The Quick Cut: A teen girl in her senior year of high school finds herself suddenly a rebel when she opens a banned book library in her school.
A Real Review:
Books have the profound ability to cut like a sword and discuss the deepest topics in the most delightful of manners. Although they can be clever and at times subversive, they have also been known to cause a controversy or two. In this book centered around Clara, she finds her quiet life shaken when her favorite books are silently banned at her high school.
Clara Evans is a lover of the library. Not only is she a volunteer at her high school's, but she runs her own non-profit of Tiny Little Libraries in her neighborhood. Books have inspired and changed her life, so she loves to spend time finding ways to share it. However, that optimistic passion is turned dark when she accidentally discovers that a list of 50 books are being silently banned and taken off the shelves of her school's library. Taking matters into her own hands, she grabs the books and creates a banned book library at school rather than take them off campus. Can she get away with it? Or can she somehow convince the school to revert the policy?
I consumed this book like it was made of white chocolate Reese's. I've never seen a book written about banned books and the way this story talks about the phenomena while also discussing so many other important subjects is nothing short of brilliant. From page one, this book hooks you with vibrant characters that feel real and a plot that eerily sounds like something that has occurred.
"Books are a light. A light that melts ignorance and hate. They show new paths to take."
Through the tangled web of connections created by the Unlib (aka the banned books library), we see the power of the written word as well as spoken. Just how much impact a person can have on a life is seen on a spotlight in this tale (and it shook me to my core). Questions are asked about whether books are dangerous or if it's the reader that is the power holder. So many threads that I could never begin to unravel here.
Clara is a wonderous heroine. She isn't your standard bookworm type here who doesn't have a friend circle or comes off as a loner. She has a book club, a student president BFF, and a cause she believes strongly in. At the same time, those beliefs are tested and pushed to places she never anticipated, to the point where enemies of hers are seen in new light. She's perfectly human and flawed, like the rest of us.
With a powerful story that speaks so clearly, you will hate to see this book end.
My rating: 5 out of 5