Synopsis
An inspiring tale of a fourth-grader who fights back when
her favorite book is banned from the school library--by starting her own
illegal locker library!
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.
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.
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
Excerpt:
My
Favorite Book (And Why)
The late bus dropped me off in my neighborhood and I
stood by the curb, looking down the street at my yellow house. Inside that
house right now were Thing 1 and Thing 2, my two annoying little sisters. I
closed my eyes and shuddered at the thought of having to spend one more minute
with them. You haven’t met them yet, but trust me—if there was a prize for
Worst Siblings of the Century, Alexis and Angelina would rank right above Fudge
Hatcher, Stink Moody, and Edmund Pevensie—and Edmund Pevensie basically sold
his brothers and sisters out to the White Witch for a plate of desserts.
Right then and there I thought about running away from
home, just like the main characters in my favorite book.
Did I tell you what my favorite book is? The one that got
banned from the Shelbourne Elementary Library? The one I said I would go to a
school board meeting and talk about? Out loud? In front of other people?
It’s From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L.
Konigsburg. I like a lot of other books too, especially Island of the Blue
Dolphins, Hatchet, My Side of the Mountain, Hattie Big Sky, The Sign of the
Beaver, and Julie of the Wolves.Basically any story where the main
character gets to live alone. Indian Captive is pretty great too,
even though Mary Jemison has to live in an Indian village. But I would rather
live with Indian kidnappers than live with my two stupid younger sisters.
I turned away from my house and looked down the road that
led out of my subdivision toward the four-lane. Papa Taco, our favorite Mexican
restaurant, was just fifteen minutes away by car. I could run away to there.
How long would it take me to walk it? I shook my head. Even if I made it, what
was I going to do?
In From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E.
Frankweiler, Claudia and her little brother Jamie run away to the Metropolitan
Museum of Art in New York City and hide out every night in the bathrooms so the
security guards don’t find them. I could hide out in the Papa Taco bathroom
until they locked up for the night, but then I’d just be stuck in a Mexican
restaurant all night. Now, if I could somehow get to the library …
My dreams of running away died as my mom’s car turned
into the subdivision and came my way. I waited until she stopped alongside me
and rolled down her window.
“Hey, stranger. Thinking about running away?”
“Of course I was thinking about running away. Every day I
stand here and think about how I could fill my backpack with a change of
clothes and all the money I have—which isn’t much, because you don’t give me
enough allowance—and ride the late bus until it dropped me off somewhere closer
to the mall, where I could sleep every night on the beds in the department
store.”
That’s what I wanted to say. But of course I didn’t.
Instead I said, “No.”
Mom was lighter-skinned than me, with frizzy hair and big
dimples in her cheeks when she smiled, like she was now. “Hop in,” she said.
“How was school?” she asked as we cruised the thirty seconds to our driveway.
I wanted to say, “It was awful! My favorite book got
banned and Mrs. Jones asked me to come to a school board meeting and talk about
it and I said yes and I don’t know how I’ll ever do it!” But instead I just
said, “Fine.”
“Don’t put your braids in your mouth,” Mom told me for
the millionth time. My whole head is covered in braids, some of them with
little beads at the bottom. I suck on them when I get nervous. Which is a lot.
Mom pulled in beside Dad’s truck. I got out and stood by
the car, reluctant to go inside.
“Oh, come on,” Mom said. “It’s not that bad.”
“Oh yes it is,” I wanted to say. But of course I didn’t.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alan Gratz‘s first novel, Samurai
Shortstop, was named one of the ALA’s 2007 Top Ten Best Books for Young
Adults. His second novel, Something Rotten, was a 2008 ALA Quick
Pick for Young Adult Readers, and was followed by a sequel, Something Wicked,
in October 2008. His first middle grade novel, The Brooklyn Nine, was one of
the ALA’s Top Ten Sports Books for Youth and Top Ten Historical Books for Youth,
and his middle grade Holocaust novel Prisoner B-3087 was one of YALSA’s 2014
Best Fiction for Young Readers and has won seven state awards. His latest
novels are the YA thriller Code of Honor, a YALSA 2016 Quick Pick for Reluctant
Readers, and The Monster War, the third book in his middle grade steampunk
League of Seven trilogy.
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.
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.
Photo Credit: Wes Stitt
Giveaway:
--Giveaway is open to International. | Must be 13+ to
Enter
- 10 Winners will receive a Copy of BAN THIS BOOK
by Alan Gratz
0 comments:
Post a Comment