I do love Little Free Libraries, of which there are about half a dozen near our weekend home in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. I found this book in the LFL located closest to our house. This novel tells of Molly Frost and her comrades at Fisher Middle School who are sick of having their clothing monitored. Shorts and skirts that aren't longer than the end of one's fingertips, bare shoulders, and other "distracting" attire is cause for being "coded". When Molly's friend Olivia is humiliated by the principal for exposing her shoulders because she removed her sweatshirt to tie around her waist to hide the period blood on her white pants Molly starts a podcast to protest. The protest gains serious momentum which ends with an Occupation in the schoolyard.
The school library, the public library, and a "fantasy library" where Molly imagines a decent older brother who protects her from the bullies who pelt her with ice balls are all part of this story.
Molly's mother attends a lecture at the local public library on "how guinea fowl and possums are better than chemicals for managing ticks."
The school library is a place where parents meet to discuss an upcoming end-of-year trip; where (girl) students are sent to have their clothing scrutinized; and where Molly and her friend Navya meet to write their speech for the School Board meeting. While writing their notes they find an ally in Mr. Beam, the school librarian, who "drops a blue folder on the table, winks, adjusts his tie, and walks away...It's stacked with articles about dress code protests and how, by law, student dress codes cannot be evenly enforced". You can always count on a librarian for assistance with subversive activity.
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