Jaylie Jackson was surprised when she saw “The Hate U Give” on a banned books list.
“It was really interesting because I think the issues that are talked about in that book are still things that are very common,” Jackson said. “That’s something very real.”
Jackson chose to reimagine the book’s cover as part of her banned books project for art class. Her cover portrays the book’s main character, Starr, holding a megaphone with the book title on it.
“I just thought using the imagery of the protests would make the most sense,” she said.
Jackson’s cover, along with 11 other Art 3 and 4 students’ covers, is showcased at the public library to honor Banned Books Week.
Art teacher Austin Lauxman started doing this project with students as a partnership with the library several years ago.
“It is a great way to kind of start the year because it’s fun,” Lauxman said. “I let them kind of do what they want and kind of run with it and enjoy it.”
Lauxman said he lets students pick a book they are familiar with and, most of the time, the book is going to show up on a banned books list somewhere.
“So I tell them, ‘Don’t get caught up looking at a list of books that were banned this year and last year, or 50 years ago, because we can find it,’” he said. “Pick something you’re familiar with because then there’s some connection there.”
Since they are given creative freedom, Lauxman said all of the art is diverse.
“You see some digital stuff. You see there’s a little bit of watercolor,” he said.
Lauxman said he was impressed with his students’ artwork.
“This is, across the board, probably one of the better whole batches,” he said. “It’s different every year, because the classes are different every year.”
This was Sofia Miller’s second year doing the project, and she said it’s always a fun project to do.
“I think it’s fun making a new cover for a book you like,” Miller said.
Miller wanted to branch out on her cover for “The Great Gatsby.” She said she wanted to incorporate lots of blue to symbolize royalty, as well as using specks of green to represent the green light across the bay.
“There was a lot of cool stuff I could incorporate into the cover,” she said. “I like the aesthetic and architecture of the 1920s and that’s when that takes place.”
In Eden Staples’ cover of “Charlotte’s Web,” she made sure to show that the animals were speaking because that was one of the reasons the book was banned.
“They also had words in the webs so I wanted to put that in there because it was banned,” she said.
Maria Sagrero chose “The Outsiders” because it was a good book and she wanted to use the imagery of the church on fire.
“It’s sad, but it’s a good scene,” she said.
Nevaeha Solwa-Gonce chose to create a cover for “It Ends With Us” because it is her favorite book.
“When he was like, ‘Pick a book,’ I was like, I know exactly what I want to do,” Solwa-Gonce said.
She said she enjoyed getting to do this project.
“It was actually so fun,” she said.
The art will be showcased at the public library until next week.
Reach reporter Ryn Drummond at [email protected]
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