Attack Of The Black Rectangles

Mac remembers the first time he encountered Ms. Sett. She was a chaperone on his field trip to Philadelphia, and Mac and his friend Denis were playing a game they made up called Bot Duck Man, which is like Rock Paper Scissors. She told them to stop and separated them. Mac asked the field trip’s tour guide about the Founding Fathers and explained that he isn’t that impressed with them because they bought and sold enslaved people. Mac remembers Marci, a classmate of his, asking about why women were absent from signing the Declaration of Independence. While Ms. Sett is a sixth-grade teacher and Mac was in fifth grade at the time, he thinks about how he remembers her disapproval of their questions. On the way home, the teachers made the kids sing “Row Row Row Your Boat,” which Mac refused to do, partly because the singing would prevent him from thinking, which he prefers.

Mac describes grace using his mother as an example. She works in a hospice facility helping people who are in pain and near death. Mac realizes that having such a job and then coming home to his family must require a lot of patience, strength, and grace. Mac’s grandad lives with them in their basement, and he thinks about how his grandad shows “loud grace” by being active in protests and civil rights issues.

Mac’s dad, Mike, has lived apart from the family since Mac was eight. He visits on Saturdays and has told Mac that he is not really a human from Earth, but rather an alien anthropologist who is on Earth to study human behavior. Mike works on Grandad’s old car when he visits, which he believes to be his spaceship, and Mac keeps him company. Mac understands that his mother must possess a lot of grace for the family to remain harmonious.

The summer before sixth grade, Mac and Denis wonder who their new teacher will be. Denis is an anxious person and wishes the school would tell them earlier so that he can prepare himself. Mac isn’t anxious, but he hopes that whoever his new teacher will be, they won’t make him learn about things he isn’t interested in knowing. 

Denis goes to camp, and Mac spends a lot of time playing video games and taking walks with his grandfather. At the end of the summer, the friends are reunited and find out that they both will be in Ms. Sett’s class. Denis is worried about the assignment because he’s heard that Ms. Sett is a stickler for good posture, and he is always slouching. Mac is more concerned about Ms. Sett’s reputation for having strict rules about junk food, dress codes, and going to church. Mac is an inquisitive and independent learner, and his school philosophy has always been that if he is not interested in something, he doesn’t care about it. He has a feeling that he and Ms. Sett won’t see eye-to-eye on this philosophy.

Ms. Sett welcomes Mac, Denis, and their classmates to sixth grade. She tells them that she will not tolerate silly behavior and nonsense, but, in exchange, they will have more independence to study the topics that interest them. Mac is shocked; he did not expect Ms. Sett to be the first teacher who would give him the freedom to learn what he wanted. At lunch, Mac, Denis, and Marci meet to debrief about their first day. Given Ms. Sett’s frequent letters to the newspaper, Marci is suspicious of her first-day impression and predicts that Ms. Sett is not going to be as cool as she seems. Denis is upset that he and Mac are not sitting near each other and is already overwhelmed that they have homework that night. 

Two short letters address the editor of the town newspaper. One is from a newcomer to the town that says it is strange to have rules about junk food. He questions whether it is in anyone’s power to control what people choose to eat and points out that there are three candy stores in town despite the rules. The second letter is a response from Ms. Sett. She says that the rules are in place because the country has an obesity problem and without rules against junk food, people would overeat food that has little to no nutritional value. She notes that their town is a tourist destination and that the candy shops are more for the tourists than the residents themselves.

A few weeks into the new school year, Ms. Sett’s class chooses books for a literature circle unit. They form groups of five based on their book choices, and Mac, Denis, and Marci are in the same group, as well as two other students named Aaron and Hannah. Mac is not impressed by Aaron, who has declared that he believes the earth is flat, and he has noted that Ms. Sett did not correct him when he expressed that belief. 

The book they will be reading is The Devil’s Arithmetic by Jane Yolen. Mac was compelled to choose it because it looked short and the cover was interesting but also because it had won the National Jewish Book Award for its portrayal of Jewish life and the Holocaust. Mac is very concerned about his town’s tendency to sweep uncomfortable truths and events from history under the rug, and he is interested in learning more about the Holocaust.

On a Friday when Mac gets home from school, he finds his father in the garage working on his grandad’s old car, which his dad calls the spacecraft. Mac sits down to “watch his favorite anime” (30), which turns out to be an anime version of his relationship with his dad that often plays in his head. His dad calls for him to help him in the garage. They work on the spacecraft for a bit and then cover the car with a tarp. Mac says that his father has told him not to mention that the car is really a spacecraft to his mom. 

When Mac comes back inside, his mom tells him that Marci had called him and told him to call her back and make sure he has his copy of their lit circle book with him. Marci tells him to open up The Devil’s Arithmetic to page 93. He is surprised to find several words blacked out in a rectangle with marker. Marci tells him to turn to page 117, and he finds the same thing. They wonder who would have done that to both of their books. Mac reads the passage around the blocked words and realizes that the scene on page 93 involves adolescent girls taking a shower in a Nazi concentration camp and being yelled at by Nazi soldiers. Even with some of the words blacked out, Mac feels that the scene is terrifying. Marci tells him that their other group member, Hannah, found the same passages blacked out in her copy. She tells Mac to meet her at the library the next morning and to bring Denis.

When Mac, Marci, and Denis meet at the library the next morning, they search for The Devil’s Arithmetic to see what words are blacked out in their copies. They find other books by the author, Jane Yolen, but there are no copies of the book they’re reading. Marci asks the front desk if they can get it from another library. 

Denis suggests that they go to the local bookstore, Tad’s Books, and see if they can find a copy of the book. Then, he suggests they use his quarters to buy some food to feed the ducks at the nearby park. Marci praises Denis for both ideas, and Mac is surprised to realize that he feels a little jealous that Denis is getting positive attention from her. His grandad warned him earlier about being friends with a girl, and now Mac understands what he means.

Mac describes Tad’s Books as a place for cool nerds like him. In addition to books, they also have board games, and people often come to the shop to play games like Dungeons and Dragons. Mac sometimes goes there with his grandad to play games. 

They find a copy of The Devil’s Arithmetic, and Mac opens it to page 93. He reads through the disturbing scene of Nazi soldiers screaming at and herding cold, naked girls from a shower to another location at the camp. Marci opens her school copy to the same page so they can match the words with her blacked-out phrase. Mac reads, “Head down, hands over her breasts, Hannah walked through the line of soldiers” (42). The kids are perplexed when they realize that the phrase that is blacked out is “hands over her breasts.” The description of the concentration camp scene is upsetting, so they feel that the word “breasts” is not provocative, but whoever marked up their books thought so. They flip to page 117, where the next instance of censorship is, and realize that it is also a reference to breasts that the marker wielder found so offensive.

They are angry that someone felt like they needed to protect 11-year-olds from the word “breast” when they are reading a book about children their own age who hadn’t been protected from events like the Holocaust. They feel belittled and condescended to, and they want to find out who marked their books. They figure Ms. Sett is the first place to start, and Marci reminds them that she knew Ms. Sett was too good to be true.

When Mac returns from the bookstore, he finds his mom looking for her favorite blue mug that used to belong to her mother, Mac’s grandmother. He helps her look and asks if she’s ever read books that have been censored. She tells him that a lot of books have been banned in many places and that she has read many of them. Mac doesn’t understand why people would ban books when things that are actually physically dangerous, like guns, are available to people. She explains that some people feel so threatened by ideas in some books that challenge their worldview that they try to ban and censor those books for everyone else as well. 

Mac’s grandad enters and also tries to find the mug; they both know that it is very special to Mac’s mom. Grandad and his mom go on to list the many children’s books that have been banned, many of which they had read to Mac themselves when he was younger. Mac is surprised at how many books that he loved had been challenged at some point. He tells his mom and grandad about the black rectangles in his school copy of The Devil’s Arithmetic, and they are upset about it as well. Grandad suggests that they walk back to the bookstore, and he buys him the unmarked copy so that he can read it in its entirety. 

Mac is angry that his town, made up mostly of white people, refuses to confront truth and reality that is painful or makes them look bad. He realizes that he is like the author Jane Yolen because it is important to him that people know and talk about the truth. Mac wonders what his father’s truth is because he seems so disconnected from Mac’s reality. He sneaks out to the garage to make sure Grandad’s car, or the spaceship, is still there.

Mac’s mom and grandad support Mac as he figures out how to fight against the black rectangles in his school’s books. They sit together and research book banning and censorship. Mac insists that he wants to handle this situation with Marci and Denis without their help, but they want him to know that they are taking the situation seriously and that it concerns them, too. Mac finds Jane Yolen’s website and decides to contact her directly. In an email, he tells her that he is learning a lot from her book and that her writing has made the horrors of the Holocaust feel more real to him. He tells her that someone at his school has marked out some words in the school’s copies, and he asks for her support as he stands up against censorship. 

While Mac is working on the email, his father comes in the house. He apologizes to Mac that he missed their usual time together and says that something came up. Mac’s mom asks him if he’s seen her blue mug, and he tells her that he smashed it. She asks if it was an accident, and he tells her that it wasn’t. Mac senses a lot of tension in the room as his father says he smashed the mug because he was angry but doesn’t apologize. Mac’s grandad asks if Mac wants to take a walk, but Mac wants to stay and support his mom, even if all he can do is tell his dad that smashing her mug was wrong. 

Mac finishes his letter to Jane Yolen as his anger at his father builds. Grandad insists that they take a walk, and this time, Mac agrees, but he sends the email first. When they get outside, Mac tells his grandad that his father doesn’t seem to have feelings like most people do. Grandad points out that he seems to have a lot of anger. Mac watches as his grandfather meditates while holding a string of beads, interested in how his face relaxes and he grows calm. Mac says he could not meditate because his brain works too fast. They head back home and find that Mac’s dad left and his mom is reading poetry under a blanket. She seems calm and serene, which amazes Mac. She tells him that his dad will be back next week for dinner.