Amy Anne arrives at the school library expecting to check out her favorite book, only to find it has been banned.

Librarian Mrs. Jones asks Amy Anne to speak at the school board meeting about the impact of the banned book.

Amy Anne sits silently at the school board meeting, unable to deliver her speech, as the board votes to ban the books.

Amy Anne spends her saved money buying every title on the banned list to read them all herself.

Classmate Janna Park slips a locker note asking to borrow a banned book, giving Amy Anne an idea for a lending library.

Amy Anne sets up a secret lending library for banned books inside her school locker, calling it the BBLL.

Mrs. Spencer delivers a new list of titles to the librarian, prompting Amy Anne to expand the BBLL even further.

Principal Banazewski summons Amy Anne to her office and demands she remove the banned books list from her locker.

Author Dav Pilkey visits the school and Amy Anne publicly asks him how he feels about his books being banned.

Mrs. Spencer and friends pull stacks of books from the library shelves; Amy Anne and Rebecca secretly take them from Mrs. Jones's office.

Principal Banazewski arrives at Amy Anne's locker with bolt cutters, discovers the BBLL, and suspends Amy Anne for three days.

Amy Anne hears on the news that the school board fired Mrs. Jones because banned books circulated through the BBLL.

Amy Anne returns to school after her suspension to find dozens of supportive notes from classmates inside her locker.

Amy Anne presents over 7,000 Request for Reconsideration forms at the school board meeting and argues passionately against the banning.

The school board votes to return all banned books to the shelves and reinstate Mrs. Jones as school librarian.

Amy Anne discovers her favorite book has been banned from her school library and fails to speak up at the school board meeting where the ban is upheld. She channels her frustration into creating a secret Banned Books Locker Library inside her school locker, quietly providing banned titles to classmates who want to read them. As the BBLL grows in popularity, it draws the attention of the school principal and eventually leads to Amy Anne's three-day suspension. Amy Anne then learns that librarian Mrs. Jones has been fired as a consequence of the BBLL, deepening her resolve to fight back. With the support of her classmates, Amy Anne orchestrates a massive campaign and returns to the school board with over 7,000 protest forms. Her powerful speech wins the day, and the board votes to restore the banned books and reinstate Mrs. Jones.

Amy Anne's battle to save banned books from beginning to victory.

Mrs. Jones speaks at the school board meeting, arguing the board violated procedure and must respect intellectual freedom.

Mrs. Spencer addresses the school board, arguing that removing inappropriate books from the library is just common sense.

After the failed board meeting, Amy Anne's father stops at a bookstore and buys her a copy of the banned book.

The Ollinger family makes a bookstore trip so Amy Anne can purchase more titles from the newly banned list.

Amy Anne opens It's Perfectly Normal expecting a novel and discovers it is a nonfiction book about sex.

Amy Anne reads The Egypt Game and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark back-to-back in a single night.

Amy Anne and Rebecca organize a school bake sale to raise money for purchasing more banned books.

Mrs. Jones announces she used PTA fundraising money to book author Dav Pilkey for a school visit, visibly angering Mrs. Spencer.

Second grader Coletrane nearly gets caught carrying a banned book when he drops his cafeteria tray near the principal.

Amy Anne, Danny, and Rebecca recruit a fifth grader named MJ to design fake book covers for banned titles.

Dav Pilkey privately hands Amy Anne a signed set of twelve Captain Underpants books as a gift for the BBLL.

While preparing library books for the BBLL, Amy Anne finds an old sign-out card bearing a name she recognizes.

Amy Anne's parents meet with her after her suspension and express both shock at her deception and pride in her cause.

Jeffrey Gonzalez reveals that his parents' phone call praising Mrs. Jones accidentally led the principal to uncover the BBLL.

Amy Anne's sister Angelina shreds all 500 completed Request for Reconsideration forms while using the paper as pretend pony hay.

While Amy Anne fights the book ban, a series of smaller but significant events shape the course of her battle. The school board meeting introduces the competing voices of Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Spencer, while Amy Anne's father softens the sting of defeat by buying her a personal copy of the banned book. Amy Anne dives eagerly into the banned titles, with comic and surprising discoveries along the way, and practical measures like a bake sale help fund the BBLL's growth. A near-miss in the cafeteria, a secret set of autographed books, and a mysterious old library card each add tension and possibility to Amy Anne's campaign. After her suspension, a critical revelation from Jeffrey Gonzalez clears Trey of blame, and Amy Anne realizes the unexpected ways her actions affected others. The destruction of 500 protest forms by her youngest sister marks the story's lowest point before Amy Anne rallies for the final push.

The key secondary moments that shaped the fight for the library.

Amy Anne convinces her parents to attend the school board meeting and her father rearranges the family's schedule to take her.

Danny Purcell overhears Amy Anne and Rebecca discussing banned books on the school bus and joins their conversation.

Rebecca formally incorporates the BBLL and nominates Amy Anne as president and chief librarian of the organization.

Mrs. Jones shows Amy Anne how old sign-out card envelopes worked and gives her a vintage library date stamper.

Student Nikolai Wiebe suggests Amy Anne post a list of banned titles on her locker so other readers can find them.

Teacher Mr. Vaughn pairs Amy Anne and Trey Spencer as partners for a social studies project on the First Amendment.

After the principal's warning, Amy Anne conceals the banned books list on her locker behind a handmade Go Eagles poster.

Trey shows Amy Anne his First Amendment cartoons, including a drawing that depicts her locker displaying the banned books list.

Amy Anne drops a note for Jeffrey Gonzalez and persuades him to check out Bridge to Terabithia to help process his grief.

Trey Spencer approaches Amy Anne's locker and asks her to check out a Captain Underpants book, forcing her to decide whether to trust him.

Amy Anne confronts Trey in the library and discovers his stack of Reconsideration forms is a clever protest strategy, not his mother's work.

Amy Anne invites Trey onto the BBLL team and together they devise a plan for the whole student body to fill out forms.

Amy Anne packs a suitcase and attempts to run away after her sister destroys the forms, but returns when her family apologizes.

Students sneak to the school bathrooms throughout the day to fill out Request for Reconsideration forms with Amy Anne and Trey directing them.

At the board meeting, Amy Anne uses an old sign-out card to reveal that Mrs. Spencer herself checked out a banned book five times.

The story's turning points trace Amy Anne's growth from a quiet girl who cannot speak her mind to a confident leader willing to take risks for what she believes. Key decisions — attending the board meeting, hiding her list behind a poster, recommending a banned book to a grieving classmate — push the plot forward at critical moments. An unexpected partnership with Trey Spencer shifts from suspicion to collaboration as Amy Anne learns he is fighting the ban in his own creative way. The discovery of Mrs. Spencer's old borrowing record on a forgotten sign-out card gives Amy Anne the decisive weapon she needs at the climactic board meeting. After disaster strikes in the form of shredded forms and a dramatic near-runaway, Amy Anne returns with a bold new plan that unites the entire student body. Her final act of speaking without hesitation before the board and the cameras marks the full arc of her transformation.