Clara Evans is without a doubt a rather bookish person. She not only runs a book club and several Tiny Little Libraries, she also volunteers at the Lupton Academy school library. And when she learns that over fifty books have been banned from her private high school she creates a secret "locker library" (a la Ban This Book) to ensure that her classmates still have access to the "prohibited media", although they (the students) haven't even been notified that the books have been removed. As a private school Lupton Academy can do what it likes without input from the community.
One of Clara's new favorite books, Don't Tread on Me, is among the prohibited media. DTOM is about a clandestine library which makes this whole story somewhat meta.
Clara's character is well developed. We find her questioning her own motives for creating the locker library, as well she begins to wonder whether perhaps some books should be banned. She notes that Catcher in the Rye may have incited Mark David Chapman to murder John Lennon, and driven one of her friends to consider suicide. Her self-questioning ultimately allows her to think more deeply about the book bans, and hone her arguments against the censorship. That's how critical thinking works. When we get exposed to new ideas we may struggle with the new information and, whether we change our minds or not, we have a better understanding of the issues and can make our own well-reasoned arguments.
Although Don't Tread on Me is a fictitious book there are quite a few real books named in Suggested Reading. All have been banned or challenged somewhere, sometime. Links in the following list are to my reviews on this blog. This list is more or less in the order the books are named in Suggested Reading.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Animal Farm by George Orwell
The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Two Book Series were referenced without actually being named:
A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicker
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