Allison Varnes

Recommended Ages: Gr. 4-7

Plot Summary: Charlotte and Maddie are best friends starting middle school. On the first day on the bus, these boys threw gum into another kid's hair. Maddie wants to tell the principal who it was and hold the boys accountable, but Charlotte doesn't want to. In the principal's office, Charlotte eventually writes down the names of the boys who did it. Her nightmare comes true, the boys find out who tattled and now they are giving Charlotte and Maddie a really hard time on the bus. One day, Charlotte just walks right by Maddie and sits somewhere else. Will their friendship survive this betrayal? Will Charlotte overcome her stutter and enjoy musical theater class, where they are working on her favorite musical ever -- The Wizard of Oz? Will Charlotte and her friends save the musical theater program from being cut next year?

Setting: ?

Characters:
Charlotte Andrews -
Maddie - Charlotte's best friend
Ben Hooper - kid who got gum thrown in his hair on the bus
Tristan and Josh - bullies who threw the gum, bully Maddie and Charlotte after
Ms. Harper - musical theater teacher
Grace - diabetic, in Charlotte's theater class, the other half of the horse
Jack - in Charlotte's theater class
Sophie - in Charlotte's theater class
Aubrey - arrogant, snobby, and has commercial experience, thinks she can do what she wants
Ms. Bishop - Charlotte's speech therapist, leaves notes for Charlotte telling her to come to her office in the library but Charlotte ignores them and crumples them up often, practices the entire script together

Recurring Themes: friendship, bullying, honesty, tattling, telling the truth, abandonment, musical theater, fame, school

Controversial Issues: none

Personal Thoughts: I had a kid ask for a book about school and this one has 90% school drama and 10% discussion of the school drama at home. The characters are authentic and the book is well-written.

Genre: realistic fiction

Pacing: medium
Characters:
Frame:
Storyline:

Activity:… (altro)

Narrated by Monika Felice Smith. June loves books and reading. She is one of school librarian Ms Bradshaw's "groupies," and June always looks forward to her recommendations. But her strict parents object to a fantasy book about witches that June has been reading and this kicks off a campaign that includes clearing objectionable books from the middle school library, suspending Ms Bradshaw, and requiring teachers to get approval to use non-textbook readings in class. In response, June covertly stashes banned books in the empty locker next to hers and loans them out to students. Timely reading given the current fever around book banning, with plenty of well-known challenged titles dropped in the story (backmatter includes a complete list of all titles mentioned). The message of the freedom to read is weakened by overwrought adult characters. It's somewhat improbable that there is no reasonable adult pushing back. Smith's youthful voice suits this middle school story and leans quite a bit into portraying those overwrought adults.… (altro)

June’s parents don’t want her reading any “scary witch books,” and when they find that she has checked one out of the school library, her Mom returns it to the library herself. That’s bad enough but then the librarian leaves with the police (that seems extreme?), and the library is closed for a while.

When it reopens, the collection has been culled only to include approved titles.

June starts her own library to circulate books she finds in a Little Free Library near her home.

I love books about books and readers. Here’s my elevator pitch: It’s kinda Middle-Grade version of the Footloose town with books being banned instead of dancing. I thought it was inspiring and set a great example of overcoming censorship and one person standing up and making a difference.… (altro)