Southlake Carroll students respond to book bans by forming club to read them
Megha Kadiyala is concerned that she is missing out on educational opportunities to talk about issues such as gender and race because of the rise in book challenges and bans throughout Texas and the United States.
Kadiyala, 17, a junior at Carroll High School, helped form the on-campus club the Unlocked Library, where students can read books that have been challenged or banned.
“People say kids can get these books outside of school but I gain a lot more insight about what I’m reading if I’m having discussions with people that I care about,” she said. “It’s important to see yourself represented. It’s important to have people of different races represented in the classroom.”
Kadiyala, who is of Indian descent, said she and other students faced several rejections when trying to get a sponsor for the group, but her choir teacher agreed to sponsor the Unlocked Library, she said.
The Carroll school district did not respond to an email seeking comment regarding the student-led book club.
Carroll school board members adopted a policy in July of 2022 in which successfully challenged library books are removed from the shelves for five years and successfully challenged classroom books are removed for a year.
Kadiyala said the students are reading Tony Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye,” which has faced numerous bans and challenges. The book is still on library shelves, she said.
Kadiyala said she is working with an advocacy group called Dignity for all Texas Students, which is providing the books, and the Southlake Anti-Racism Coalition.
The students must have signed consent forms from their parents in order to read the books, she said.
Other books on the Unlocked Library reading list are, “All Boys aren’t Blue,” “Out of Darkness,” and Between the World and Me.”
Book bans are spreading in Texas after new legislation that requires vendors to rate library books based on references and depictions of sex, according to a report in ProPublica and the Texas Tribune.
The law was blocked from taking effect by a federal judge in Austin, but the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the ruling, allowing the law to take effect while the court considers the case.
Kadiyala said she got the idea to form the Unlocked Library club during the summer when she attended a seminar on anti-oppressive studies.
“Texas is one of the states where book banning policies are so severe,” she said. “Parents say it’s about protecting students’ best interests. But some students want these books in the classrooms, and that’s why we started this club.”
