A powerful yet wryly funny book about a group of middle-school students seeking to stop a book ban in their community.
Molly Claremont can’t wait for middle school to end. Its only saving grace is Ms. Lewiston’s Book Club, or LBC, where Molly and her friends Mik (who is gay), Kait, Alex, Alice, Theo, and Jax (who has two dads), are the “core book nerds.” Some readers will recognize several of these characters (including Molly) from author Dana Allison Levy’s previous books, although Not Another Banned Book can easily be read as a standalone title.
Ms. Lewiston is not only a lover of books, but also someone who genuinely cares about the students’ well-being. Molly herself has spent most of the past two years fending for herself while her parents focused on her ill brother, who then died. While things are slowly getting better at home, Molly has clearly leaned on Ms. Lewiston for support, even while struggling with a sense of hyper-responsibility.
The book club, too, is a safe space for discussing challenging topics like racism, as we see the students doing. One day, however, the principal comes in to talk with Ms. Lewiston, who shuts down the meeting early. We soon learn that someone in the community has claimed Ms. Lewiston is giving the students inappropriate books. She is suspended and the LBC is disbanded.
Molly wants to save the club, which has been so important for her and her peers. She rallies her friends to try and do something. But what?
Levy is a skilled enough author to make this more than just a story of good kids fighting evil book banners. The story is as much about Molly’s journey through grief and healing as it is about book banning—and Molly makes mistakes in (and learns from) her interactions with others along the way. We see how the kids’ intersectional identities impact their responses to the bans and to each other; how even the well-meaning aren’t perfect; how the kids are also just trying to get through school and sports and other daily activities and shouldn’t be required to take on this burden; and how we should never assume what someone has going on in their life. Even Ms. Lewiston has her flaws.
At the same time, Levy pointedly and eloquently shows just how damaging book bans are to kids of varied identities, who are using the stories to understand both themselves and the world around them. And the initiative that the kids create to bring attention to the bans feels realistic—so much so that I wonder if readers will bring it to life in their communities, in the same way that No Name-Calling Week, initially seen in James Howe’s novel The Misfits, has become a real-world observance.
As in her previous works, Levy blends a thoughtful take on challenging issues with compelling characters and a hefty dose of humor, making for a read as entertaining as it is important. She also weaves in information about many actual books that have been banned, making Not Another Banned Book a great candidate for book club discussion itself, and a launching point for further reading of banned books that are important windows and mirrors for many readers. Highly recommended.
Molly, Theo, Alex and Kait are White; Mik and Jax are Black (Jax also has ADHD); Alice has an Asian last name.
