Ban This Book

Amy Anne accumulates more books; she needs only Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, Harriet the Spy, Matilda, and a Captain Underpants to represent the whole banned list. She clears a shelf in her locker and piles the books there, excited to house the books, “free to borrow for any student who wanted to read them” (66). After school, though, Amy Anne sees Mrs. Spencer in the library with a new list. Mrs. Spencer tells Mrs. Jones she does not need to read the books to know they are inappropriate because she looked at online reviews. She says she does not need a degree in library science to know what’s best for readers and that she also does not need to do the Request for Reconsideration Forms because the school board members with whom she spoke agree with her. When Mrs. Jones says she will wait to hear from the board, Mrs. Jones goes to find all the books to check them out in Trey’s name. Amy Anne sees that Trey is in her favorite spot. When the Spencers leave, Mrs. Jones gets an idea and goes to the office computer. Amy Anne takes the list of Mrs. Spencer’s “bad” books and leaves with it.

A third grader, Nikolai Wiebe, wants to borrow Harriet the Spy from Amy Anne’s locker, but it is checked out. Amy Anne acquired (with Danny’s help) not only Harriet the Spy, but an additional 12 books from the new list. She keeps a list of who wants to read a title next and adds Nikolai’s name. She notifies each next potential reader by locker note when a book comes in, and students who want a book can send her a locker note. Nikolai recommends she post a list, so everyone knows what books she has in her locker. Suddenly, she sees Trey watching her from behind an open locker door down the hall. Danny shows up and hands her a copy of My Brother Sam Is Dead. He says he is tracking down a copy of Bridge to Terabithia as well. He walks Amy Anne to her desk in homeroom near Rebecca’s desk. Danny shares his favorable opinion of a list, but Rebecca forewarns of lawsuits and definite suspension. Amy Anne is sick with nerves over the thought but does not want to stop the BBLL (Banned Books Locker Library).

Amy Anne realizes she can indeed post a list of the banned titles; she simply will not reveal that many are inside the locker. She types and prints a list of the “Banned Books at Shelbourne Elementary,” then puts a tiny green dot besides the ones she has accumulated. She and Rebecca throw a small bake sale to raise money for more books. Mrs. Banazewski, the principal, questions their cause. Amy Anne fumbles, then say, “We’re raising money to buy books for juvenile delinquents” (79). Rebecca comments on the truthfulness of that, in an ironic way as they are breaking the rules, when the principal leaves.

The school board officially bans the new list. Mr. Vaughn begins a partner project on the Amendments to the US Constitution. He pairs Amy Anne with Trey and assigns them the First Amendment. Trey moves to sit next to her, but she stares down and crosses her arms. He says, “You don’t like me much, do you?” (83). Amy Anne recalls how Trey, an excellent sketch artist, drew teachers and students last year as animals in interesting caricatures. Everyone loved Trey’s drawings except Amy Anne; he drew her as a silent mouse chewing its own tail. Before they can converse, the office secretary calls for Amy Anne and Jeffrey Gonzalez to come to the principal’s office.

Amy Anne waits while the principal meets with Jeffrey Gonzalez first. When they come out, the principal expresses sympathy for the death of Jeffrey’s grandmother. Then she calls Amy Anne into the room. The principal does not like that Amy Anne has a list of banned titles on her locker. Amy Anne is confused; the principal does not know about the actual books inside the locker. Principal Banazewski says that the board did not “ban” books; instead, it removed inappropriate material. Amy Anne thinks how she would argue that one person should not have the influence to remove anything, but she does not speak up about Mrs. Spencer. She does, however, say that she thinks banning and removing are the same thing. The principal tells her there is no need to “advertise” the school board’s decision on the books and to take down the list. Amy Anne wants to ask why she should if there is nothing wrong with removing the books, but she does not.

Amy Anne makes a “Go Eagles! #1!” sign on construction paper and conceals the list of attained titles on the back, then hangs it on her locker (93). Rebecca says they should incorporate the BBLL for order and growth. She leads the nominations and voting in of herself as chief financial officer and legal counsel, Danny as alternative acquisitions, and Amy Anne as president and chief librarian. Rebecca recommends Amy Anne figure out a system of due dates to better circulate the books. Amy Anne agrees: “The BBLL was getting too for its britches, as my grandmother liked to say. I was going to have to figure out a better system, and there was only one person I knew to ask” (97).

After school, Mrs. Jones notices Amy Anne observing the automated bar-code system in place for book circulation. Mrs. Jones mentions that scanning a bar code is easier than the system she used in the past and shows Amy Anne how the little envelopes in the back of the book held a card for signing the book out. She shows how a due date slip replaced the card when someone checked it out and how the old-fashioned date stamper worked. She gives the stamper to Amy Anne, who is overjoyed.

Amy Anne wants to set up index cards and envelopes for the BBLL’ s collection, but when she tries to work at the living room coffee table that night, her parents say they are watching a program she cannot see. She tries the kitchen table but Angelina, pretending to be a pony underneath, fusses so badly that her parents reprimand Amy Anne and tell her to find another place. The bathroom is too small, and Alexis is using their room for ballet. Amy Anne tries her mother’s office, filled with decorations and random assortments along with papers and folders. She tries to work on the floor, but the dogs disrupt any attempt to work. It is raining outside, so Amy Anne ends up in her mother’s car, sad and frustrated.

Trey shows Amy Anne that he drew pictures for their First Amendment project: cartoons that depict literal interpretations for comic value, like a man with the arms of a bear for the right to bear arms and a boy with Legos for the right to assemble. He has pictures, real or comical, for each right in the First Amendment. Amy Anne questions his signature, Marvin McBride III, on his drawings. He explains that Trey is a nickname and McBride is his father’s name. When his parents divorced, his mother remarried, but started using her maiden name, Spencer, in the interim. For the right to free speech, he shows her a picture of her locker with the banned books list. Amy Anne does not understand if it means he is on her side or not. He asks again why she does not like him, but she sits silently.