All Amy wants to do is read her favorite book from her school library, but she can't--it's been banned by the school board, at the request of a parent, without following the board's own reconsideration policy. Amy has a hard time speaking up and misses her chance to defend the book...but finds another creative way to get it into the hands of fellow students who want to read it. As a librarian who believes in access to books, I was rooting for Amy and her friends' freedom to read. The titles in question come from actual lists of banned and challenged books, as compiled by the American Library Association.
Ban This Book is a great story for students and adults who are unfamiliar with acts of censorship in the school library setting and the reasons reconsideration directives are in place in many school board policies. It also describes students' abilities to self-censor--to know what they are and aren't ready to read--and parents' rights to choose what their own children read, but not choose for other families.
It's Monday, and I finally got around to reading a book that's been buzzed about for over a year! What are you reading?
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