The New York Public Library Continues Its Nationwide “Books For All: Teen Banned Book Club” with The Downstairs Girl

The Library’s longest and largest Banned Books campaign will once again provide unlimited access to a book that has been the subject of bans and/or challenges

Readers across the country will have unlimited access to the award-winning young adult bestseller The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee (Penguin Random House) as part of The New York Public Library’s nationwide Teen Banned Book Club. 

The Downstairs Girl, which is the third Teen Banned Book Club selection in NYPL’s Books for All campaign, will be freely available across the U.S. through April 30, 2024. The “Books for All” campaign, which is the longest and largest Banned Books campaign in NYPL history, extends across the country and throughout the school year and focuses heavily on teen readers in recognition of the fact that the majority of books targeted for bans and challenges are books for young people.

Anyone over the age of 13 can download the title, whether or not they have a New York Public Library card, without wait times through the Library’s free e-reader app, SimplyE. Set in Gilded Age Atlanta, this Reese’s Book Club YA Pick And New York Times Bestseller tells the story of seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan who gets herself into hot water when her anonymous advice column soars. 

Author Stacey Lee shared her enthusiasm to be part of the campaign in a video to Library patrons, which will be posted on social media to coincide with the launch. NYPL’s Teen Reading Ambassadors will also conduct a virtual author talk with Lee that will take place on April 25 at 3 PM ET that will discuss their books, censorship, and why it’s crucial for young people to have the opportunity to see themselves represented in the books they read.

The first selection for the book club was the highly-acclaimed Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro, who joined the Library’s Teen Reading Ambassadors for a live streamed author talk on November 28, 2023. The second selection for the book club was the award-winning young adult bestseller All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely who also gave a live-streamed authors talk on February 21, 2024. The next, and final, book club pick will be announced in the summer.

NYPL’s Books for All campaign launched in October 2023 during Banned Books Week in response to the alarming rise of book bans and challenges throughout the country, which have significantly impacted young adults, and to underscore the vital role that public libraries play in our democracy. The Library partnered with the American Library Association (ALA), the foremost national organization representing the nation’s 123,000 libraries, and the ALA’s Unite Against Book Bans campaign to get the word out about Books for All across the country.  

There will also be access to physical copies of book club books for checkout at all branches in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island (the boroughs served by NYPL). Select branches will host in-person book club events and all branches will have limited quantities of the book for giveaways.  For more information on the book clubs, head to https://www.nypl.org/spotlight/books-for-all/teen-book-club. 

As part of the Books for All campaign, The New York Public Library also ran a nationwide teen writing contest, in partnership with 826 National, that asked teens: “Why is the freedom to read important to you?” The contest closed on December 29, 2023, by which time the Library had received 481 essays from teens across the country. The grand prize–winning entry will be published in Teen Vogue later this spring and its author will receive $500. Twenty finalists will also receive a $250 prize, and all winners will have their essays shared in a special issue of NYPL’s Teen Voices magazine. 

The New York Public Library (NYPL) and the American Library Association (ALA) have also made available free downloadable tool kits to enable people and library systems all over the country to participate in Books for All” in their own communities. The kits, which have thus far been downloaded by libraries, educators, and readers in 48 states, feature a “How to Get Involved” guide about ways to fight book bans, book discussion guides, button maker templates and photo props with slogans like “I Read Banned Books,” “Read Freely,” and “Protect the Freedom to Read.”

“I don’t see people who look like me and talk like me in the books at my school library in Fort Worth, Texas and this problem is only getting worse as we operate under the shadow of HB900. Hundreds of books have already been pulled in anticipation of the law going into effect. For someone who loves books as much as I do, it is simply heartbreaking. Everyone deserves to have access to books where they see themselves, and have their identity affirmed. To deny us that is to deny us our humanity. I am proud to stand with The New York Public Library and the American Library Association to unite against book bans and the coordinated efforts to erase identities like mine. Together, we can fight censorship and the silencing of voices,” said Banned Books Week 2023 Youth Honorary Chair Da’Taeveyon Daniels.

“Libraries and the literature they hold have always been a portal into a different world, as well as a way to imagine a tangible new one. Banning books is the threat of banning histories, people, and dreams. We must all stand firm in our opposition to the silencing of our authentic stories. You cannot ban marginalized people. We will always be here, and we demand that our literature and art be here too,” said Stephanie Pacheco, New York City Youth Poet Laureate and Inaugural New York State Youth Poet Laureate

The Library’s latest banned books campaign builds on our earlier efforts fighting censorship, including our previous Books for All (April 2022) and the Banned Books Challenge (June 2022), which was done in collaboration with Brooklyn and Queens Public Libraries. 

About The New York Public Library

For over 125 years, The New York Public Library has been a free provider of education and information for the people of New York and beyond. With over 90 locations—including research and branch libraries—throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, the Library offers free materials, computer access, classes, exhibitions, programming and more to everyone from toddlers to scholars. To offer this wide array of free programming, The New York Public Library relies on both public and private funding. Learn more about how to support the Library at nypl.org/support. 

About the American Library Association

The American Library Association (ALA) is the foremost national organization providing resources to inspire library and information professionals to transform their communities through essential programs and services. For more than 140 years, the ALA has been the trusted voice for academic, public, school, government, and special libraries, advocating for the profession and the library’s role in enhancing learning and ensuring access to information for all. For more information, visit the ALA website at ALA.org.

About Unite Against Book Bans  

Unite Against Book Bans is a national initiative launched by ALA in April 2022 to empower readers everywhere to stand together in the fight against censorship. With more than 200 partner organizations and tens of thousands of individual supporters, the campaign connects, equips and mobilizes the public to advocate in their communities for the right to read and to defeat attempts at at every level of government to censor reading material. Learn more and join the campaign at uniteagainstbookbans.org/take-action/.