“It’s frustrating because a lot of the adults are saying, ‘Well, you can’t read this,’ but yet they’ve never asked any teenagers how we feel about these topics,” one Pennsylvania teen said.
“‘The Hate U Give’ is really inspiring me to read more,” Bridget Johnson, 13, who attends the book club, tells TODAY. Bridget says she wasn’t really into reading for fun before attending the club, but now loves to learn about symbolism and enjoys the conversations the club inspires.
Gallagher says she didn't tell Peighton specifically why the book was banned — just that"there were some topics that made people uncomfortable, and so some parents didn’t want their children reading those topics." Gallagher says that while she is proud of her daughter and the other students who are taking action, she wishes they didn't feel obligated to take a stand.
“We need to lead today so they learn how to lead tomorrow,” Kaelin said. “The kids who are starting these banned books clubs and who are advocating for themselves have those parents who have modeled that. And that does give me hope.” "Just hearing about is making kids feel unsafe in their school," she says."Like they can't talk to people in the school, or that they just can't be openly... anything."
"It's been very hard for us to see these bans coming into place, especially coming into books that are around LGBT issues," Lau tells TODAY."We've just felt very uncomfortable and that we need to closet ourselves more and not be as open in our community."