‘Ban This Book’ by Alan Gratz

Amy Anne, a fourth-grader, creates a library of banned books in her locker after a classmate’s mother uses her political influence to remove books from the school library. (The school district has an official policy for dealing with challenges to books, but because this parent has so much clout, the board abandons its official policy and simply removes the books.)

I liked this book for its portrayal of students taking positive action, as well as for its advancement of the theme of choosing books for yourself. It’s OK for a child’s parents to make choices for that child about what is, or is not appropriate, but that child’s parents do not get to make that choice for every other child in the school.

One of my favorite scenes concerns Amy Anne’s wanting to keep track of books borrowed from her library. Amy, of course, does not have access to an automated library catalog. So what does she do? She asks the school librarian about how libraries tracked books before the automated catalog, and the helpful Mrs. Jones even equips Amy with her own date-stamp to imprint due-dates in the books.

SRCSA library, top circulations for 2018-2019

More than 7,000 transactions were recorded this past year in the library at Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts. Here are the books that were most often checked out during the 2018-2019 school year, with number of circulations.

‘Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree’

This is a sweet and charming book about a girl who is governed by logic, and her interactions with the messy and irrational classmates with whom she shares her life. The author, Lauren Tarshis, also wrote the immensely popular I Survived disaster-survival series. I was able to strongly relate to this book’s protagonist, Emma-Jean; she’s never specifically labeled as anything other than “strange,” but I could easily see her occupying a place on the autism continuum (and I like the way that Emma-Jean’s being “strange” is framed as a positive trait). Altogether, a compelling storyline, difficult to put down — as, with good intentions, Emma-Jean resorts to various forgeries. I kept waiting with apprehension for her ruses to be discovered.

Roseland library: SR council advocates funding

Storytime at Roseland library. Credit: SCL website

Important news for supporters of Santa Rosa library services: The Santa Rosa City Council has directed city staff to include $150,000 for Roseland Community Library relocation in the budget for next fiscal year.

‘Reluctant Paladin’ by Jordan Bernal

A strong theme of uniting to combat bullying is at the heart of this fantasy novel for young readers that is set in Ireland. The protagonist, Niall, has arrived at a new school after his parents leave him in the care of his grandfather.

Niall is an onlooker to a classmate being bullied, and at first he wants to intervene but the bully’s target convinces him not to. Later, Niall is himself targeted by the bully.

Meanwhile, Niall’s grandfather provides veterinary care to various clans of dragon-riders. Bonded pairs of dragons and their human “compeers” keep Ireland safe and prosperous — and only a few people are privileged to know the existence of the dragons.

Recently, Grayson, a young dragon, was born without wings at one of the dragon-riders’ compounds. Grayson was given into the care of a young man who, instead, abused him. Niall’s grandfather and local clan leaders intervene and rescue Grayson, and Niall comes to care for him.

While caring for Grayson, Niall also learns how to defeat the bullying done by his classmate.

The author, Jordan Bernal, has done well with developing her characters. The bully, Thorin, is not simply a one-dimensional villain; instead, we learn he is doing his best to care for several younger siblings. Circumstances have forced him to step into the role of father because his own father is lost in drink, and they all live under constant threat of authorities breaking-up the family.

This book arrived in my school library courtesy of a parent-supporter who attended a writers’ conference with author Jordan Bernal. I am interested in reading The Keepers of Eire, which this book is a prequel to.