Attack of the Black Rectangles - by A.S. King

When Mac and his friends are assigned to read Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic in their sixth-grade lit circle they are interested in the story about a young girl who time travels to a World War II concentration camp. They are taken aback when they discover that two pages of the copies they've been given by their teacher have redacted passages. Several words have been blacked out with ink. They set out to find out who defaced their books, and what they were trying to hide. Finding out the original text was accomplished by locating a copy at the local bookstore. They had first tried the local public library but all copies were checked out. 

Mac and his comrades discover that their own teacher was responsible for the censorship. They are rightly insulted when they find out that some adults were concerned that they would be made uncomfortable by the references to the main character's breasts and chest. They point out that the book makes clear the horrors of the Holocaust and if they are able to handle this information they can most certainly handle reading words describing body parts.

There is a lot to this rather short novel. It is a story not only of censorship, but also of empowerment, and child agency. Mac and his classmates stage a protest, and show up at the school board meeting with prepared speeches in order to make their case. When I became a parent I was often surprised when I read information describing what my toddler, or preschooler, or school aged child, or middle schooler wasn't able to understand and think that my child didn't seem confused by those things. I would often think back to my own childhood remembering what I did understand at those ages. Kids really are smarter (and more determined) then society gives them credit for.

A final lesson Mac learns is that people are multi-dimensional. While he disagrees with his teacher on many issues he also recognizes that she does have his interests at heart. He has the same realization about his classmate Aaron with whom he generally does not get along, but finds is an ally in the fight against censorship.

Although fiction, the book is based on a true event, and references the book banning cases from York, Pennsylvania in 2021.

My husband and I listened to this as an audiobook. Our next listen will be The Devil's Arithmetic!

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West - by Gregory Maguire

I first tried to read this book twenty or so years ago, but the demands of taking care of a preschooler kept me from keeping up with this rather lengthy novel, so I abandoned it. I also reasoned (at the time) that it might make more sense once I read the entire "Oz" series. I came across a copy last summer at a used bookstore for $1 and decided to give it another try. It took about a month, but I made it through this time (although I didn't remember enough about the original Oz books for it to have made any difference in my understanding).

Maguire's adaptation is the story of Elphaba (aka The Wicked Witch of the West) - a misunderstood woman (and college roommate of Glinda). Much of the story surrounds a debate around the rights of Animals (who can talk), and animals (who cannot). It seemed rather prescient for a book written in 1995.

Several characters work in libraries. Elphaba works with Doctor Dillamond (a Goat) in a "lab and library". She also helps Doctor Dillamond with research at the Crage Hall Library, looking for evidence that Animals should have any restrictions placed upon them removed.

Another character (Boq) takes a job in the Three Queens Library "under the watchful eye of a titanic Rhinocerus, the head archival librarian". 

Ozma is identified in a number of ways, including "Librarian" who "did nothing but read genealogies for her whole life long". Other identities include

• Ozma the Mendacious
• Ozma the Warrior
• Ozma the Scarcely Beloved  
• Ozma the Bilious

There are other mentions of libraries throughout, making it clear that they were an inherent part of the Oz landscape.