Abbott Elementary Recap: The Sassy Wizard Kid

If you ask me, one of the biggest flexes for a writer is to wind up on a banned-booked list — that means you must really be cooking. Not that it’s that hard to end up on one of those lists these days. Last year, banning attempts were up by a record-breaking 65 percent. But what’s interesting from a cultural perspective versus a historical one is that the average person doesn’t tend to care so deeply about which titles are available in the library to go as far as advocating censorship (in a country famous for its First Amendment, this always feels like such a dirty word). Sure, we all remember the kids in school who weren’t allowed to read Harry Potter or parrotted their parent’s belief that one cartoon or another was devil-worshipping propaganda, but at least from my personal experience, these were fringe opinions. Conversely, one study showed that most parents think book bans actually interfere with their right to make decisions for their kids.

Although censorship dominates headlines year after year, research by The Washington Post reported that between 2021 and 2022, a mere eleven people were responsible for a whopping 60 percent of banning attempts. A few years ago in Wisconsin, one parent’s determination led to a school district temporarily removing over 400 titles from their libraries. Parents often cite obscenity law and the intention of protecting their children from certain ideas as justification for banning books, coinciding with a surge in discourse surrounding “parental rights.” And if we know anything about Americans, sometimes all it takes is one person to galvanize a movement of people who haven’t done their research. Tonight’s episode of Abbott tackles this hot topic with a disgruntled parent of their own who opens up the floodgates when she demands the library remove a book called The Sassy Wizard Kid from its shelves.

True to form, the show handles censorship in a light-hearted fashion with its usual silly humor that presents serious discourse in the least divisive way possible. In reality, the majority of targeted books are authored by individuals from marginalized communities or include storylines about race, sexuality, gender, and violence. While The Sassy Wizard Kid doesn’t involve such politicized subjects — it’s a hilariously satirized Black version of Harry Potter about a kid named “Jamiroquai Gemstone” who grew up in a magical barbershop in Atlanta — the plot gets to the meat of the issue by exploring how trying to ban one book creates a snowball effect detrimental to student development. The parent in question is Crystal, the brains behind Forever Bitch Apparel, who protests the book, saying that as a Christian (who has the word bitch tattooed on her chest), she’s against the depiction of magic and the way the wizard talks to his parents … not that she read the book, these are all opinions she absorbed from a subreddit called “Black Mamas On The Watch.”

Ava, Barbara, and our favorite librarian, Rosalyn Inez, disagree with Crystal’s stance on the book. Still, Crystal is determined to keep it away from the students, threatening to take the matter to the district. As VP of the PTA, Crystal has some clout in the district’s eyes, and after the fumble during the budget meeting, Ava doesn’t want to ruffle feathers and concedes. Upon hearing about the ban, Tariq storms into Abbott, confronting the teachers about removing the book his “son” was going to read him that night. Tariq then makes a demand of his own, requesting The 48 Laws of Power — the one book that should make you run the other way if you see it on the shelf of someone you’re dating — as a new addition to the library. Barbara remarks that “this is what happens when we let parents dictate our literary offerings,” but Ava promises to find a compromise to bring The Sassy Wizard Kid back to the shelves.

For a moment, Tariq finds a way to cut corners and keep the title in circulation by creating a “book speak-easy” diversion shelf, complete with a curtain containing a screen-printed image of non-banned books to hide The Sassy Wizard Kid. But the jig is up when a student loudly tries to return his copy of the illicit material while Crystal is volunteering in the library. Things escalate between Crystal and Tariq who then put pressure on the staff at Abbott to come to a solution. Fed up, Rosalyn closes the library, declaring that the door will remain locked until the school figures something out. With no other choices, Ava calls a PTA meeting to find a resolution democratically. Once the issue is put to a vote that results in a tie, parents who never uttered a word about The Sassy Wizard Kid start campaigning to have it removed, eliciting all kinds of opinions about what options should be available to the students.

As Barbara, Ava, and Rosalyn try to appease the parents, Melissa deals with the consequences of being non-committal. She runs into her ex-flame Gary whom she ended things with after his proposal attempt last season. During their catch-up, Gary invites her to his upcoming wedding, prompting Melissa to ask her current casual fling Captain Robinson to be her plus-one. Melissa’s perplexed when Robinson says he’s busy that day as he’s going on a date with someone else, and he reminds her that she’s the one who suggested keeping things casual. This sends Melissa into a spiral involving calling Robinson’s new girl a slut, so Barbara and Jacob force her to realize her very real feelings for the fireman. In her version of a grand romantic gesture, Melissa pays Mr. Johnson to pull the fire alarm to bring the captain to the school. She allows herself to be vulnerable, a change in pace from her usual nonchalant energy. Captain Robinson agrees to exclusivity, though he says he now has to arrest Mr. Johnson for falsely triggering the alarm.

Back in the PTA meeting, things grow out of control after one father says if the book stays, he “sees no reason why we can’t introduce the children to Steve Harvey’s entire oeuvre” (which Tariq says would pair “exquisitely” with The 48 Laws of Power) and what they should truly ban is Clifford The Big Red Dog. Another parent suggests banning The Little Prince due to its promotion of “French values,” and soon 34 other books are up on the chopping block. Finally, Barbara takes the bull by the horns and employs her usual sage wisdom, telling the parents that while it’s possible to find a problem with any title, “there are so many ideas in these books that your children will never experience or learn from if you don’t let them read.” Then, Ava connects Barbara’s sentiment with a passage from The Sassy Wizard, which teaches children to have a growth mindset, finally opening Crystal’s mind to why they love the book so much.

Crystal admits she opposed The Sassy Wizard Kid because she doesn’t want her child reading something that teaches her to be disrespectful to adults. Here, Barbara and Ava truly break it down, telling Crystal that it’s her responsibility to talk to her child about such things, not the school’s. As a former chair of the American Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee once wrote, “Censorship is about control. Intellectual freedom is about respect.” The best way we can protect our children is by giving them the tools and the respect to explore new ideas at their own pace, trusting them to make the right decisions for themselves based on our guidance as adults. By the conclusion of the meeting, the parents come to a unanimous decision to reopen the library … without outside interference. It’s not the only thing they all agree on: once Barbara starts testifying about “a book that all of y’all can read next,” referring to the bible, everyone scatters as quickly as they came.

Teacher’s Notes

• The Gregory subplot about finding a new gig was a bit boring and slightly depressing considering how bad the job market is, but it’s been great seeing Janine and Gregory grow as a couple and support each other’s journey. Plus, Janine’s “angry” texts littered with multiple “LOLs” were so on brand for her character. Gregory’s cold open, on the other hand, was impeccable!

• Finally, my favorite lines from tonight:

Barbara: “This is going to end worse than the end of the New Testament.”

Ava: “Do I look like Ms. Inez to you? Do you see an Arby’s logo on my dome?”

Jacob after interrupting a reading of The Sassy Wizard: “Allies should be seen, not heard.”