Attack of the Black Rectangles
There are some great books in Sora! Have you looked at this one yet?
When Mac first opens his classroom copy of Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic and finds some words blacked out, he thinks it must be a mistake. But then when he and his friends discover what the missing words are, he's outraged.
Someone in his school is trying to prevent kids from reading the full story.
But who?
Even though his unreliable dad tells him to not get so emotional about a book (or anything else), Mac has been raised by his mom and grandad to call out things that are wrong. He and his friends head to the principal's office to protest the censorship... but her response doesn't take them seriously.
So many adults want Mac to keep his words to himself. Mac's about to see the power of letting them out.
In Attack of the Black Rectangles, acclaimed author Amy Sarig King shows all the ways truth can be hard... but still worth fighting for. Amy Sarig King takes on censorship and intolerance in a novel she was born to write.
REVIEWS FOR ATTACK OF THE BLACK RECTANGLES
- Pennsylvania sixth graders battle classroom censorship in this uplifting middle grade novel by King (The Year We Fell From Space). At Independence Elementary, Mac Delaney and his friends Denis, who’s loyal and has anxiety, and Marci, an outspoken feminist, are outraged to discover that someone has used “ugly black rectangle” to expurgate classroom copies of Jane Yolen’s historical novel The Devil’s Arithmetic. The trio suspects their teacher, Ms. Sett—she’s always writing letters about banning junk food or insisting that local homes be painted white “to maintain the look of history”—so they show the selectively redacted text to their principal. Dr. McKenney also dismisses their concerns, however, making the kids even more determined to fight for the right to the “whole truth.” Their campaign inspires some students to publicly discuss aspects of their lives, including a girl who reclaims her non-Anglicized name. But Mac struggles with internalized shame, secretly fearing he’ll turn out like his callous, erratic father, a fear kindly explored by his keenly drawn Vietnam War veteran grandfather. King empathetically tackles the intersections of multiple sensitive topics—mental health, patriarchy and sexism, war’s realities, whitewashed history—while educating readers on the power of protest and the benefits of living with grace. Protagonists cue as white. Ages 9–12. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret.
- Gr 5 Up- While Mac and his friends work against censorship, Mac is also dealing with his father’s mental illness. He has a good mom and grandad to support him when things get very confusing with his dad. Readers will find it easy to side with the outraged students and parents who go to the principal and then the school board to protest censorship and make sure the rules will protect everyone, and not just the opinions of one person. This title is slightly more sophisticated and mature than Alan Gratz’s Ban This Book but is equally satisfying. VERDICT A striking book on censorship; a must-have in all middle-grade classroom and school libraries.-Kim Gardner
