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Gr 5 Up–The timing of King’s latest is presciently superb as she presents three sixth graders fighting book censorship. Her hero is Mac Delaney, sensitively ciphered by Cross with gentle energy and justifiable frustration. Mac lives with his mother and grandfather, while his erratic, angry father unreliably visits. Mac’s buoyed by close friendships with Denis and Marci (who just might also be his first crush). When the class begins to read Jane Yolen’s
The Devil’s Arithmetic, Mac notices the titular black rectangles have effaced certain words throughout every student’s copy. Of course, Mac and his friends want to read the whole, untampered book; too many adults disagree. Saturday morning protests lead to school board meetings where the children are finally heard.
VERDICT A full cast—including King
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