The nine-year-old protagonist, Amy Anne Ollinger, is a Black American girl who lives in Wake County, North Carolina, in a neighborhood of Raleigh in contemporary times. One school morning, Amy Anne is impatient to get to the library of Shelbourne Elementary to check out her favorite book. She checks it out continuously, but the librarian, Mrs. Jones, has a rule about waiting five days after two renewals in case someone else wants to read it. Amy Anne listens to her “one and only friend” (10) Rebecca Zimmerman, 10, discussing how they should register their names as dotcoms for future web sites. Amy Anne checks her makeshift “mailbox” in her locker, a small cardboard container beneath the ventilation slats intended for notes. Everyone in the school has a mailbox, but Amy Anne never gets a note. Rebecca is afraid of paper trails because her parents are lawyers. Finally, she gets to the library and heads directly to the place on the shelves where her book will be. Mrs. Jones attempts to get her attention, but Amy Anne does not stop. She is shocked to see that her book is not there.