Building 903 by Lois Lowry Review

Twins Tessa and Theo live in a world ruled by the tyrannical Koziris, where there are no dangers or rebels… or so they've been told. In this world, citizens live long lives, and while many hate Koziris, they are comfortable and safe. So, when Tessa's brother disappears, nobody wants to discuss it. But then Miriam, their 135-year-old neighbor, slips Tessa a key – not only to her brother's disappearance, but to the source of all real magic … books.

As Tessa and her parents begin their search for Theo, Tessa learns that books not only tell us stories – they open portals and unlock our humanity through our most powerful the imagination. Once that truth has been revealed, Tessa won't be able to rest until she has retrieved her twin and society itself has been transformed.

What I liked

'Tis the time for dystopian literature—namely, authoritarian governments that promise safety and progress, then gradually strip away freedoms until there are generations of children who have never seen a book and have no idea what a book is. Building 903 is Fahrenheit 451 for children.

In this world, books and stories have been banned for so long that our protagonist, Tessa, doesn't know what they are. When first confronted with one, she is alarmed, because "deceit is a crime!" However, as her father explains over the course of the book (pun intended), stories activate imagination that transport the reader into a different world—which, in this world of advanced technology—is literal.

Tessa and her twin brother, Theo's, bond is heartwarming. I would have liked to spend more time with them together. In fact, the relationships between the family members, and between Tessa and her elderly neighbour, Miriam (who, incidentally, began this whole debacle with her secret stash of illegal books), are what kept me reading.

Side note: Miriam was the best character in this book. Who doesn't love a crotchety neighbour who forces illegal books on a child and demands her garden be taken care of while government officials force her into a nursing home?

While hints of revolution dot the background of the story and eventually explode, Tessa and her family have little to do with it. Their focus is on finding their lost family member. The revolution is almost peripheral.

As usual, though Lowry writes for a younger audience, she never insults them by dumbing down her work. She has a thematic richness to this story with a full vocabulary that can speak to both her target middle-grade audience, and adults.

What I didn't like

I never got a serious sense of urgency, despite the stated stakes. Tessa and her family are supposedly doing extremely dangerous things, but despite living under such intense surveillance, no one ever gets a whiff of their illegal activities or conversations. They even take their conversation outside at one point, and no one even overhears them. Spoiler alert: They infiltrate a building of highly illegal objects (e.g. books), but it's guarded by one person who couldn't care less about doing the guarding, and turns out to be a revolutionary himself (End of spoiler).

To solve that, I think the story would have benefited from not giving away the ending in the very beginning.

There's also this deux ex machina moment at the end that left me quite unsatisfied.

Overall

My initial thoughts while reading this were that it starts out quite similar to The Giver. As the story goes on, however, the differences become more clear, though both books share the premise of a governing body that discourages imagination and distorts history.

The stakes were never high enough for me to care. Because the book began after revolution's success, I already knew our characters were never going to be in any real danger, and that the corrupt government would be overthrown.

Unfortunately, though I love Lowry's books in general, this was not one I would come back to.

Who would like this: readers angry at the current state of affairs in the world (in 2026 when this was published), those who wish to imagine a world where stories no longer exist, or want to be reminded of the power of story, readers who enjoy stories focused on characters and family more than action.