Attack of the Black Rectangles
Award-winning author Amy Sarig King takes on censorship and intolerance in a novel she was born to write.
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.
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Community Reviews
Book banning has been a thing for quite a while but I am just now seeing more and more how it is affecting my students and the world in general. So I absolutely loved reading this story about students who are so headstrong to fight for their right to read whatever they want.
This book is such an amazing read. To see a group of students come together to stand up for what they believed in was truly inspiring. In this story, these students were put into a group for Lit Circles and given the book, The Devil's Arithmetic. But when they came across parts of the book that had been blacked out and subsequently did their own research to find out what was under those parts, instead of just getting mad but moving on, they came together to fight the injustice. There is a difference between censoring a book and suggesting certain books to students due to their age and a book's tough topics. As a teacher myself, there are books that I will not recommend to my students, not because I don't think they should read it but because I think they are too young for particular book. If this teacher really wanted to censor certain words, then why give the book to the students in the first place.
I think this book does bring up the important issue of book banning and censoring in our world today. In my opinion, too many people and communities are fighting to have books banned for the most ridiculous reasons. Just because a book has a LGBT character or a diverse character doesn't mean it should be banned. If you don't want to read it, then don't. Why limit others from making that decision for themselves. I think the amount that these students fought in this book really shows the importance for standing up for something you believe in. It was great to see some parents get involved as well. I think this would be a great book for any middle school reader. There was a weird storyline of the main character's father that I think didn't need to be included but the overall message is one that is important and many readers can connect with in some way.
“I can’t think of a more horrible thing, really. And the longer time goes on, the less we talk about it. But we can’t pretend it didn’t happen - because when you pretend a thing didn’t happen, that means it can happen again” pg. 29
“It’s seen as too serious or too sensitive or even impolite, and some people think that it will make white kids feel bad, but if we want to change the world so it’s good for everyone, its important to talk about the truth” pg. 52
“The one thing we’ve read everywhere is that when books are banned by one or two decision-makers, the goal is to set policy in place so it can’t happen again without a larger group of people making the decision” pg. 160
“I don’t know why this makes me cry harder. I think it’s because the truth is beautiful and like rain - it washes everything” pg. 190
“I’ve had my books burned and shredded and pulled out of kids’ hands. Nothing shocks me anymore. But I’m here to say that children need to learn the truth. The whole picture of it, and not just the parts adult think they’re capable of understanding. Our job is to help them understand, not black out the topic” pg. 249
“What happens next, if we let it happen, is the truth sets us free” pg. 257
This book is such an amazing read. To see a group of students come together to stand up for what they believed in was truly inspiring. In this story, these students were put into a group for Lit Circles and given the book, The Devil's Arithmetic. But when they came across parts of the book that had been blacked out and subsequently did their own research to find out what was under those parts, instead of just getting mad but moving on, they came together to fight the injustice. There is a difference between censoring a book and suggesting certain books to students due to their age and a book's tough topics. As a teacher myself, there are books that I will not recommend to my students, not because I don't think they should read it but because I think they are too young for particular book. If this teacher really wanted to censor certain words, then why give the book to the students in the first place.
I think this book does bring up the important issue of book banning and censoring in our world today. In my opinion, too many people and communities are fighting to have books banned for the most ridiculous reasons. Just because a book has a LGBT character or a diverse character doesn't mean it should be banned. If you don't want to read it, then don't. Why limit others from making that decision for themselves. I think the amount that these students fought in this book really shows the importance for standing up for something you believe in. It was great to see some parents get involved as well. I think this would be a great book for any middle school reader. There was a weird storyline of the main character's father that I think didn't need to be included but the overall message is one that is important and many readers can connect with in some way.
“I can’t think of a more horrible thing, really. And the longer time goes on, the less we talk about it. But we can’t pretend it didn’t happen - because when you pretend a thing didn’t happen, that means it can happen again” pg. 29
“It’s seen as too serious or too sensitive or even impolite, and some people think that it will make white kids feel bad, but if we want to change the world so it’s good for everyone, its important to talk about the truth” pg. 52
“The one thing we’ve read everywhere is that when books are banned by one or two decision-makers, the goal is to set policy in place so it can’t happen again without a larger group of people making the decision” pg. 160
“I don’t know why this makes me cry harder. I think it’s because the truth is beautiful and like rain - it washes everything” pg. 190
“I’ve had my books burned and shredded and pulled out of kids’ hands. Nothing shocks me anymore. But I’m here to say that children need to learn the truth. The whole picture of it, and not just the parts adult think they’re capable of understanding. Our job is to help them understand, not black out the topic” pg. 249
“What happens next, if we let it happen, is the truth sets us free” pg. 257
I’m not sure if this is supposed to be a kids book I’m thinking maybe like teen section but I thought this book was phenomenal. I think all kids should read it, all adults should read it. If it’s not a time best seller I don’t know why, it was amazing. I can’t say enough good things about it. The storyline was great. The writing was great. The characters are great, and this is happening, it’s just an amazing book
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