Book banning. In recent months, several state governments have become leaders for this burgeoning, deeply politicized movement. In its wake, long-taught works have been ushered off of shelves, spawning significant controversy. Yet, several students have sought to counteract this crusade, hoping to ensure that these books are not forgotten.

Founded in 2021 by senior Ben Kaplan, the Banned Books Club, which convenes weekly during faculty collaboration, selects, reads and ruminates over banned books. Guided by prompts often conceived by co-presidents and sophomores Sophie Finkelstein and Alina Samarasan, the club holds roundtable discussions encompassing thorough analysis of a book’s themes, characters and challenging content.

During the 2021-22 academic year, the club read three works: Art Spiegelman’s genre-spanning, Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus; Sherman Alexie’s semi-autobiographical The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian; and Trung Le Nguyen’s The Magic Fish.

At present, the club is reading Blankets, Craig Thompson’s coming-of-age graphic novel that features a sexually abusive priest. Samarasan said that when examining books containing difficult themes, the club proceeds more slowly with its conversations.

“At times, when we come across books with very hard topics, we first conduct a survey among club members to make sure that everybody is comfortable discussing those topics. Sometimes, for different reasons, people aren’t,” Samarasan said. “So we don’t always get to discuss every aspect of a book, but that’s okay. It’s important to respect how people are feeling.”

Nevertheless, Samarasan argued that it is quite worthwhile to read proscribed books containing difficult content. She said that innocuous books paint a distorted image of the reality of society.

“I believe that it’s important for the books that one reads to demonstrate how the world around them really is. [However], books that are inoffensive are unrealistic, as the world is not always that way,” Samarasan said.

Librarian Bridget Knightly, the club’s faculty adviser, said that she, at times, cannot discern why certain books are challenged by governments.

“If anybody looks in our library, they’ll see that almost every book on our summer reading list was challenged in a certain part of the country,” Knightly said. “They may contain parts that can be upsetting or shocking for some, but I can’t figure out why they’re banned. Some states may ban books over minor details, such as a character being gay.”

Finkelstein said that of the works the club has read thus far, several explore similar themes.

“Many of the books we’ve read so far, including [Blankets] and Maus, deal with religion, especially in terms of how certain characters are harmed for theirs. Others, such as The Magic Fish, contain LGBTQ+ content,” Finkelstein said. “I believe that these are common in other banned books out there, too.”

The club receives funding to purchase its books from the high school’s Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) and local institutions, such as the Brookline Booksmith, which recently provided the club with a $300 grant. Samarasan said outreach is a key component of the club’s work moving forward.

“We’ve been trying to secure some [guest] speakers for our meetings. I know that the [Brookline] Public Library expressed interest in sending some, and I’m sure that people at the Booksmith could do the same,” Samarasan said. “Hopefully, some seniors [in Nicholas Rothstein’s English classes] would be willing to come, too, as they are currently working on senior projects related to banned books.”

Finkelstein said she ultimately aspires that the club educates the community on the existence of challenges and bans on books.

“I remember on one of the first days of school, as we were walking around the cafeteria asking students to join our club, many people did not know that books were banned. It was quite shocking, actually, and ‘what?’ was a common response that we received,” Finkelstein said. “Even people that later came to the club still had questions. I hope that our club can spread awareness of what is occurring across the country.”