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A review by katiem0201
The Year They Burned the Books by Nancy Garden
4.0
"People, no matter what they believe or what their differences are, have to be able to live together without hurting each other."
I loved this book a lot more than what I was expecting to. I originally picked it up so I could catch up on my arcs (even though I don't know if I should consider this an arc since it was published years ago), but I really enjoyed it in the end.
This book follows Jamie, an editor-in-chief on her school's newspaper. After writing an editorial piece on making condoms available at school, it creates a divide between the school and the town.
I really liked Jamie. I really liked how she stood up for her views and for her actions. She never gave up on reporting the truth. I also really liked how you see her accept her sexuality over the course of the story. But my favorite character was Terry. I thought he was really funny and an overall great character. What I really admired about him though was how much he respected other people's boundaries. He was very understanding and patient.
This book deals heavily with censorship and homophobia. The book also touches on free speech vs hate speech and prejudice. And Nancy Garden doesn't shy away from the topics. And with these topics being discussed, you really get into the debates. I found myself getting riled up at the logic in some of the arguments, which was something I didn't expect to happen. Even though this was originally written nearly two decades ago, there are still topics and debates that are still discussed to this day.
Though I did enjoy this book, there was something that I didn't like. Early on in the book, Jamie gets invited to a debate at one of the churches in the town after the article was published. I was excited to read about this debate, even though it's an argument that is stated repetitively, I was excited to see an actual debate going on. But that part total gets skipped over. Instead we hear about what happened through Jamie's journal. I would've really loved to see how it went down instead of reading a little summary from her journal.
Something that did confuse me was the cover. On the new cover, there is a guy standing in front of a girl. Now I am assuming that this is Jamie and Terry. But why is Terry standing infront of Jamie? Jamie is the main character who we follow, so why is she standing behind him? Even in the original cover she is front and center. This is something that didn't affect my rating but I noticed it and was genuinely confused.
I really liked this book. It covers extremely important and relevant topics. And is one that a lot more people should read.
I loved this book a lot more than what I was expecting to. I originally picked it up so I could catch up on my arcs (even though I don't know if I should consider this an arc since it was published years ago), but I really enjoyed it in the end.
This book follows Jamie, an editor-in-chief on her school's newspaper. After writing an editorial piece on making condoms available at school, it creates a divide between the school and the town.
I really liked Jamie. I really liked how she stood up for her views and for her actions. She never gave up on reporting the truth. I also really liked how you see her accept her sexuality over the course of the story. But my favorite character was Terry. I thought he was really funny and an overall great character. What I really admired about him though was how much he respected other people's boundaries. He was very understanding and patient.
This book deals heavily with censorship and homophobia. The book also touches on free speech vs hate speech and prejudice. And Nancy Garden doesn't shy away from the topics. And with these topics being discussed, you really get into the debates. I found myself getting riled up at the logic in some of the arguments, which was something I didn't expect to happen. Even though this was originally written nearly two decades ago, there are still topics and debates that are still discussed to this day.
Though I did enjoy this book, there was something that I didn't like. Early on in the book, Jamie gets invited to a debate at one of the churches in the town after the article was published. I was excited to read about this debate, even though it's an argument that is stated repetitively, I was excited to see an actual debate going on. But that part total gets skipped over. Instead we hear about what happened through Jamie's journal. I would've really loved to see how it went down instead of reading a little summary from her journal.
Something that did confuse me was the cover. On the new cover, there is a guy standing in front of a girl. Now I am assuming that this is Jamie and Terry. But why is Terry standing infront of Jamie? Jamie is the main character who we follow, so why is she standing behind him? Even in the original cover she is front and center. This is something that didn't affect my rating but I noticed it and was genuinely confused.
I really liked this book. It covers extremely important and relevant topics. And is one that a lot more people should read.