With an array of homemade pumpkin bread, monster-like decorated Rice Krispie Treats and Taylor Swift chai cookies, the Banned Book Club organized a Halloween bake sale full of creative treats outside the STEM wing on Wednesday, Oct. 25 to raise money for their club.
The club meets weekly on Wednesdays during faculty collaboration time and allows students to engage in thoughtful discussions about why books are banned and what the club can do to bring more attention to it.
Junior and club member Grainne Mulligan said she has seen that the leaders of this club worked really hard to get funding, and she is glad to help support the club.
“It’s been a dream of mine to come out here, have a bake sale and get support financially from within the school for the lovely leaders of this club,” Mulligan said.
Sophomore Ethan Bracha said he likes the club’s environment and the interesting discussions the members participate in.
“What I love about the Banned Book Club is that there are authors that get their books banned for very invalid reasons, and we discuss that,” Bracha said. “It’s important to read banned books because it’s important to change the culture around banning things instead of confronting the issue.”
Throughout the bake sale, junior and co-president Alina Samarasan said the club had opportunities to reach out to potential new members and spread awareness about the prevalence of banned books around the nation and educate people about the dangers of book censorship.
“In the United States there have been a ton of book bannings, and a lot of people don’t really know the level it’s at,” Samarasan said. “We want to talk about why books are being banned and why it’s important to discuss [book banning] and issues, like racism and religious discrimination, that can occur. We need fuel for that!”
Dhanesh Samarasan • Nov 8, 2023 at 3:42 pm
Great work.
Important – and fun as well!