Review: Ban this Book by Alan Gratz

5 stars for Ban this Book by Alan Gratz.

I love this book. It sounds exactly like what I may well do, retaliate that is, if my favourite book is banned from the library.

This story is about reading and getting banned books back onto the school library shelves. Mind you, these are books that encourage children to tell lies, to steal and to be disrespectful to adults. Well, I know right, summarised into a sentence like this makes the book sounds like one really unsuitable for children. So it seems. But in all actuality, this is not what Ban this Book is all about. The books themselves are not the reasons for the bad behaviour, rather, it is the action of banning the books by the school that leads to them.

The story is told in first-person by Amy Anne Ollinger, a nine-year-old girl who often has difficulty speaking up for herself. She is upset by the school's decision to remove books, her favourite book especially, from the school library. As she works to get banned books back on the shelves of her school library, she discovers that she is not alone in her quest. She is, in fact, part of a community of booklovers that includes her good friends, classmates, their parents and even the school librarian.

***

Before I proceed further, I like to highlight two things of importance.

First, every title banned by the school board in this novel is a book that has in fact been challenged or banned in an American library at least once in the last thirty years. So, the banned books listed in this novel are for real, not some fictitious ones. This is as stated under the author's note at the end of the book. And as it is, because they are banned books, naturally the reader in me cannot resist the temptation but to check them out and add those that interest me to my Reading List. You got it!

Second, the author includes in the list of books banned, some titles that the protagonist, Amy Anne, does not like and even some that she feels uncomfortable reading. In doing so, the author is trying to put across the message that the things people choose to ban usually include things that they feel uncomfortable with. But the thing is, people cannot decide for everyone else what books others are or are not comfortable with reading. They cannot stop other people from wanting to borrow those books and reading them.

***

What I like about this book is that it is not simply a story about banned books, it is also about family relationships, learning to express oneself through words, art, action and even in the choice of books to take down from a library shelf to read, learning the right way as opposed to the wrong one to voice objections and learning to make a stand and find one's own strengths.

What I also like is the mention of the old ways used by libraries on keeping track of books borrowed by readers. It feels like a walk down memory lane as it brings back old memories, of nostalgic days when the queue time to borrow or return books can be as long as thirty minutes or even an hour. With the wonders of technology, it is hard to imagine spending that long an amount of waiting time these days.

With regard to banned books, I am of the view that libraries - be it school or public libraries - should be a place where one can find all kinds of books - good books, bad books, serious books, funny books, small books, big books, thick books, thin books, etc. You get my drift. Every person should be free to read whatever they want, whenever they want, wherever they want and not have to explain to anyone why they read it or why they like it or why they feel it is good or no good. I too, have my share of books that I like and do not like. I express my likes and dislikes - my own choice - in my review blog and recommend books accordingly. I do not impose my views on others as I respect that everyone has their own reading preference. And I certainly do not go to the extent of trying to get books banned in my local library simply because I do not agree with them. That will be the role for parents to play. Every parent has the right to decide what their child can and cannot read. We simply cannot make that decision for other people's children.

I am also of the opionion that children be exposed to as many different kinds of books and as many different perspectives as possible. It is important to let children read books that interest, educate, challenge and even entertain them. Where age is deemed appropriate (by the parents), children should be allowed to read books with content that adults may not agree with, but nevertheless, let them read and decide for themselves about things.

Ban this Book is an inspiring story suitable for children aged 8 to 12 years. It teaches children that sometimes getting into a truckload of trouble is worth the consequences. One more thing, this story will likely resonate with those children who have younger sisters or brothers, and are often made to give in to the whims of these younger siblings. I think they will enjoy this novel a lot more.


Publisher: Starscape; Reprint edition
Publication date: 1 May 2018

*** Favourite Quote 1 ***

How do you explain to someone else why a thing matters to you if it doesn’t matter to them? How can you put into words how a book slips inside of you and becomes a part of you so much that your life feels empty without it?

*** Favourite Quote 2 ***

Good books shouldn’t be hidden away. They should be read by as many people as many times as possible.

*** Favourite Quote 3 ***

All the book challenges, the real ones, were because one person saw a book in a very different way than somebody else. Which was fine. Everybody had the right to interpret any book any way they wanted to. What they couldn’t do then was tell everybody else their interpretation was the only interpretation.

~ Ban this Book
Alan Gratz

@}--->>--->>-----

Well-behaved women seldom make history.

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 book library out of her locker. But soon things get out of hand, and Amy Anne 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. In the end, her only recourse might be to try to beat the book banners at their own game. Because after all, once you ban one book, you can ban them all…

*Blurb from author's website*

Add to:


Links to purchase: