Ban This Book

“It means, Amy Anne, that your favorite book was banned from the school library.”

The inciting incident is clearly summarized for young readers as the first chapter’s cap. Protagonist Amy Anne spends her school arrival time anxiously trying to get to the library to check out her favorite book, From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. The established tone of anticipation juxtaposes keenly with her shock and disappointment in hearing from Mrs. Jones, the school librarian, that the school board banned the book.

“Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t think school should be a place where a parent’s authority is undermined. I think it should be a place where it’s reinforced.”

This line from Mrs. Sarah Spencer encapsulates her power position as the initiator of the book banning. Couching her stance in this language puts the members of the school board in a precarious position; if they disagree with Mrs. Spencer, others may consider them antagonistic toward parents.

“I was glad to have my own copy, but I couldn’t help thinking about that book that wasn’t on the library shelves anymore, and how I would never have known From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler was my favorite book if I hadn’t found it there in the first place.”

Amy Anne is only nine years old but astutely realizes the impact of banning a book from a school library. Her personal conflict with missing her favorite book resolves when her father stops at a bookstore and buys Amy Anne her own copy, but in this line of interior monologue, she broaches the bigger problem: Others may never come to know, love, and appreciate the story like she does because they will no longer have access to it.