Her librarian, Mrs. Jones, invited Amy Anne to attend the school board meeting to talk about why she loves her favorite book, and Amy Anne prepares a speech, but when the moment comes, she is too nervous to speak up. It's a problem she has at home, too. Her younger sisters are so demanding that Amy Anne just has to give up what she wants to accommodate them and keep the peace.
To assuage her sadness, Amy Anne's father buys her a copy of her favorite book, and suddenly people are interested. Along with a couple of friends, she starts collecting books on the list. That's when the idea for the Banned Books Locker Library begins. If the school board takes the books away, the BBLL will provide them.
The situation escalates as more books are removed from the school library without following the reconsideration guidelines, and the BBLL gets more sophisticated. While Amy Anne is a champion of reading rights, she is also a rule follower at heart and lives in constant terror of being discovered.
Full of delightful characters (including an amazing librarian!) this novel is will appeal to readers of all ages and to those who buck at arbitrary decisions made by those in power. Unfortunately, situations like the one in this book happen all over the country, and Alan Gratz handles the situation perfectly. This book advocates for reading choice but also quietly maintains that some books are better saved for later and that parents do have the right to direct their children's reading choices but not anyone else's.
Amy Anne is a fourth grader which may limit the appeal to middle school kids, but if they can look beyond this, they will find a wonderful story about standing up for a cause and for yourself. Highly recommended!
Also, I have to give a shout out to Mixed-Up Files. It was one of my favorite books as a kid and the first book I bought with my own money, so I definitely felt a kinship with Amy Anne.
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