teen starts forbidden book club in small Pa. town
As book banning in schools reached unprecedented heights in the United States, 14-year-old Joslyn Diffenbaugh was having none of it.
“It’s really problematic, because books are the only way that you can be in another person’s shoes,” said Joslyn, a self-proclaimed “book nerd,” who lives in the small town of Kutztown, Pa., near Allentown.
She has read several books that have been banned by school districts across the country, including “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas and “All American Boys” by Brendan Kiely and Jason Reynolds, both of which deal with police brutality.
“They were really eye-opening,” said Joslyn, an eighth-grader at Kutztown Middle School. “They are books that make you think.”
As attempts to forbid books increased both in Pennsylvania and in other school districts nationwide, Joslyn felt she needed to do something. Like several other teens across the country, she started a banned book club — where members read books that have been outlawed in schools and then meet regularly to discuss them.
“These books are great works of literature, and I really just didn’t understand why so many people wanted to ban them,” Joslyn said. “It’s important that people read these books because it helps them grow.”
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For her, the tipping point came in late October, when a Texas Republican lawmaker launched an investigation into school libraries in the state, and compiled a list of 850 titles — written mainly about race and sexuality — demanding that schools reveal whether they carry the books.
