The entire premise behind Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books is both infuriating and delightful in equal measure. A book banning spree has decimated the libraries of Troy, a small town in Georgia. The woman who spearheaded the ban, Lula Dean, has decided to built a little free library housing more “acceptable” reading material for her community. Unbeknownst to her, every single one of these books has been swapped out for something she had labeled inappropriate, the dust jackets switched to cover the crime. We see each of these books fall into the hands of someone who needs it, and the town of Troy will never be the same.

I have to confess that I almost didn’t read this book. There were multiple uses of profanity on the first page, which just immediately turned me off. The amount of profanity continued to make me uncomfortable, but the story was worth the discomfort. This is also a book with a very clear agenda, and there were times when that made me uncomfortable, as well. But it was meant to have that effect. And, again, the story was worth the discomfort. The tone was often aggressive to the point of combative, but as this true core of the story was the battle for the moral soul of a town, that made complete sense.

It’s amazing how many tough topics were tackled in this 300 page novel. Hot button issues like (the very obvious from the title) book banning, racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, and so many more populated these pages and were the integral to the story being told. I would say that, politically, I’m on the conservative side of moderate. This book is definitely coming from a much more liberal viewpoint. However, I can still recognize that this is an excellent novel, and very much enjoy my time with it, without having to agree with every single point Miller makes. Now, despite our political differences, we have a lot of overlap, as I am an egalitarian and Miller’s writing leads me to believe that she is, as well. I believe that everyone is entitled to be treated with dignity; that’s what Jesus modeled, and so it’s what I try to live out in my own life. All of that to say, I feel like I would have gotten along just fine with the people of Troy who began finding themselves in the banned books they borrowed from Lula Dean’s library.

Speaking of Troy, Miller did a fantastic job portraying this little fictional town. It’s incredibly charming, populated with vibrant, wonderful characters, and hiding a cancerous root of secrets and malcontent and injustice. I fell in love with the town and the people, and was so rooting for them as they brought their problems into the light and tackled the injustice in their history without erasing it. I can see things like this happening in any small towns in the South. Honestly, the most unrealistic aspect of this book to me is that all of the books in Lula’s library were hardcovers with dust jackets, and that every book replacing these was miraculously the right size for these dust jackets.

I loved Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books. It made me laugh and feel and think, and it’s a book I’ll definitely be thinking about for a long time. I would love to visit the Troy of the end of the story, though I am much more familiar with towns that look like Troy when the story first begins. I might’ve had some issues with the amount of profanity, but it was definitely worth looking past. This is such a fun, charming, powerful story, with so much to say.

This book was an absolute hit for me! From the small town shenanigans to the zany cast of characters, Miller totally nailed it. I can’t wait to read whatever she writes next!

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for the ARC!

Thank you to William Morrow and #NetGalley for the digital ARC of #LulaDeansLittleLibraryofBannedBooks. The opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

I absolutely LOVED this book! I laughed out loud so many times while reading that I didn't want to put it down. And I'm going to recommend it to everyone I know. It's a timely satire of the issues dividing the country today - censorship, race, LGBTQ and much more.

Set in present day small town Georgia, Lula Dean is on a crusade to "save" the town from the "filth" on the library shelves. To set an example of what people "should" read, Lula fills her little free library with wholesome books like Chicken Soup for the Soul and The Clue in the Library. But soon people discover that the books in the little library aren't what they seem and the impact reverberates throughout the community. While it deals with some heavy topics, it's a hopeful book overall.

Miller's writing is sharp and her characters feel real and not too over the top. I like how she used book titles for each chapter, using each title to introduce a character and show how books can change a life - for better or worse.

This is a very timely title. We're going through something similar at my library and it hit a little close to home. There is a lot of humor throughout the book, which helps temper the tough subject matter. The book is chock full of characters, which can make it a little confusing when moving from chapter to chapter. Still, library patrons (and library lovers) should enjoy this title.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4 stars

Not sure how I forgot to write a review when I finished Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books a few months ago. Kirsten Millers The Change positively moved me and is one of my favorite books of all time. I enjoyed Lula Dean (well the book, not the character...).

I wish that hate, bigotry, homophobia, etc could be solved by people reading a book from some one else's perspective.

At first I wasn't sure if each chapter was a short story not connected to the next. They were stories pulled from the headlines of current events in our nation. But as I continued I saw it was the story of a town in Georgia that could be Anywhere, USA. I live in the the north and this book banning stuff is happening here too. In a nearby suburb, a few noisy Lulas and Nathans are trying to speak for everyone.

This is a story that needs to be told. And very timely now! I hope it gets all the recognition it deserves and Kirsten Miller keeps writing more fabulous novels.

3.75 stars

This story is a combo of laugh out loud funny lines and very serious situations. The author is a Southerner who is honest about the down side of her heritage.

This deal with contemporary issues: racism, book banning, homophobia, the political divide, date rape, BLM, and Confederate statues among other things.

Some of the characters are a tad stereotypical - you have the closet Nazi sympathizer, the anti-woke mom pulling books off the library shelves, and the troubled heavily armed young malcontent. But the plot doesn't always unfold in a predictable way.

Lula Dean has spent her life trying to be noticed and appreciated. Her book-banning crusade plays on the community's fears and she uses it as a platform to thrust herself into the spotlight. In the meantime, the Little Free Library she starts full of wholesome books gets hijacked when someone substitutes more provocative titles hidden in the dust jackets. And that sometimes changes attitudes and lives.

This was a fun but thoughtful read. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books is the kind of book that reminds you how much you love to read.

Lula Dean is the town busybody. She's the leader of a the Concerned Parents Committee, a committee that SHE founded. Her mission is to remove all 'offensive' books from school and libraries. In order to encourage people to read 'better' books, she sets up a Little Free Library in her front yard.

At the same time, her archenemy's daughter takes the books and switches the dust jackets onto books that people actually want to read. The town and it's people learn and heal....all while a mayoral race between Lula and her arch enemy heats up.

While this was a fun read, it touched on real hot topics that are affecting our nation and education system. Topics like race and sexism are touched on as is the rise of the alt-right. While the end felt a little TOO cute, this is still an important story to tell.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book .

⭐️: 5/5

In a small town in Georgia, Lula Dean has made it her mission to remove all the public libraries of books she deems inappropriate, and starts her own small lending library in her yard, full of “safe” books. Lula’s rival, Beverly, opposes this ban, and her daughter Lindsey switches Lula’s books with the banned books. As one by one, the neighbors borrow books from Lula’s library, they find their lives changed irrevocably, all as the tensions within the town begin to reach a boiling point.

Having the option to read a book with a physically or digitally is honestly elite reader status, so I loved getting the physical ARC in addition to the eARC of this one! Even if I just had one, I would’ve loved this book. It’s kind of a narrative told primarily via a bunch of short anecdotes about various people in the town and how the little free library personally impacted them, which centers on them and their lives, but also moves the overarching story along in an interesting way. I feel like this could have made the whole thing feel choppy, but it didn’t at all! This did have all the hallmarks of one of those “in a perfect world” books where the people in the wrong always come around to the way of the people who are clearly in the right, and everyone who doesn’t is clearly worse off because of it. It’s highly unrealistic, but also super cathartic when reading it, because isn’t reading essentially escapism? Sometimes we want to be able to pretend that the world we live in isn’t as shitty as it actually is. Anyway, this book was funny, relevant, and engrossing, and I will be recommending it to everyone!

Thank you to @netgalley and @williammorrowbooks for this free ARC for my review!!

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.

This gem started out a little slow for me, but I am so glad I kept at it. This book is a gem, and it speaks to important issues we are facing today in the US (and around the world). Such a fun and creative premise. I loved the writing, the characters, and the plot. Chef's kiss brilliant!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced digital reader's copy (ARC) in exchange for an honest review!

I gave Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books five ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Net Galley, Harper Collins and Kristen Miller for the ARC. These are my honest opinions.

I loved this book! I’m not even sure exactly what category this book fits in. The storytelling is great! It was funny, but serious at the same time. It captured my attention right off the bat and I had a hard time putting it down.

It was a light read, but also heavy. Which doesn’t make any sense, I know. But, it tackled some very heavy ideology, but in a light way so it doesn’t feel threatening. But, it still drives home what needs to be discussed.

The characters are rich and entertaining and even though, there are a lot of them, it was easy to keep up with them.

Just an all around good book that needed to be written. Thank you Kristen Miller!

Do Not be fooled by the title. It hides a treasure. Lula Dean is only one character and not the best one either.
I would give this book more stars than 5, it's that good. Stellar in my opinion. At first, I wondered where we (I was just going along for the ride) were going but after one chapter (ok, i'm slow but so what) I was rocking with each new "book." Got to the end and kinda hoped there was more. But a nice feel-good ending was appreciated.
No spoilers, but everyone needs to read this, more than once would be excellent. I highly recommend for all ages, sizes, shapes, and colors.
This one is on my shopping list to give to all my family and friends.

Stars times infinity. I loved this book. So many hot topics were covered in this book-sexual orientation, race, statutes and history, ignorance, bullying, family relationships-just to name a few. Kirsten Miller did a fabulous job supporting both sides of the situations in realistic scenarios. I recommend this novel for everyone regardless of how you stand on book bans. While reading I envision that Lula Dean was based on a Georgia politician with the initials MTG. This book is my new recommendation when people ask, “got a book suggestion?”.

The author's note at the end is so on point for issues that are in the news today. Now.more than ever, it's imperative that individuals and groups fight book bans and books being removed from schools and libraries by a minority of squeaky wheels. I almost put down this book about 25% in as it was SO sugary Southern but I am glad I stuck with it. Replacing horrible, unwanted books with books that make people think was brilliant. Hopefully this book inspires lots of resistance to book bans/book challenges by librarians, parents, teens and caring individuals.

An intriguing, captivating, thought-provoking, entertaining, hilarious read! Kirsten Miller explores several critical topics with grace, gravitas and glee. I loved reading about the Southern culture conflicts and how a small town copes with drama after drama.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the opportunity to read this ARC.

In a small Southern town, Lula has made it her mission to replace the "pornographic" books she's challenged in her town's library with access to a quaint lending library in front of her home. This little free library offers lessons on southern charm and good family values that she sees as missing in today's world.

However, many people in the town aren't happy with the changes in the library system, and one resident decides to pull a literary prank unlike any other. All these charming and carefully curated books retain Lula's covers, but the books are replaced with banned novels that offer experiences for each of the residents who pick them up.

What unfolds is the discoveries that each person makes about themselves, their family members, and the town's heroes, which will change the lives of everyone forever through the power of these stories.

There are heartwarming moments like Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret, which teaches a boy about periods and what his mom's "bandages" under the sink are for. There are also more pivotal lessons, like a wife discovering The Diary of Anne Frank and understanding her husband's collection of Nazi memorabilia with a whole new lens. At its root, the books (some real, some fictional) showcase the empathy we discover when we read these novels for the first time.

Set up as short stories that entertain, some are beautifully fleshed-out experiences, while others offer readers unusually tidy or less well-developed endings. She provides a chapter for every hot-button topic in the news at a dizzying pace.

The story takes provocative turns that sometimes alienate conservative readers from conversations that could have happened in book clubs around banned books- halting what I believe could have reached a wider audience.

If you are left-leaning, this book will be a sheer delight.

This review will appear in edited form on Shelf Awareness the week before release.

The whimsical premise of Lula Dean's Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller (The Change) eases the reader into the story, but the narrative quickly becomes serious as tensions build and tempers boil.

Lula Dean knows she deserves to be respected, and she blames several people for the distinct lack of respect the town of Troy shows her. Lula gets her chance when she discovers an erotic cake cookbook in the town library and founds the Concerned Parents Committee to remove all objectionable books from Troy's public and school libraries. Lindsay Underwood comes back from college just long enough to replace all the wholesome books Lula stocked in the new little library in her yard with the banned books, all disguised by the dust covers of Lula's original choices. Unsuspecting town members find the books they need: a boy struggling to accept his gay brother finds a wholesome gay romance, a faithful wife who discovers her husband is cheating finds an empowering book on witchcraft, a young boy worried about his mother's bleeding finds a book about girls getting periods, and a Black man finds evidence that "there are plenty of good folks around here. They just haven't been shouting as loud as the others." But the shouting voices bring other, more dangerous, voices into the fray, including closet Nazis, forcing everyone to rethink what they know about their town and its members.

Head-hopping with skill, Miller provides glimpses into thought patterns of the variety of people in an insightful exploration of early twenty-first-century culture wars and book challenges.

Discover: Amusing, sobering, and optimistic in turns, this book depicts the terrible ramifications of banning books and the liberating potential of the right book finding the right person.

An Important Message

"History is full of unintended consequences."

In a small southern town, a woman leads the cause of a concerned parents' group to ban books from schools and local libraries to protect children from unwholesome beliefs. She then builds a free little library promoting books with values that align with their "wholesome" beliefs. Unexpectedly, someone switches out the approved books with the banned ones, causing readers and townspeople to reassess their lives and understanding of their truths.

The novel's structure plays a significant role, as each chapter is titled based on a banned book or the title of a "wholesome" book. The character at the center of the chapter reads a book that changes their lives in ways they could have never imagined. For instance, a wife realizes that her husband is a Nazi sympathizer, a brother tries to understand the belief that a book turned his brother gay, and a woman concludes that her marriage is over, and so on.

The cast of characters is quite large and eccentric, especially the title character herself.

Around the halfway point, the structure changes as we revisit some characters from the earlier chapters to see how their lives have changed since reading a banned book.

This novel isn't without flaws: the structure gets repetitive, parts are preachy, and the ending goes off the rails; however, I am willing to overlook these aspects because of the impactful message.

The tone is serious, but there is also a lot of fun and humor woven in to lighten it up. Through the banned books, themes of racism, gender roles, sexuality, antisemitism, and others are explored. In essence, this novel serves as a powerful commentary on the dangers of banning books.

"Gather as much knowledge as you can, because information is power. And choosing how to use it is freedom."

I received a complimentary copy of this book from NetGalley and William Morrow in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this was really well written and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future. I think it will find readers at our library, so we will definitely be purchasing for the collection.

“They were just ordinary people. That’s what makes them so terrifying. Monsters you can fight. But when the people who come for you in the night are your neighbors and coworkers and classmates…when you never know who’s sick and who’s not…” he shrugged. “Hate is a disease, Dawn.”

“When you have everything, the only luxury left is taking things away from others.”

“And as far as I know, Jesus never said a damn thing about gay folks or barbecue. But he sure did talk a lot about love.”

Lula Dean has a new fight in town. She needs to get rid of all these inappropriate books that are ruining the lives of the children in town. Beverlys daughter however, sees what she is doing and fills the library with the banned books, wrapped in the dust jackets of the books Lula deems “appropriate.” Suddenly the people in town are opening their eyes to a different way of life. One with less racism, homophobia, and sexism. When it comes down to Lula and Beverly fighting for the position of Mayor, who will prevail?

Oh man this book was just perfectly quotable! Seriously, I had to stop myself because instagram will only allow so many characters! I loved every second of this book! I was infuriated by Lula, and several other characters to be honest, but I just loved the way the “secret” books got passed around and how they changed the people in town. I also really enjoyed that almost each chapter was a different persons story, but they all wove together throughout. There is really nothing else to say except that you need to read this book!