Amid a nationwide surge in attempted book bans, one Queens school is taking the opposite approach.
At the Academy of American Studies in Queens, 10th grade students take a Regents-level English class devoted to the study of books that have historically faced challenges or bans — with students reading works like Elie Wiesel’s “Night,” and Amy Tan’s “The Joy Luck Club.”
“All the teachers who teach it really try to tie in when and how these books were challenged historically,” said Amy Weidner-LaSala, an English teacher at the school. The course can help show students “how we open our minds and accept new things through literature,” she added.
