Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books, (Hardcover)

LULA DEAN'S LITTLE LIBRARY OF BANNED BOOKS is one of my favorite things of 2024. The premise is simple: Small town crank Lula Dean starts a campaign to pull every “offensive” book from the local library while installing a Little Library stand full of wholesome volumes in front of her own house. In the dead of night, someone replaces them all with banned books, disguised with the dustjackets of Lula's original selections. As unwitting residents begin reading volumes by the likes of Anne Frank and Judy Blume, change begins rippling outward and upends Troy, Georgia. What follows is joyous, sometimes infuriating, heartbreaking, or terrifying but always inspiring and uplifting. Books enlarge your worldview and perspective from beyond your personal bubble and, in this case, left me regularly ending a chapter with a big smile on my face. (Side note: I am now genuinely interested in looking into the DNA Family History tests that figure into the plot.) I'd anticipated a series of episodic chapters about each book's effect on a household, but author Kirsten Miller resists that easy path. Instead, she assuredly builds a sweeping narrative while progressively expanding the surprisingly large cast of characters. More than once, I found myself admiring the sheer skill it took to juggle all these players and move the story forward. (I loved—to name one—the local postal carrier whose job gives him an unspoken awareness of many of the locals' darker secrets and who regains his enthusiasm for life when he tumbles onto the Little Library's own secret.) Miller—the product of a small town herself—does a nice job of contrasting the desire to hold onto the past with the need to learn from it and do better. The depiction of a married couple's corrosive addiction to an inflammatory news channel is framed sympathetically through the eyes of their college-bound son, who literally prays for a day when the TV no longer tells his parents who to hate. The coda to that specific plot thread is wonderful. If you love books and dream of a less divisive future, this very timely tome ought to give you a little hope. If nothing else, it'll brighten your day.