"I swallowed hard. 'Are you crazy, Mrs. Jones? Me, get up in front of a bunch of adults and tell them why that book is my favorite book?...I can't do that!"
That's what I wanted to say.
Instead what I said was, 'Okay. '"
Self censorship is Amy Annie's default mode at school and at the too small home she shares with her parents and two extremely aggravating little sisters. Alexis, who she has to share a room with, is ballet obsessed. Angelina believes she is a horse. Their working parents, not wanting to deal with sibling drama, expect her to give in whenever there's a fight. She lies about going to after school clubs so she can have alone time in the school library, the only place where she can get away from her stressful siblings...
...Which is why her favorite book is From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankweiler. The protagonists run away together and spend nights in a museum...
...So imagine how she feels when it's one of the books pulled off the shelves arbitrarily (and in total disregard of official rules) because a group of parents thought they were inappropriate and the school board went along. She and her friends create the Banned Books Locker Library, covertly giving her schoolmates access to the banned volumes...
...when the school principal shuts it down Amy Annie and her friends have to take even more drastic action.
Although Alan Gratz's Ban This Book is fiction all the books listed were banned in real life. And the crisis is much more dire than when it dropped during the first Trump regime. It's necessary for adults and children to understand all that is at stake and fight for people's right to access the books they need.
I can't overstate the importance of fighting for people's right to read diverse and inclusive books and books on controversial topics and libraries' right to carry them. I do my little bit in my blog by reviewing as many as I can get my hands on.
On a purrrsonal note, I had quite a fun Wednesday. I found treasures at Orono Thrift Shop: really awesome kids gold and silver practically new sneakers 👟, 2 books for my emergency stash so I can have books to review when I run out of Inter library loans, a really gorgeous binder for when I print out my second manuscript, 2 holiday hand soaps (winter berry and orange spice), and dozens of cute erasers. All for only $6!!! I picked up some books at the library and arranged for them to have the launch party when Amber's second book drops in June. I was in the weekly vigil. We held signs and waved, getting honks from a lot of passing cars. It was snowing, but gently drifting flakes, not the gale driven blasts we had Monday. One thing I was really proud of: the thrift shop's donations bins were full. Before the stroke I'd lugged the stuff to the second floor. Yesterday for the first time since the stroke I was able to. Go, me!!!
A great big shout out goes out to my wonderful younger daughter, Katie, who celebrated her birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊 yesterday with her boyfriend, Jacob, and their beautiful creamsicle colored cat, Archie. Such a sweet family. I am truly blessed to have Katie for a daughter. I hope her year ahead will be one of friendship and travel and wonderful surprises.
Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
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