Roar for Reading by Beth Ferry illustrated by Andrew Joyner

"Libraries are like the best free buffets, offering endless choices 

so everyone can pick and choose what they like. 

If there comes a day when you hear that some books have been pulled from your library, it might be time to ROAR."

Libraries were once guarded by lions. They became known as librarians! They had the joyous job of story times, reading and recommending books to children, and adding wonderful books to their libraries. Then came the day Ms Millicent receives a letter. Ms Millicent headed straight to the office of the Mayor. He used words like controversial, inappropriate, and conservative. Ms Millicent replied with words like banning, censorship and accessibility. Ms Millicent did not win this battle of words and so on the next page we see the head librarian, Ms Millicent, pulling bundles and bundles of books off her library shelves. 

Lions from earlier times knew how to roar if things were amiss in the library. Young Julius has been watching his mum pulling out his own favourite books. 

"Julius got a funny feeling. He ran to the shelf where he kept his favourite books. He felt a rush of relief when he saw them, these stories that he loved so much. The one he had read thirty-three times. The one he was saving for the first day of summer. The special one he read with his grandmother."

What would happen if he couldn't read these books? Julius feels a rumble and the rumble turns into a ROAR! His mum feels the roar too and the roar spreads to book lovers everywhere.

At the end of this book the protesters win, and Julius and the other library patrons can read any book they like BUT as you probably know very sadly this is not actually the case in the US. The final pages of Roar for Reading have a set of four stepts - R Recognise book bans and censorship; O Organise and talk to other who see this as wrong A Act write letters, attend meetings and R respect everyone's right to read what interest them. 

This timely book effectively simplifies the current book-banning movement into easily digestible terms. Kirkus

This book caught my eye because I saw the Australian illustrator Andrew Joyner. You may remember his books - The Swap, Flocked, The Terrible Plop or Too Many elephants in this House. I read all of these to hundreds of children in my former school library.

Beth Ferry is a famous author in the US - I wonder how Andrew Joyner came to illustrate her book. Andrew lives in South Australia.  Beth Ferry is the author of Scarecrow illustrated by The Fan Brothers has been on my to buy/read list for many years - sadly though it is very expensive here in Australia. See her books here. 

These are a very small sample of the picture books and middle grade books that have been banned in the US. These are all books I loved and continue to recommend:

Bridge to Terabithia

Front Desk

The Parker Inheritance

Charlotte's Web

Attack of the Black Rectangles by Amy Sarig King

Mac and his friends are assigned to a reading group Table 6. The way this works, their teacher. Ms Sett, gives each group a different book. They are told 'not to read ahead' and after each class session they have to complete vocabulary and response tasks. Just as an aside I do not like this format of teaching - especially the instruction 'do not read ahead'. And so I did cheer when one of the Table 6 group - Hannah Do (later we learn her real name is Hao Do) declares she has already read the whole book. In fact she has read all the class assigned books!

This group are assigned The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen (1988). Hopefully you do know this is a real book. I will confess I had not read it but it is now on my list. Here is the Kirkus Star review. And Jane Yolen writes about her book here. 

When Mac opens his copy of this book there are words that have been blacked out - we would call this a texta here in Australia but in the US it is called a Sharpie. Why has this book been censored? What do the missing words say? Mac and his friends are completely shocked and so they decide to take action. First off, they talk to the school Principal, but she just offers platitudes. So, then they make a presentation to the school board. Their local independent bookstore has their assigned book and so they can read the 'offending' passages. This content is simply about body parts and these kids can see absolutely no reason why these words are covered in rectangles. They decide to protest outside the bookshop each Saturday in the hope of raising awareness about this issue. 

Meanwhile Mac is navigating some difficult times in his family. His dad no longer lives with them but he does visit once a week. His behaviour is very strange and then his father robs their house and takes the car owned by Mac's grandfather. 

And there is also the issue of their class teacher. She has assigned herself as a rule maker for the whole town. Halloween is banned; there is a curfew of 9pm; in some streets the houses are expected to be painted white; and no one is allowed to eat junk food. Also at school girls are banned from wearing shorts even though this is okay for boys.

Objections to the town rules are presented in the form of letters to the editor. This part of the story really resonated with me. I often despair when rules at every level are set as reaction to one event. In this case some teenagers scare some little kids at Halloween so Halloween is banned - ridiculous. 

Having finished another book a couple of days ago I picked up the next one. I thought I would just dip in and perhaps read a few pages - I lifted my head around page 176 and then when I couldn't sleep, because I wanted to know how this story could possibly be resolved, I read the remaining pages, up to page 258 from 1-2am. YES this book is THAT good. And page 248 contains the best scene I have ever read in a book - it made me smile and gasp. 

Attack of the Black Rectangles was published in 2022 but the paperback edition from Scholastic has only just reached Australia. I purchased my copy for AUS$17 but I see it is offered by Scholastic Book Club here is Australia - issue 3, 2025. 

The students in this book are in Grade 6 but my recommendation is that this is a book for students in Grades 7 and 8. There is some confronting content about the holocaust and also the issue of censorship which I think better suits an older group. And of course the key text - The Devil's Arithmetic is a Young Adult title for readers aged 13+. 

Listen to an audio sample here. This is a timely and important book. It is easy to read and there are touches of humour. These kids, as Colby said (see below) feel so real. I highly highly recommend Attack of the Black Rectangles for readers aged 11+. 

Here is a quote from a review about the audio book: The group of narrators do a great job with the audiobook and King’s vivid storytelling and great characters come to life as the story unfolds. It’s a wonderful insight into the American censorship battle and shows there’s hope and always a fight to have against those who try to silence others.

Colby Sharp said: "It just so real." "I love how real this felt." "How possible it felt for kids to make a difference and for kids to find their voice and demand that they are heard." "One of the best books of the year." Listen to this audio interview at The Yarn. 

But this book is not just about book banning, it’s a moving story of a young teen boy trying to figure out who he is and navigating family, friendship, first crushes, and his own emotions as he transitions into adolescence. It’s a powerful and inspiring look at the inner lives of teen boys and it moved me at times to tears. At other times, I cheered for our Mac, who is genuine, authentic, inspiring while also being complicated, complex, at times messy and flawed. School Library Journal

Take a look at these review comments quoted on the author web page:

“Poignant, humorous, and bright . . . Whip-smart, tuned in to the mind of sixth-graders, and beautifully concluded, the novel takes a bold stand in a time of book bans and rampant censorship . . . Against the backdrop of family issues, first crushes, and the end of elementary school, this is a beacon of hope for middle grades and an object lesson in treating kids like the intelligent readers they are.”—Booklist, starred review

“[Amy Sarig King’s] respect for young people is exemplary, and her characters indelible.”—Horn Book, starred review (contains spoilers)

“Skillfully encourages keeping open minds and extending grace to the oblivious and hostile alike . . . A searingly relevant opus to intellectual freedom.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“King’s latest novel is so timely and relevant, some readers may feel like the author has been privy to what’s going on in their own schools . . . A striking book on censorship; a must-have in all middle grade classrooms and school libraries.”—School Library Journal, starred review

Tweet by Morris Gleitzman

"Sometimes going viral can be a good thing. You and Clyde are heroes. A boy and a budgie bravely protecting thousands of birds. Standing in the way of giant trucks 

that want to squish them. How totally inspiring is that?"

All readers judge books by their covers and then the author's name (if it is familiar) and then the blurb. Begin with the one-word title. Tweet is a word we all associate with Twitter and the internet and the spreading of informed and uninformed ideas. Perhaps we also think of this as the chatter, often mindless, of social media.  Now look more closely at the cover and you can see a boy in silhouette with a small yellow and green budgie (bird). Then zoom in even closer and the speech bubble which contains the word tweet is shown coming from the bird not the boy. This is intriguing. Now onto the author. I guess most Australian young readers and nearly all Australian teachers and Teacher-Librarians have heard, and also have read, a book to two by Morris Gleitzman. After all he started writing in 1987. His first book was The Other Facts of Life. In 1987 I had been working in my first school library in a small country town for just two years. From then on we collected every book he wrote and I read nearly all of them. In fact he is the author of over forty titles. See the covers of most of these at the end of this post. 

The one thing that distinguishes a Morris Gleitzman book, from books by other writers, is his unique 'voice'. I use the term naive protagonist. In this book Clyde (he is the budgie from the front cover) and Jay, both have this 'voice' albeit one is a boy, and one is a bird. I probably should spend more time thinking about why the bird has a human name and the boy is named after a bird but that might relate to the fact that Jay's parents are ornithologists. 

In a pattern you are sure to have encountered in many, many books, Jay's parents are absent. In fact, they are missing. They set off for Africa to study birds and they have not returned and no one seems to be able to contact them. The mission to find the lost parents is one of the issues that drives the plot of this book. There is one other adult in Jay's life, but Morris Gleitzman removes him from the story very early on - spoiler alert - sadly Poppa is taken to hospital where he dies. That neatly sets up the plot of Jay and Clyde and later a few other unlikely friends who now have to 'save the world'.

The other issue that keeps you turning the pages of this long book (348 pages) is the mystery of the other birds who keep showing up in their hundreds disrupting human activities. This is happening in the city where Jay lives but later we discover it is happening around the world. Why are the birds stopping traffic? Do they have a message? Yes they do. Humans need to listen but birds and humans do not speak the same language. Luckily Clyde is part human because he has been a pet. He can 'talk' to Jay and over time he learns how to communicate with other wild birds. It is also Clyde who makes the most important friends - a bird named Dora (she is a galah) and another bird - a Kea. Just in case you don't know a kea is a large parrot from New Zealand. 

The birds are showing up to highlight the environmental issues facing our world today. This reminded me of this brilliant book by Christopher Cheng (another well-known Australian author).

Morris Gleitzman explains about the environmental issues he raises in his book:

But it doesn't end there. You'll notice that, as well as all these other problems, Tweet contains one other problem that's so big, none of the characters know how to solve it. Not even Jay and Clyde's friends Maxine and Dora, who are super-smart. Please don't fret. Not every problem in a story has to be solved by the last page. Sometimes just discovering new ways to think about problems is the biggest adventure of all.

I mentioned this is a long book, but the chapters are very, very short and the viewpoints keep alternating between Jay and Clyde, so I found myself swept along with the story and I was easily able to finish the whole book over a couple of days. I think you will need to explain this to your library readers because the size of this book might daunt them but really there are so many funny, almost laugh out loud, moments and Clyde especially is such an endearing character I do think young readers aged 10+ will really enjoy this book. And it is sure to make them curious to read other books by Morris Gleitzman beyond his World War II series. 

Publisher blurb: Birds. Lots of birds. The people of the world are puzzled. Their feathered friends are trying to tell them something, and they’re not sure what it is. Then a boy and his pet budgie discover the secret. Join Jay and Clyde, and their friends Maxine and Dora, on an exciting, funny, risky journey to save their families. And every other family too.

Here are a few text quotes which I was pleased to see were also mentioned in the teachers notes (see below):

"I know you're fresh out of the cage ... but don't be a dope. This is what we birds do. We look out for each other, right?"

"Something terrible's happening. Huge numbers of birds have started acting crazy. Putting themselves in crazy danger."

"The birds are making a big nuisance of themselves to punish humans for being so cruel. And they don't have a clue how much more cruel that'll make humans be towards them."

"Leaders have two basic things ... Ideas and armies. And the armies are usually bigger than the ideas."

Here are some very detailed teachers notes with discussion questions from the publisher. 

Check out some reviews:

• Readings Melbourne
• What book Next?
• Kids' Book Review
• Story Links

Companion books:

The 7 Professors of the Far North

The Last Bear

Melt

The Doldrums

Flight of the Phoenix

Pearly and Pig 

The Someday Birds

Books by Morris Gleitzman:

Flooded by Mariajo Ilustrajo

The city carried on in its usual rhythm going up, going down. 

After all it was just a bit of water.

This is a funny book on one level but it also contains a much deeper social and environmental commentary.  If you work from the title and stretched out front and back covers you won't anticipate the plot or the surprise ending. This is a book to share with younger readers but it will also generate some deep discussion with older groups in your school library.

The blurb does spoil the ending so I am only putting extract here: Flooded is the funny and beautifully illustrated tale of animals who live in a city that is ever so slowly flooding. The flood comes gradually at first. All the animals ignore the obvious and go about their busy lives, disjointed from one another and preoccupied by their own problems. Eventually, the flood water reaches a height that they can no longer ignore and they have to work together to save their city.

Flooded is an allegory of community responsibility. Book Wagon

Stature matters here.  I don’t think I am giving away too much to say that the relative heights of the animals in the book drive much of its humour and tensions. ... For slightly older readers, there is plenty of scope for deeper exploration of the book’s themes. Further discussion will inevitably lead to climate change, environmental activism, the power of collaboration. Just Imagine

This tale of pulling together in times of need is wonderfully illustrated by an exciting newcomer using ink and graphite and digitally coloured. The text is kept to a minimum allowing the wealth of funny details in each scene to do much of the storytelling. Red Reading Hub

Flooded is a reminder to address problems sooner rather than later. It has a clear environmental message, but themes of not procrastinating or ignoring issues, and working together, can apply to many other situations as well. Kids' Book Review

Mariajo Ilustrajo is a Spanish Illustrator based in the UK. See some pages from Flooded here. Mariajo Ilustratjo will be an illustrator to watch. She is sure to give us some memorable books in the future now that we have seen Flooded which is her first published book. 

The little bit of water was becoming a huge problem and it wasn't going away. Where was the water coming from? 

And what could they do about it?

Footprints on the Moon by Lorraine Marwood

It is 1969. In this verse novel Lorraine Marwood revisits world events at this time - the Vietnam War and the imminent Moon Landing. She explores events here in Australia - conscription and it's effect on young men and their families. And gives her readers a personal perspective when she introduces us to the Burley family who experience dreadful loss during 1969 when their loved grandmother who has been showing signs of early dementia, suddenly dies.

Young Sharnie Burley has now moved to high school. She has to navigate old and new friendships, deal with the loss of her beautiful grandmother who was her closest friend and she also has to make sense of the conflicting views in her family. Her teenage sister Cas has met a young returned soldier and she now has strong views against Australia's involvement in Vietnam. Dad supports the war because he proud of the service by his own father during World War II. Sharnie's new friend Gail has an even closer connection to this conflict because her brother has recently been killed in Vietnam.

Footprints on the Moon will be published tomorrow! I was excited to discover that I had read this new Australian verse novel just one day before it will hit the bookshop shelves. I recommend this book for readers aged 10+ and junior high school students who are studying Australia's involvement in the Vietnam war. Here are a set of very detailed teachers notes to use with Footprints on the Moon.

The best verse novels contain emotional stories and this is certainly true of Footprints on the Moon. The relationship between Sharnie and her precious grandmother is beautifully described. You may want to make a tray of  Peanut Brittle (recipe is included), prepare a cup of tea and find an older family member who can share their own memories with you.  I could really identify with Sharnie and her classmates squashed into a small classroom to watch Neil Armstrong walking on the moon. I clearly remember this day when we all squashed into a double classroom in my Primary school peering at the distant and very small television screen:

On Friday 

the announcement 

crackled over 

the loudspeaker:

'Man on the moon, 

view and be part 

of history. 

Two TV sets 

will be available 

to watch 

in the home domestic rooms, 

the largest spaces in the school 

but if you can 

watch it at home, then do 

so, you have permission 

to go home at lunch break, 

just bring a note from your parents,' 

says Mr Grear.

I think of Grandma

how she would have loved

this moment, wondering

about those three astronauts

training, working, waiting ...

There have been a few nostalgic novels published recently which will appeal to thoughtful readers who have an interest in the past.

52 Mondays

Catch a falling Star

You might also look for this fabulous book which was recently awarded a Newbery Honour.

Dr Coo and the Pigeon Protest by Sarah Hampson illustrated by Kass Reich

"Dr Coo knew things. And he knew he had a problem. Or rather, he could see there was a problem with pigeons."

Dr Coo (I guess you know he is a pigeon!) gathers his friends to discuss the issue - "humans hate us". Dr Coo remembers how things were so different in the past. Pigeons delivered news of the Olympic Games in Ancient Greece. Pigeons delivered messages to soldiers in World War I. Once, long ago, pigeons were a sign of "peace and love and wisdom and beauty". It is time for action and that action is via absence. The pigeons leave the city. The city is empty, eerie. Dr Coo is a clever negotiator. He writes a letter to the Mayor explaining the issues and setting conditions. 

This book introduces the idea to young children that they can stand up for what they believe in, and change what they don’t think is right. The Tiny Activist

This book could be used to spark classroom discussions on respecting differences, working out disagreements, or stepping up to counter injustice, all important subjects for the budding self-awareness and personal development of young children. Kids Can Press

Dr Coo and the Pigeon Protest is a book that you can read to a young child (aged 5+) and then use again with a group of older students. It would be perfect for our History topic here in Australia - Australia as a Nation: 

"Students will continue to learn about the roles, rights and responsibilities people have within society and the development of Australian democracy."

My stage three classes explore many aspects of this topic on Democracy in our school library including suffragettes and the fight for the vote and methods of protesting - legal and illegal. I really enjoyed the peaceful and yet powerful protest employed by Dr Coo. It's a great example of boycotting.

Kass Reich from Canada is the illustrator of  twelve picture books including some others about birds. You might also use this book for a mini unit about pigeons. My friend at Kinderbookswitheverything has a post about Pigeon Day with some excellent books to explore.  Here are some of my favourite pigeon books (here is a Pinterest from Kinderbookboard) and a photo of a wonderful plush pigeon available from Taronga Zoo in Sydney.

For a focus on activism and protesting take a look at these books:

Junk Castle by Robin Klein illustrated by Rolf Heimann

 

Mandy, Irene, Con and Splinter live in a block of flats in Meldrum Crescent. There is nowhere around the building for this group of friends to play except for a small 'park'.

"The park opposite wasn't really grand enough to be called a park. It was just a sandwich shaped wedge of lawn squeezed between the Kozinooze Slumberwear factor and a site where a new service station was being built. It had a railing fence around it and a sign which said, 'The Beatrice Binker Reserve'. It was too small for a game of football or a game of anything."

Irene is told to prepare a talk for her class. It can be on any topic. Irene is terrified of public speaking so she is relieved when the braces on her teeth are bent out of shape by a piece of hard rye bread. No speech for Irene. This means Mandy will need to do it and that's just fine with Mandy because she loves addressing an audience. The kids decide the topic should be medieval castles and so they head  over to the library. (You can imagine I appreciate this).

"Their local library was wonderful ... And there weren't any bossy signs ordering you to shush. You were allowed to talk if you did it quietly and away from the section where the students were working. Mandy looked up castles in the subject index and they went to the shelf number."

After all their research and Mandy's successful class talk, the kids decide to build a castle in the tiny park. The men, constructing the new service station, offer to help with the brick construction and concrete but Mr Drake, from over the road, is furious. He writes letters to the council, he makes up a petition, and he even calls the police. Workers from the factory see all the action and they phone a local television station. The castle is fabulous but will the kids win the battle and is there something they don't know about Mr Drake? What does he mean when he tells Mandy:

"I don't want the Beatrice Binker Reserve disgraced on television. It's a memorial park."

Junk Castle was published in 1983 and was short listed by the CBCA in 1984 which by coincidence was my first year of teaching. I have often thought about the little patch of ground where this group of children built their castle. l really like their creative use of the materials they find discarded in their neighborhood, the way the kids co-operate with each other and their wonderful imaginative play. It is now 37 years since I first read this book and I am very happy to report it has stood the test of time. The only tiny dated reference is the mention of cassette tapes which can be loaned from the library.

I thought again about Junk Castle when I shared another old book - Keep Out by Noela Young. I also like to link Junk Castle with another Robin Klein story from her fabulous short story collection Ratbags and Rascals - How Clara Bepps put Strettle Street properly on the Map.

Very sadly Junk Castle is not a title on the NSW Premier's Reading challenge but I am sure this book will still be available in many primary school libraries across Australia. My former library has one copy and the library where I help as a reading volunteer has a set of ten copies! I was happy to see it is still part of the South Australian Premier's Reading challenge. 

Junk Castle is a perfect book to read aloud to a class of students in Grade 3 or 4. You could also use this book as a way to discuss the role of local government and the ways citizens can legally express their point of view through strategies such as letters to the media and petitions. This is one of those precious books which I wish someone would republish. 

Junk Castle is a paean to the triumph of the imagination over stultifying gentility, to the revitalising of dead urban scenes, to the rejuvenation of the spirit. Is that a pile of old rubbish on the Beatrice Binker Reserve (a tiny triangle of cropped grass in a jungle of concrete), or a glitteringly exciting castle? This is a favourite theme of Klein's, a sort of personal war on tidy suburbia - perhaps because `I used to live in a ghastly middle-class suburb that I absolutely loathed. Now I live miles from anywhere out in the bush, in a tolerant, dotty area.' Books for Keeps

Maurice Saxby decribes Robin Klein as "the coolest Australian writer of the 1980s."  [The Proof of the Puddin' Australian Children's literature 1970-1990 by Maurice Saxby page 228]

Take a step back into the eighties to see what upper primary kids did without Play Stations, mobile phones and other electronic gadgetry. Irene has a speech to make at school so it's off to the local library, no world wide web. In the block of flats they have to creep up and down the stairs to deliver messages to each other, no texting. To alleviate their boredom they scavenge around the neighbourhood for building materials and build their own castle in the reserve. The Little Library of Rescued Books

The last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary by Laura Shovan

This novel in verse is a remarkable feat of mimicry. 

The poems sound exactly like they were written by real fifth-graders. Kirkus

August 27
First Day
Rachel Chieko Stein

We only have 180 days
at Emerson Elementary.
When this school year ends,
I will have spent
one thousand days
in this building.
I want a thousand more
so I'll never have to say
goodbye to friends
like Sydney and Katie.
I wish Emerson
could be my school forever,
but everyone is talking about a plan
to tear the building down.


You already know that I adore verse novels so I was excited to begin reading the Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary. I read the whole book in one sitting - yes it is THAT good.

There are 18 kids in this fifth grade class. You might need to explain to an Australian audience that at this school elementary ends with fifth grade and next year these kids will head off to Middle School. This should be an exciting time which culminates in a special ceremony as the fifth graders are clapped along the corridor to the Middle School next door but the school board have decided to sell the old school building and hence the title. Yes this group are indeed the last fifth grade.

The teacher gives every student a notebook where they write poems every day. (There are notes about the poetry forms at the back of the book along with some writing prompts). These poems will go into a time capsule. The plan is to building shopping centre to replace the school so I imagine this time capsule will be placed in the walls of the new supermarket.

Laura Shovan uses poems from each child as a way to share the class journey over the whole year and along the way we also learn so much each individual.   If you have read Because of Mr Terupt you will recognise this concept. And if you have read The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary you know how to follow a book with multiple voices. I found the little illustrations were a great help but I also need to keep flipping back and forth just to catch up on the back story of each child.

The class are studying the US Bill of Rights. It seems obvious they need to present the school board with a petition.

October 24
Speaking my Mind (an extract)
Rennie Rawlins

Maybe it's true
a bunch of fifth graders
have no say in what happens
to our school, but
in fifth grade we're supposed to be
studying democracy
and constitutional rights,
right?
Well, I already know
the First Amendment
is the right to free speech.


Now read on. Here is the poem from the 20th February by Edgar entitled Bad News:

The bad news is, our petition failed.
The Board won't ever know
some fifth graders wanted to save Emerson.

Wait a minute - this is not a spoiler because it is only 20th February.  The US school year runs from August 25th to June 9th. This group of kids are not going to take no for an answer.

Donalyn Miller loved this book - read her review for the Nerdy Book Club.

Here are the publisher's teaching notes. Poetry for Children  also have a teaching ideas page. Here is a review with more plot details.  Here is an interesting podast interview with the author Laura Shovan.   You can see inside this book on the publisher website. In an Australian classroom you could pair this book with Troy Thompson's Excellent Peotry (Poetry) Book.

Listen to an Audio sample which has been made with multiple voices. This might be a useful way to share this  book with a class.


We meet 18 diverse, distinctive, quirky, totally believable kids navigating the changes that come with friendships old and new, first crushes, and other relatable challenges such as divorce and step families, death and illness of family members, being the new kid, homelessness, assimilation and identity. Jama's Alphabet Soup