The Year They Burned the Books

LS 5623 Book Review
Realism, Romance & Censorship

Bibliography
Garden, Nancy. 1999. THE YEAR THEY BURNED THE BOOKS. New York : Farrar Straus Giroux. ISBN 0374386676

Plot Summary
The book begins in the high school newspaper office, Jamie is the editor in chief and she is mediating an argument between two of her newspaper staff (and her two friends). The two friends are arguing about what will become a larger argument that the whole town gets involved in, whether condoms should be made available to high school students. Soon issues of freedom of speech versus protecting student's innocence come into play. A side story running through the book is Jamie's struggle with her sexual identity.

Critical Analysis
The strength of this book is that author does a wonderful job of portraying that each character on both sides of the issue can be passionately defending what that person feels is "right". At one point the main character is talking to her friend and says, "Did it ever occur to you that I might think what you believe is just as immoral? But that doesn't mean I can't like you as a person, respect you, want to be your friend?" Another aspect of characterization that the author handles well is Jamie struggle to find herself; this is portrayed in such a way that all readers can identify with struggle to be accepted while trying to find out who you are.

The strength of this book, the portrayal of so many characters from differing viewpoints, leads to a small weakness in the book. There were numerous characters in this book to keep track of and it will take a fairly sophisticated reader to keep all the characters straight. Numerous characters that are not just stock characters or stereotypes adds a realistic quality to the book even if it does make it more challenging to read.

Review Excerpts
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL : "There is no doubt that Garden has written a book to make a point about important contemporary issues, but the story is believable and never heavy-handed."
BOOKLIST : "Nevertheless, Garden's treatment of her themes is courageous, believable, and fair-minded, and Jamie, Tessa, and Terry are well-realized and sympathetic characters."


Connections
* Have students discuss the first amendment.
* Have students write a mock newspaper editorial on a controversial subject.