Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller Published by William Morrow on June 18, 2024
Genres: Satire Fiction
Pages: 384
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: NetGalley, Publisher
Buy on Amazon/Bookshop.org
Beverly Underwood and her arch enemy, Lula Dean, live in the tiny town of Troy, Georgia, where they were born and raised. Now Beverly is on the school board, and Lula has become a local celebrity by embarking on mission to rid the public libraries of all inappropriate books—none of which she’s actually read. To replace the “pornographic” books she’s challenged at the local public library, Lula starts her own lending library in front of her home: a cute wooden hutch with glass doors and neat rows of the worthy literature that she’s sure the town’s readers need.
What Lula doesn’t know is that a local troublemaker has stolen her wholesome books, removed their dust jackets, and restocked Lula’s library with banned books: literary classics, gay romances, Black history, witchy spell books, Judy Blume novels, and more. One by one, neighbors who borrow books from Lula Dean’s library find their lives changed in unexpected ways. Finally, one of Lula Dean’s enemies discovers the library and decides to turn the tables on her, just as Lula and Beverly are running against each other to replace the town’s disgraced mayor.
That’s when all the townspeople who’ve been borrowing from Lula’s library begin to reveal themselves. That's when the showdown that’s been brewing between Beverly and Lula will roil the whole town...and change it forever.
My Thoughts
The story is set in a rural Georgia town with a Concerned Parents Committee, which determines to ban books the town’s children should not read. The plot revolves around a town busybody, Lula Dean, who sets up a little free-lending library with some wholesome books, and one of the town’s youth switches the books to the ‘banned’ books and keeps the original jackets so no one can know. As chaos ensues, the entire town is left divided. However, a group of teenagers and a few adults come together to expose Lulu and save their community from despair.
Miller narrates each story from various POVs and still does an admirable job in making their names and stories different enough for you to pick up on as you read.
As a town unites to fight for their right to read against the objections of one individual who gets annoyed at something trivial, Miller’s no-holds-barred style flourishes. The book is funny and eye-opening at the same time; therefore, I felt it was a good read.
Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.
About Kirsten Miller
Kirsten Miller grew up in a small town in the mountains of North Carolina. At seventeen, she hit the road and moved to New York City, where she lives to this day. Kirsten’s first adult novel, The Change, is a feel good feminist revenge fantasy–with witches. The Change is a Good Morning America Book Club pick for May 2022. Kirsten also the author of over a dozen middle grade and YA novels, including the acclaimed Kiki Strike books, which tell the tale of the delinquent girl geniuses who keep Manhattan safe, and How to Lead a Life of Crime. She is not the Kirsten Miller who wrote All That Is Left (which appears on the list of the books she’s written), but she assumes that Kirsten is lovely and talented.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
