When I started to develop A MOST REMARKABLE GIRL, I was reacting to the abuses of the George W. Bush administration, which I naively believed couldn't get any worse. After Obama was elected, I naively believed the themes of my novel would soon become outdated. Now, unfortunately, I find these themes even more relevant than they were when I started.
For purposes of financial gain and social control, systems of power have created self-serving concepts of what is “normal” and have sought, through censorship and violence, to suppress and erase both the voices and the bodies of people who do fit those concepts, as well as people who are otherwise unpopular, nonconformist, or inconvenient. A MOST REMARKABLE GIRL connects bigotry, censorship, pseudoscience, and fascism as densely interrelated motivations and methods to marginalize and dehumanize people who stand in the way of power and profit. Unfortunately, such efforts were not confined to the 1930s or any other historical period and are at the forefront of today’s public discourse. These efforts pose threats to democracy and the safety and well-being of vulnerable people in the United States and around the world.
A MOST REMARKABLE GIRL explores these timely themes through a story set nearly a century ago, showing how we can learn from the past and finding hope in pluralism, community, and the affirmation of oneself and others.
Click HERE to learn about Brooklyn Public Library's Books Unbanned program, including links to sign up, donate, report challenges, and explore other resources.
Click HERE to read about ways to fight book bans.
Click on the photo below to learn more about PEN America's data on school book bans. (This data focuses on the 2021-22 school year, but in the following six months, book bans increased by 28%).
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