It all started the day Amy Anne Ollinger tried to check out her favorite book in the whole world, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, from the school library. That's when Mrs. Jones, the librarian, told her the bad news: her favorite book was banned! All because a classmate's mom thought the book wasn't appropriate for kids to read.
Amy Anne decides to fight back by starting a secret banned books library out of her locker. Soon, she finds herself on the front line of an unexpected battle over book banning, censorship, and who has the right to decide what she and her fellow students can read.
Reminiscent of the classic novel Frindle by Andrew Clements for its inspiring message, Ban This Book is a love letter to the written word and its power to give kids a voice.
This was a wonderful read! Ban this Book is abotu a young girl whose favorite book gets banned from her school library, she tries to speak up at the board meeting but can't and later has to find a new way to her her book back. With the help of her friends and other students Amy Anne is able to put together a Banned Books library in her locker, since it wasn't just her book that was banned. Togther with the students from her school they are able to do great things and get some books back on the shelves but it took a lot of work.
The story follows Amy Anne, a quiet reader who never has space and time to herself at home but when she realizes how important this cause is to her she grows a good bit.
I loved this character so much, she was a lot like me growing up, but I also liked how she was described in the books - I am pretty sure she is mix-race and I love reading those characters in books - maybe more are, but unless described I always assume my race as the characters. The author does a wonderful job with this, he is to the point but also spaces out the details about Amy Anne and that was refreshing.
Aside from the character, I really enjoyed the plot of the book as well. I was inspired by the portrayal of power coming from someone so young as well as the masses - in this case other students. And I loved the stand that was taken for something you believe in. For the Middle Grade audience I think that it is a spectacular book about what you can do even as a young person but also to teach about censorship and the banning of books- which happens way more often than it should (in my opinion). I really loved everything about this read and HIGHLY recommend it.
Praise for BAN THIS BOOK
“Readers, librarians, and all those books that have drawn a challenge have a brand new hero in Amy Anne Ollinger. She's a true champion and testament to how doing a good thing is the first step in finding your own courage."―Kathi Appelt, Newbery Honor winning author of The Underneath
"Ban This Book is absolutely brilliant and belongs on the shelves of every library in the multiverse."―Lauren Myracle, author of the best-selling Internet Girls series, the most challenged books of 2009 and 2011
"A stout defense of the right to read." ―Kirkus Reviews
“Gratz delivers a book lover’s book that speaks volumes about kids’ power to effect change at a grassroots level." ―Publisher’s Weekly
About the Author
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| Photo Credit: Wes Stitt |
Alan’s short fiction has appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, online at Tor.com, and in the anthologies Half-Minute Horrors and Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction, which benefitted victims of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami.
As the first Artist in Residence at the American School in Japan in 2010, Alan spent six weeks teaching historical fiction-writing to middle school students in Tokyo, and he was the Thurber House Children’s Writer in Residence in 2011, living and writing in James Thurber’s attic for a month while working with young writers from all around the Columbus, Ohio area.
In addition to writing plays, magazine articles, and a few episodes of A&E’s City Confidential, Alan has taught catapult-building to middle-schoolers, written more than 6,000 radio commercials, sold other people’s books, lectured at a Czech university, and traveled the galaxy as a space ranger. (One of these, it should be pointed out, is not true.)
Alan was born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee, home of the 1982 World’s Fair. After a carefree but humid childhood, Alan attended the University of Tennessee, where he earned a College Scholars degree with a specialization in creative writing, and, later, a Master’s degree in English education. He now lives with his wife Wendi and his daughter Jo in the high country of Western North Carolina, where he enjoys playing games, eating pizza, and, perhaps not too surprisingly, reading books.
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