No Shelf Control (Grades 4-6 Book Club)

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

All readers in Grades 4-6: Join our final meeting of 2024-2025 school year, featuring the 2024 Black-Eyed Susan Award winner for Best Children's Novel, a story about not getting the whole story!

Our final selection for No Shelf Control for the 2024-2025 school year begins like this: "According to a lot of the adults in our town, everything here is perfect. We don't have accidents. We don't have crime at all. We don't have Halloween anymore. Or junk food. We don't have bad thoughts. We don't use any bad words, like cancer or death...or donut." Mac and the others in his sixth-grade reading circle have been assigned to read "The Devil's Arithmetic" by Jane Yolen, a work of historical fiction written in 1988 about Jewish life in Poland during World War II. But why are so many parts of it covered with thick dark rectangles, making it impossible to read the words and sentences underneath? What is someone trying very hard to hide from these young people? Author Amy Sarig King won the Maryland Association for School Libraries' Black-Eyed Susan Award in 2024 for Best Novel for Grades 6-8 for "Attack of the Black Rectangles," a thought-provoking story about trying to find out the whole story and the social and educational implications of censorship.

No Shelf Control welcomes ALL readers in grades 4, 5, and 6 for a monthly meeting and discussion of books chosen by a librarian just for this age group and read ahead of time. Anyone ages 9-12 is welcome!

You can borrow a copy of the book (with a specially prepared reading guide just for our group) from the Connie Morella Library; just ask at the Check Out or Information Desks for the June book for No Shelf Control.

You can also access "Attack of the Black Rectangles" as an e-book or e-audiobook through Hoopla. It is also available as an e-audiobook through the Libby app or Overdrive website (it is not currently available as an e-book through Libby). 

If you get an e-version, please contact Librarian Jeff for the reading guide (jeffrey.coster@montgomerycountymd.gov). Even if you are not able to finish the reading, please come anyway and see if No Shelf Control might just be the place for you! Participants will also get the chance to comment on what they've liked about No Shelf Control, what they'd like to see done differently, and what kinds of books they'd like to read for next year's club.

Library Program Attendance (both virtual and in the branch) is limited to participants within the suggested age range of the program. Children attending an MCPL program under the age of 8 must be accompanied by an adult. Adults attending a program intended for children must have an accompanying child.

Have questions about this program? Contact the Connie Morella Library at 240-777-0970.

Don't have a card right now? Find out how to Get a Library Card.

Accommodation Requests

People who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing should request English-language captioning or sign-language interpretation at least five days before the library-sponsored program they plan to attend. Contact the Assistant Facilities and Accessibility Program Manager at 240-777-0002 with all other accommodation requests.

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