I really enjoyed this book, which turned out to have many interesting layers!
The main one was, of course, was about book banning in a school library.The author did a great job of showing the obvious cons of banning, as well as stressing the importance of respecting other people’s opinions when making points.
Another subject was bullying, which in this book also manifested itself as anti-semitism. The main character, Bess, is Jewish, and proud of her heritage. She is understandably upset when a friend keeps silent while such remarks are made. This same child doesn’t stand up for herself, either, not to mean girls or her own overbearing mother, which Bess cannot understand.
This book should be in all classrooms. Book banning and censorship are very timely subjects, making novels such as this one all the more important.
*I received a digital copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are strictly my own.*

Just finished @ellyswartz upcoming #mglit book Same Page. Thank you @NetGalley for the eARC and thank you Elly for your powerful story that navigates the freedom to read, love, hate, kindness, and friendship. #bookwarrior

Newley elected Bess is excited to get her first sixth grade presidential campaign promise up and running, a book vending machine. Along with her new friend and Vice President, June, they begin listing books they'd like to see in the machine. The parent organization and librarian are quick to make her dream a reality. But quickly Bess is stunned when she finds that many of her books have been challenged and removed from the book vending machine.

I admired Bess's tenacity and the adults in her life who were advising her. She was able to learn a lot about things that you can and cannot control. I think the community around her was lovely.

Unfortunately, with a plethora of books on this topic floating around, this one fell a bit short for me. Mainly, that there was no justification for June's mom acting the way she was. She appeared as a nameless, faceless villain with no apparent reason for these actions. We are meant to feel sympathy for June because she loves her mother even though she "does bad things." At times, the mother is presented almost as an abuser. Was that intentional? I don't know. I just know that there are other books with this theme that have equally strong heroines who act bravely against more believable antagonists. I didn't hate it, but I won't be adding it to my shelves.

Bess met June at summer camp and is sure that their new friendship is off to a solid start. So much so that the girls run for class president and vice president once school gets started and win. Time to set the world on fire, the two of them! But right off the bat, the book vending machine that was part of their election platform stirs up controversy when a parent decides that some of the books in it are not appropriate for kids. What parent? June’s mom!

The stage is set for friendship drama, family disagreements, and learning to stand up for what you believe in a proactive, non-violent and effective way and, as with books like DEAR STUDENT, SMART COOKIE and HIDDEN TRUTHS, Elly Swartz does so in a way that rings true to the middle grade life seen in schools everywhere. Readers will connect with Bess as some of her best friends begin to find other interests and relationships change and certainly will understand her anxiety when her dog disappears. The book censorship issue is certainly in the news and regardless of whether students are seeing it play out on their campuses, SAME PAGE should get them thinking about the “what ifs” and help them form their own opinions about this important topic.

Text is free of profanity, violence (except that which is done to a stack of “controversial” books) and no sexual content. Representation: Both sides of the book banning subject with those supporting book removal being portrayed primarily with a somewhat irrational voice but also with a few townspeople who are friendly with Bess’ family and generally viewed as thoughtful. Bess’ friends/classmates include Black, Hispanic and other under-represented groups.

Full of heart and great characters, this one is sure to be a hit with our middle school readers. Bess is a wonderfully complicated character, which makes her completely believable! With the timely topic of book banning combined with middle school friendship drama, this authentic book will capture your heart.

I received a free eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is obviously extremely timely, and it was weirdly depressing to finish while I was on the desk on election night, obsessively refreshing the NY Times front page. It manages to walk the line between realism and optimism quite well.

Our protagonist is Bess Stein. She’s just been elected sixth grade class president, and her new friend June is vice president. One of Bess’s campaign promises was a book vending machine for the library - which is installed pretty much instantly because something something grant money sitting around. It’s a *little* contrived that they’re able to get everything set up so quickly - we have the exact same machine in our library and it took us MONTHS to get everything ready. But given that the machine is the catalyst for the problems here, I’m willing to look past the warp speed at which the thing is installed (it’s sort of irrelevant, but there’s also mention of Bess getting a panini press for the cafeteria, which I find mildly horrifying. Kids are just…grilling their own sandwiches? That thing would be broken in 5 minutes at most middle schools once some dingus decided to see what would happen if he put crayons in it).

Bess is super excited to work with her cool librarian to fill the machine with all kinds of awesome books. June is a little reticent, but Bess looks past it because they’re friends (and also no one is as unreasonably excited about it as Bess). But once the first kids start getting tokens and taking home books, the trouble begins. A few parents have issues with the kinds of books in the machine. It’s all presented in sort of vague terms - no one is very clear what, exactly, they have a problem with. And for her part, Bess is mostly focused on the Holocaust books, since her great grandmother was a survivor, so she has that personal connection. But, I mean, it’s not all that unlike the current book ban arguments uninformed people are making. “These books are bad!” What’s bad about them? “They’re just bad!” Repeat ad nauseum.

Bess wants to immediately start a book revolution, but there’s one snag - June’s mother is leading the banning charge, and June is afraid to stand up to her. This puts their new friendship to the test. Bess, like most middle schoolers, is pretty myopic when it comes to what she stands for. She knows book banning is wrong, and she can’t fathom why anyone wouldn’t stand up to their parents. But it’s more complicated than that for June. Speaking as someone who also has an extremely headstrong parent with whom I frequently disagree…it’s really hard! It’s easier as an adult, but it’s never easy to stand up to your parents’ beliefs, especially when you’re a kid. Bess’s parents are incredibly supportive, but even though June thinks their family is perfect, they’ve had their problems too (her parents briefly split up - this all went down before the story opens, but things are still pretty fragile).

Anyway, Bess joins a local group called The Book Warriors, made up of local librarians and educators. Their mission is to try to get the banned books into as many hands as possible, and while they have some success, they’re also met with quite a bit of pushback, even from people Bess thought would be supportive. There’s a lot of the “The world is scary enough, so I don’t want my kids to read stories that make them feel bad” argument being thrown around. (It’s still illogical, but at least slightly easier to digest than some jackass ranting about the word “woke”) Bess’s other friends, including June’s cute brother Knox, get involved, but June refuses, and even starts hanging out with a group of mean girls who started the year tormenting her.

Although I kind of wish we’d had Bess and June trading off narration duties, I did really enjoy this. There’s a sense of optimism to the Book Warriors’ mission, but they do meet realistic roadblocks, and deal with not unexpected consequences for their activism (sometimes speaking out means risking your job). There’s hope, but it’s not some magical world where hearts are opened and minds are changed. I get why we follow Bess, because we see her coming to terms with June’s perspective. But I wish we’d been able to see things through June’s eyes as well. What are things like when it’s just her and her mom? How does she feel about the way Bess starts treating her after she refuses to stand up for the books? She definitely doesn’t get a villain edit, and she’s still mostly three-dimensional, but it would have been nice to hear her perspective as well.

Now, more than ever, this kind of story is important to share with kids of all ages. This particular story, with sixth grader Bess navigating changing friendships, new friends, book bans, and differing opinions that can harm and hurt, will be good for younger middle-grade readers. I did find the writing style to be disjointed, with some details that seemed to be randomly included for flavor. The writing style makes the story seem like it's aimed for a late elementary-school audience, while the content is more focused on a younger middle-grade audience. A good book that would be great for young middle-grade readers and their adults to go through together.

I'm glad to see all of the books about book banning and censorship, especially for middle grade readers. It's such an important issue. The author did a good job of bringing the issue to the forefront of this book. The overall theme, speaking up for yourself and others, is also so important. Bess felt very strongly about book banning and actively spoke out against it. It's great that she spoke out against a wrong she saw in the world. However, sometimes I think Bess's approach, and the book itself, was a bit heavy-handed with the message. Bess didn't take the time to understand that June may have had a reason for not loudly speaking out against book banning. It may not have been safe for her, or there may have been other reasons. Bess automatically expected June to react in the same way as she did, and when June didn't have the same reaction, she got angry. There's a lot of nuance in these types of situations, and many intricacies to important issues. Likewise, Bess seemed to automatically default anyone that disagreed with her view into the "horrible person" category. While I understand there are some issues that may create irreconcilable differences of opinion, Bess's reaction seemed more instantaneous and without reflection (or any way for the reader to understand that this was an irreconcilable issue for Bess).
Additionally, I wish there was more of an exploration of preparing for a meeting/speech. In a debate class that I took years ago, I was told that I had to be prepared to argue for either side of an issue, despite my personal views. I think this is a good skill to have for more effective conversations around difficult topics. It doesn't mean that one must agree with the other side, but it helps to understand a bit better the arguments that the other side might make. People can be very passionate about their opinions, and that passion sometimes leads to a shouting match. It felt like the meeting in the book very quickly devolved into a shouting match. And sometimes even well researched meetings can end this way. I just wish the author had explored the preparation stage better, with the characters making clear arguments against banning and censorship, rather than just repeating that the books aren't scary and that kids feel they are ready for the topics within the books.
Again, I'm so glad that the author wrote this book that adds to the catalog of middle grade fiction that examines issues that impact kids today. I just wish this book had gone a little bit more in depth and explored the issue more.

Same Page is a great look at book banning and censorship for middle grade readers! I really enjoyed this one and thought it had some great dialogue about book banning that was handled well for a younger crowd. I loved that the main character talked about meditating and often stopped and said positive things about whoever she was arguing with. Sure, some of it was a little easy, but this is a middle grade book so that is completely understandable. Bonus points for a great sibling relationship and a fantastic dog!

Thanks to NetGalley, Random House Children's, and Elly Swartz for the chance to read and review. My opinions are my own.

This was a well written children’s fiction book, it had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed getting to know the characters in this universe. I enjoyed the way Elly Swartz wrote this and am excited for more, I enjoyed previous books written and had that charm that I wanted from Elly Swartz.

Same Page by Elly Swartz felt like it was written just for me: a book lover, someone who struggles with stress and anxiety, someone with a family backstory and someone who wants to leave a positive mark on the world. But this book is not just for me. It’s for EVERYONE. It follows Bess Stein, her friends and a group of rockstar librarians called The Book Warriors as they fight against book-banning. In it, we learn what book-banning might feel like from a child’s point of view and learn how we might appropriately fight for our rights from a group of caring advocates. We also learn what it’s like to feel anxious in different ways and how we can use meditation, mindfulness and my favorite…kindness meditations to help. It’s also about friendships, how they change and how we can hold onto the friends we already have while also learning, growing and expanding our friendship circles, too. Plus, it’s about families in all of their complexity and how those families impact who we are, what we believe about ourselves and how we show up in the world. It’s everything and there is a place for every reader to find a home in this book.

This is probably the most well written piece on book banning I’ve read. The main character and her family are rooted in good intentions and are easy to love for lots of reasons.
That being said, I thought the antagonist was a caricature of all of the people with whom we disagree. Perceived to be wrong on one point, therefore inherently evil, almost entirely. Didn’t love that.
Good read. Theme is easily identifiable.

I liked the look at book banning and how it can affect a friendship.
June and Bess go through a lot as books are fought over and lines are drawn.
This is a great look at what is going on in the world and how it can have a ripple effect.

Thanks NetGalley for this ARC.

Another fantastic book about a timely topic by an amazing author. Beth is thrilled that the PTO funded their book vending machine. When she goes in one day she notices some books are missing. She’s told that someone complained about the books, and Bess finds out her good friend June’s mom made the complaint. She gets mad at June for not telling her, but June says I can’t go against my mom. Bess has a plan to start a book club for all books being challenged, but is told no by the principal. Bess meets with a book group who want to fight for kids’ rights to read books they want. Bess wants to leave some challenged books around town but not everyone lets her do that. She decides to get a group to go to a school board meeting to speak the truth about books and show people why these challenged books are important for people to read. What happens?
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Same Page by Elly Swartz tells the story of Bess Stein who fights a book ban happening in her school. After being elected to class president, Bess decides to add a book vending machine to her school. She wants to make sure all students have a book that they see themselves in in the book vending machine her school has. She is doing this with her friend, June, by her side. Soon after the book vending machine debuts, certain books start being questioned. It seems like Bess and June might be on different sides of the issue. With the help of friends and the Book Warriors, she uses her voice to stand up for what she believes in. This is a wonderful story about advocacy and being true to yourself.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Same Page is a great book. The reflection of what's happening in the world right now makes for strong discussions with students. They need to read books like this to help them understand the world. I can't wait to share this one with students!

Same Page by Elly Swartz, set to release in January 2025, is a middle-grade novel that explores the timely topic of book bans through the eyes of sixth grader Bess Stein. Bess is an ambitious student running for class president, with exciting plans like a book vending machine to foster a love of reading among her peers. However, her friendship with her vice-president, June, is put to the test when some of the books Bess champions come under scrutiny. Complicating matters, June’s mother leads the opposition against those very books.

This story addresses relevant issues such as censorship, freedom of expression, and the complexities of friendship during challenging times. Bess finds herself at a crossroads—standing up for what she believes in or preserving her friendship with June. Readers will relate to Bess’s internal struggle, making this a thoughtful and engaging novel for ages 10 and up.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this eARC.

E ARC provided by Netgalley

Bess Stein is very excited to find out that she has been elected class president, and new student, June, is her vice president. In addition to a panini maker in the cafeteria, Bess is excited that Mr. Jasper has been able to work with the PTA and get a book vending machine in the library. Students will get a coin on their birthday for a book, and June's brother Knox is one of the first to pick a title. Bess' mother is an equine therapist, and her her father owns the Blackbird Cafe in their small town. Her younger brother, Avi, is in kindergarten and has an invisible friend named Penelope. When Bess notices that many of the titles that she and her friends helped pick out for the vending machine aren't being included, she finds that someone has challenged them. She goes to a Book Warriors meeting with librarians and others concerned about book bans, and decides to leave books around towns with sticky notes describing what the book is really about so that people can learn about them instead of just banning books. She is distraught to find that one shop owner she really likes won't have a book in her shop. When Bess finds out that June's mother is the one who got the books removed, she's angry, and doesn't understand when June won't stand up to her mother even though she doesn't believe in the book banning. The issue goes to the school board, and while the books are reinstated, Mr. Jasper is put on administrative leave and there is a substitute. He eventually leaves to take a job at a nonprofit promoting literacy. Eventually, June speaks her mind and stands up with her own opinions, and the Book Warriors seem to be successful.

This can be added to the list of recent books that address the current issue of book bannings, like Gratz' Ban This Book, Varnes' Property of the Rebel Librarian, Yang's Finally Seen, Levy's Not Another Banned Book, and King's Attack of the Black Rectangles. I do wish that Bess had been more understanding of June's situation; the mother could have been abusive, and June could have been in danger had she stood up to her. Also, not all librarians are in a position to get a new job, as Mr. Jasper was.

6th grader Bess, loves books and has a great idea to have a book vending machine in the school library. On their birthday, students get to pick a book to keep. The plan is to have books that reflect the lives of all the students in the school. That brings out the book-banning adults and many books disappear. Bess joins with other students and adults to take on the issue of book-banning. Along the way there are friend conflicts, a hint of romance, and lessons learned about how to navigate differences of opinion. Highly recommend.

A phenomenal book by a phenomenal author! Same Page is a book that ALL humans need to read. On the surface, it's a beautiful story about a young girl, Bess, navigating friendships in 6th grade. But really, it's so much more than that. Bess is a book lover. She believes that kids can handle more than they're given credit for and that families can decide what books are right for them, but families should not be making that decision for other families. Bess joins a local group of librarians called the Book Warriors and works to stop book banning in her school. She has to muster up the courage to speak out for what she believes in and learns so many important lessons along the way.

In addition to standing up for libraries, librarians, and books, Bess also helps her friend (and readers) learn how to center themselves with positive thoughts and mindful breathing and also how to speak up, even when staying silent is easier. Bess deals with bullying, antisemitism, and supporting a friend through tough times. This book is such an important one for the world. Thank you, Elly, for another powerful book that will support MG readers as they navigate the world around them.