The Bookeasy
The Bookeasy is a part of the Rutgers 2025 Senior Graphic Design Capstone exhibition
“Common Ground: Perspectives on Freedom”
"Books can be dangerous. The best ones should be labelled 'This could change your life."
– Helen Exley
In recent years the banning and challenging of books available to children and teenagers alike in schools have been on the rise. Many of these books, while they are disliked by parents and deemed inappropriate for children, are actually vital tools for children's mental health. Bibliotherapy is when books are used to promote emotional and mental well-being by giving them characters and stories that they can relate to or inspire after. Book Bans are taking away that connection and source of help to many who really need it. The Bookeasy encourages reading with a selection of 21 books that have been banned in public schools, and creates a space to share one's experiences with books.
Medium 1
Banned Book Display: a collection of books that have been banned or challenged in recent and past years, lent by local libraries for viewers to pick up and read. This includes the books on display, a legend on the wall next to the display with the titles of all of the books, why they were Banned and where they were borrowed from, and even custom. Lastly there is the vinyl artwork on the wall surrounding it with the exhibit title, a quote from Helen Exley, and artwork of exposed brick.
"You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read.
It was books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all the people who were alive, who had ever been alive." – James Baldwin
Medium 2
Experiences Wall: Books have the power to affect a person's mental and emotional state at the deepest level. This wall gives people a chance to anonymously share their experience with a book that has left an impact on their life. There are five different colored stickers with different genres assigned to them so that the participant can categorize their chosen book when they place it on the wall.
"Literature is the safe and traditional vehicle through which we learn about the world and pass on values from one generation to the next. Books save lives." – Laurie Anderson
Medium 3
Bookmarks: How can you read a book without having a way to save your spot? The Bookeasy offers a selection of four different colored bookmarks to hold the last line where you left off in your book featuring two different quotes from Laurie Anderson and James Baldwin. Don’t forget the cut in the brickwork to hook onto the page to help save your line.
