Attack of the Black Rectangles

Attack of the Black Rectangles is about Mac, who is twelve and just starting sixth grade with his friends Denis (suffers from anxiety) and Marci (feminist). The three are in the same reading group and they're given Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic, which I've never read, but you can easily enjoy this book without having read it. When Marci discovers two sections in the book have been blacked out, she is outraged. She, Mac and Denis go find a regular copy of the book and learn that both instances of censorship involve references to female anatomy in a completely non-sexual way. (One scene mentions a character covering her breasts in a shower scene IN A CONCENTRATION CAMP, for fuck's sake.) 

Thus begins a few weeks of battles for Mac. He and his friends fight against this censorship in school, but Mac also has a very problematic father and dealing with him and the aftermath of what he does is very hard on Mac. Mac struggles with his own anger and fear of relationships because he's terrified he's going to be like his father. With the help of his Vietnam vet grandfather, Mac finally comes to terms with everything and is able to enjoy life more. 

Mac's grandfather was easily the best character in the book. I loved Marci, too. Denis was okay, but there was one part where I didn't care for how he was handled. It takes Mac ages to confide in him about what happened with his father, but Denis very quickly turns around and tells Marci, who he knows Mac likes. Mac finds out and he's rightfully furious, but after yelling at Denis, he beats himself up over losing his temper blah blah blah. No. He absolutely had a right to be angry about his friend betraying his confidence and sharing information that he had no right to share. What Denis did was very wrong, but it's never really presented as such. Mac mentions later in the book that he thinks it will be a while before Denis trusts him again, but it's Mac who should be the one taking time to trust Denis again. Also, the odd things he has anxiety over are played up at first and then completely forgotten. I thought his anxiety was going to play a role in the fight against censorship and would cause problems with him and Mac, but nothing ever materialized with that, so what was the point of him having anxiety at all? Mac himself is a good character. I liked his point of view, though I got frustrated with him sometimes, especially over the aforementioned Denis issue. 

The book does an excellent job of explaining things. As I said, you don't have to read Yolen's book to get the gist of it and understand how the characters react to it. Several terms are defined by Mac so kids don't have to stop and look up a bunch of things, and it's done in a way that doesn't take you out of the story. Maybe a little, but not really. 

The book shows a character successfully handling a problem and making improvements, as well as fighting a larger problem and learning how to ask for help when doing so. The censorship issue isn't fully resolved by the end of the book, but some of the weirdass town's other laws are being changed, so you know it's inevitable. 

The bizarre teacher character never seems to learn her lesson, which is unsatisfying. Jane Yolen herself makes an appearance during one of the school board meetings and I would have loved to have seen her make a comment to the teacher. I guess you're supposed to feel fulfilled that all this teacher's laws are coming apart. She was the one behind making everyone paint their house white, cancelling Halloween, and even banning junk food and pizza delivery. Yet there's also a scene where she has zero tolerance toward bullying and helps kids learn by occasionally providing options that are more thoughtfully geared to their interests. She has many bad viewpoints, but she is capable of doing decent things...sometimes. I would have loved an explanation of her motivation, but she's not given any depth beyond the rather conflicting sides of herself. 

Overall, this is a great book. I stayed up late to finish it, even though it's Easter weekend and I pulled long hours. Reading this helped me relax, which for me sometimes means really getting sucked into a good book. It's a fairly simple read, but it's mostly well-done and I think it would be a good book to teach.