Stay away from my books, Iowa lawmakers

"Ban this Book" by Alan Gratz is a book about a 9-year-old girl named Amy Anne. It starts out where her favorite book “From the Mixed up Files of Mrs.Basil E. Frankweiler” is off her school library shelves. Her librarian, Mrs. Jones, tells her that it has been banned. Mrs. Jones then mentions a school board meeting that Amy Anne should go to, and when she goes the first time she doesn't speak, she just sits there in her chair, but Amy Anne does eventually decide to take her own silent action.

Some lawmakers right now are thinking about making a new law that could ban books in schools and permanently remove them from the library shelves, and it all could result in what happens in "Ban this Book.“ Hopefully it doesn’t happen, but people like me (and Amy Anne) need to stand up for the right to read whatever they desire.

I believe every guardian should have the choice of whether or not their child can read a certain book, but they shouldn’t decide for every child in the school. A book that's not right for a second-grader might be for a fourth- or fifth-grader, who might read that book and enjoy it.

I hope you will read “Ban this Book," there are some important lessons in there for all.

Willa Olson

Cedar Rapids