Kate Selvitelli, then a junior at Academic Magnet High School in Charleston County, testifies during a state Board of Education hearing on February 6, 2024. (Screenshot of the Department of Education webcast.)
COLUMBIA — When Kate Selvitelli founded the Diversity Awareness Youth Literacy Organization branch at her Charleston County high school, the book club only had three members: Selvitelli and her two best friends.
Two years later, with the help of some public speaking and handmade brownies, the chapter has expanded to more than 50 students at Academic Magnet High School, making it the largest of the seven chapters in the state.
The group, which began in Beaufort County four years ago, has received local and national attention for its opposition to the removal of books from school libraries, but its overall goal is to promote literacy, whether that means advocating for the preservation of books on school library shelves, volunteering to read to toddlers, or simply showing up to discuss books, according to Selvitelli and other club members.
“It’s not like you have to be out there fighting banned books,” Selvitelli, a high school student, explained. “We’re going to make friends, we’re going to meet up once a week, and anyone can join, even if you don’t agree with all of our political stuff.”
The number of pupils in each chapter varies. Selvitelli has recruited roughly 50 students, the Beaufort chapter has about 20 kids, and Greenville has about 15. According to recent alumnus Elliot Naddell, Columbia’s chapter at Spring Valley High School in Richland 2 is beginning from scratch since that all of its members have graduated.
The group, which only exists in South Carolina, began as a book club. A Beaufort County kid wanted to talk with classmates about books they wouldn’t ordinarily read or be assigned in class. Two years later, the group’s emphasis widened when two parents challenged 97 books in the Beaufort County School District library, according to members.
DAYLO members attended school board meetings to request that books remain on the shelf. After temporarily removing all 97, the board ultimately returned all but five of the books to school libraries. According to members, the club’s advocacy efforts grew across the Palmetto State when a state-level legislation prohibiting schools from carrying books with sexual material was approved in February 2024.
The club’s campaigning has brought it to the forefront, becoming the subject of a feature-length documentary and an award from the National Education Association. Members, however, noted that the club is more than just an advocacy organization. Emily Alaia, president of the chapter at Battery Creek High School in Beaufort, explained that this is not your typical book club.
“I think people misconstrue it as a boring book club where everybody just talks about the book and has to write book reports about it,” said Alaia, who is a sophomore. “I wish that they would come sit in and listen to the conversation and hear how meaningful it is.”
Advocacy
In February 2024, when the state Board of Education met to approve a policy excluding “sexual conduct” from school texts, DAYLO members spoke up in opposition.
“Books with inclusive representation have always been my favorites because they let me experience what it’s like to be in other people’s shoes,” Selvitelli remarked during public comment. “I would not be the supportive, caring, learned person I am today without these books or my excellent teachers and librarians.”
The board unanimously approved the policy, stating that they intended to ensure that the books available in schools are age-appropriate and to establish an appeals mechanism for parents who disagreed with a school district’s choice to keep a specific book on library shelves. The regulation went into force automatically in June 2024.
Since then, school librarians have been compelled to remove 21 books because they show graphic sexual behavior. Six other works, including classics like “1984” and “To Kill a Mockingbird,” have been allowed to remain, one (“Crank”) with the condition that pupils obtain parental permission before reading it.
The board hasn’t voted on a potential removal since May, when board members urged the Beaufort County School District to reconsider its actions in light of the new policy, following a meeting in which board members questioned the regulation they enacted.
Getting up in front of a room full of adults and addressing school boards, whether at the state or local level, was intimidating at first, Selvitelli admitted. She does not hate public speaking, although at 17 years old, she is frequently one of the youngest in the room. Even if it appears scary, students should speak up about topics that impact them, she advised.
“None of us can vote yet,” Selvitelli explained. “We cannot make any of these decisions. We’re just there, speaking our minds, using our education, and I believe it’s critical (for adults) to see the next generation saying, ‘Hey, guys, we’re watching. “We know what’s going on.”
Members argue that removing books from shelves undermines DAYLO’s pro-literacy mission. The clubs have chosen several of the removed books as monthly reads, including “All Boys are Blue,” a series of essays about author George M. Johnson’s experiences growing up as a gay Black man, and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” a coming-of-age novel about an introverted teen’s freshman year of high school.
The Battery Creek High School DAYLO chapter in Beaufort completed “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” a week before the Board of Education voted to remove book from the shelf, according to Alai. Alaia said the novel spoke to her, and she felt it would mean much more to pupils who shared the main character’s fears.
“It’s just really frustrating,” Alaia explained. “Reading the books and understanding how much of an impact that they had on me, I can’t imagine what they would do for other kids.”
Community service
Members of DAYLO stated that the organization’s objective to promote literacy extends beyond students’ classrooms. Giving back to the community in ways that encourage reading is an important aspect of the club’s mission.
On the first Saturday of each month, DAYLO members set out blankets, books, and teddy bears at the Port Royal Farmers’ Market. Volunteers tell stories to children and their families, and some youngsters receive free donated books.
The teddy bear picnic attracts volunteers from all throughout the state, although chapters can select their own community service initiatives.
Academic Magnet High School, for example, collects books to donate to other local schools while also engaging in teddy bear picnics, according to Selvitelli.
Over the summer, members of the Greenville High School chapter established a Little Free Library, a small box where anyone can take or leave books as required, outside Pendleton Place, an emergency shelter for children entering foster care, according to Harper Cridland-Hughes, a junior and the chapter’s president. The chapter is organizing a book drive to keep the library stocked, she said.
Alaia, who disliked reading as a child, said she welcomes any opportunity to put a book in front of someone. She learnt to enjoy reading by doing it as much as possible, and she wants others to have the same experience, she added.
“I think that’s something everyone should try, is to pick up a book, read it and grow empathy from it,” Alaia told reporters.
Developing life skills
As Alaia worried before a huge presentation in English class, she remembered all the times she’d talked in front of her DAYLO club. Alaia, a self-described introvert who likes science and math subjects, reasoned that if she could discuss books in front of a book club, she could undoubtedly do so in front of a class.
“I was just kind of like, ‘Oh my gosh,’ like, ‘I’m really doing this,'” Alaia told the reporter. “I’m putting myself out there, and it was really because of DAYLO.”
Students remarked that while the club concentrates on reading literature, it also teaches them life skills like confidence and empathy.
Much of this stems from reading books that reflect experiences other than those that a student may have had. Each chapter’s book selection process varies — Selvitelli’s club has a different student chose each month, whereas a chapter in Greenville County votes on its books — but all must represent a position that not every student shares, according to students.
That does not always imply selecting books out of school libraries.
Students at Battle High School read “The Hate U Give,” a story about a 16-year-old girl who lives in a disadvantaged neighborhood but attends a wealthy prep school after a police officer shoots and kills her childhood buddy.
Greenville High School’s DAYLO chapter began by reading Sylvia Plath’s 1963 novel “The Bell Jar,” about a young woman whose mental health suffers under the pressures of adulthood, in order to understand more about mental health, according to Cridland-Hughes. To contrast a more current view on mental health, the book club read the 2017 novel “They Both Die at the End,” according to her.
Cridland-Hughes believes that novels like this help pupils who are dealing with similar situations realize their own struggles. And even if students can’t relate to the books, “you can see a perspective on what (others) are going through and use that in real life to just be more considerate of people around you,” she added.
