The Summit Free Public Library is adding a new program for teens centered on challenged and banned books.

The library will launch its first teen silent book club, called the Read In, during Banned Books Week. The program is open to students in grades 6 through 12, who can drop in, pick up a challenged title and read quietly alongside peers. Ann-Marie Aymer, head of youth services, described the Read In as the library's "very first silent book club for teens" in an October programming update.

The Read In debuts Thursday, Oct. 8, from 3 to 5 p.m. in the Hickok Room. Students can arrive at any point during that window. The library will have challenged books in several categories available for teens to choose from. The program runs during CATSS, the library's existing after-school drop-in program for students in grades 6 through 8, folding the new offering into a space where middle schoolers already gather.

The Read In joins the library's annual Read Out, which returns for its fourth year on Tuesday, Oct. 6. Eleven middle and high school student volunteers will each select an excerpt from a book that has been challenged or banned, read it aloud to an audience and then discuss the book with moderator Dr. Jocelyn Chadwick. Teen participants can earn five community service hours. The Read Out runs from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Liss Meeting Room and is open to the public, according to the library's event listing.

Chadwick, a former faculty member at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, is an internationally recognized Mark Twain scholar who has written about race, censorship and how Twain's work should be taught. Her book "The Jim Dilemma: Reading Race in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" addresses those questions directly. She served on the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Standing Committee Against Censorship and consults with school districts on curricula reflecting different cultural backgrounds and viewpoints.

The expanded programming comes as book challenges remain near record levels nationally. The American Library Association reported that 4,235 titles were challenged in 2025, the second-highest annual total on record, behind 4,240 in 2023, according to a Chicago Tribune report.

Both Summit events fall during Banned Books Week, which runs Oct. 4 through Oct. 10. More information is available at summitlibrary.org or by calling (908) 273-0350.