Ban This Book

Reviewed by Debbie Reese

Reviewed Source: American Indians in Children’s Literature
Book Author: Alan Gratz

On November 3, 2019, Mike M. submitted this comment to AICL’s post about Lois Lenski’s Indian Captive:

I’ve come to Dr. Reese’s review of Indian Captive because of its appearance in Alan Gratz’s 2017 novel Ban this Book. Gratz’s story is about a schoolgirl standing up against book-banning in her grade-school library. At one point the avid young reader is suspended and grounded with nothing to read except Indian Captive. There is no commentary about the merits of the book, but it is mentioned several times, giving it a prominence above many of the books named in the story — enough to send me to investigate. I can see no particular reason why this book was chosen for its role in the story (unless it’s a very subtle indication that some books are not as good as others — but it’s quite a stretch to find that interpretation), other than mere carelessness by the author, indifference to the reasons a book may be offensive, or lack of awareness of the harm that books can perpetuate — a naive belief in the magical goodness of every written word. It seems odd considering the theme of the story. Also odd given another theme of the story: good intentions that lead to bad consequences. As adults, we can understand the complexity of the real world, and the value of ambiguity in literature, but seeing that the issues raised by this one book’s inclusion is not developed at all, and this in a novel for children, I can only see it as a flaw in an otherwise worthwhile book.

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Ban This Book by Alan Gratz
Published by Tom Doherty Associates on May 1, 2018
Genres: Activism
Pages: 256
Reading Level: Grades 3-5, Grades 6-8
ISBN: 9780765385581
Review Source: American Indians in Children's Literature
Also by this author: Refugee, Two Degrees

Publisher's Synopsis: You’re Never Too Young to Fight Censorship!

In Ban This Book by Alan Gratz, a fourth grader fights back when From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg is challenged by a well-meaning parent and taken off the shelves of her school library. Amy Anne is shy and soft-spoken, but don’t mess with her when it comes to her favorite book in the whole world. Amy Anne and her lieutenants wage a battle for the books that will make you laugh and pump your fists as they start a secret banned books locker library, make up ridiculous reasons to ban every single book in the library to make a point, and take a stand against censorship.