23 August 2001 THE MISFITS by James Howe, Atheneum, October 2001

THE MISFITS is laugh-out-loud funny. It also made me cry (twice). James Howe has written an important and courageous book in which he tackles both name-calling as well as the two most extreme prejudices which exist in our culture today: being fat and being gay.

This was one of those books that was so good that after reading it I had to immediately reread it aloud to everyone. I had no choice--I'd laughed so hard that they were all waiting to hear why:

"Addie is filling Skeezie and Joe in on what went on that morning and is so worked up she doesn't even notice the Skeeze swap his box of raisins for her chocolate cake. He starts scarfing it down before she can say anything. I detect this out of the corner of my eye, since I try to avoid watching Skeezie relate to food in an ingestive manner. If his eating habits were a movie, they'd be rated R for violence.

"Addie, the anti-Skeeze, spreads a napkin on her lap... ' Well, revenge is a paltry weapon when confronted with the arsenal of truth.'

"Skeezie stares at her with an open mouth, which, given the state it's in, I wish he wouldn't. 'Do you make that stuff up on the spot?' he asks Addie. 'Or do you stay up nights writing your own material?'

'I can't help it if I have a brilliant mind,' Addie says, 'and that is my cake you just ate.'

"Skeezie lets out a belch, a loud, lingering, wet one."

THE MISFITS is really a modern fairy tale. This wonderful story shows middle grade readers what the world should be like. While it may not end exactly as you might expect as you're reading the book, there is a happy ending.

The four main characters-Addie Carle, the outspoken one, Joe Bunch, the outrageous one, Skeezie Tookis, the sloppy one, and Bobby Goodspeed the overweight one, call themselves "The Gang of Five," even though there's only four of them:

"We do it to keep people on their toes. Make 'em wonder. Or maybe we do it because we figure that there's one more kid out there who's going to need a gang to be part of. A misfit, like us."

The four team up to form a third political party for the student council elections. At first they follow Addie's lead in figuring that their party's goal should be to represent traditional minorities. But the black classmate they approach to be their presidential candidate enlightens them:

"DuShawn: You guys. The Gang of Five or whatever you call yourselves. You're more oppressed than Tonni and Royal and me. I mean, we're cool. You guys are the ones who have to watch your butts all the time."

So, instead of the Freedom Party they become the No-Name Party.

Joe's Aunt Pam recalls to the kids:

"I remember what middle school was like for me. It totally sucked. Everybody labeled everybody else. It was so easy to hate yourself."

For me as a reader, I was reminded of the feeling I got from repeatedly being called "Nigger Lips" in sixth and seventh grades. I'd wonder: Was there really something wrong with me?

As Bobby tells it:

"Another thing I think about names is that they do hurt. They hurt because we believe them. We think they are telling us something true about ourselves, something other people can see even if we don't"

Last year I was really taken by Todd Strasser's GIVE A BOY A GUN (Simon & Schuster 2000). In GUN, two unpopular kids are tormented unmercifully throughout grade school and junior high. Their response, when younger, of "I'd like to kill them for treating me like that" evolves into a plan by the middle of high school to get armed and do just that.

I wrote last year that GUN'S message that there should be zero tolerance for name calling should be immediately adopted in schools, beginning at the lowest grades. After finishing GUN I wished for an appropriate book to teach younger readers about the serious harm caused by name calling.

As I read THE MISFITS, I felt like James Howe had somehow heard my concerns or had read GUN himself and saw the same need for such a book.

Sadly I predict that, in our country, the subjects Howe tackles are so taboo that THE MISFITS will fail to be seriously considered for any big awards. I expect that this book will be seen by the Michael Printz Award committee as being too close to the younger end of the young adult spectrum to compete with "real" teen fiction. I can understand this argument. While the book has many great and sophisticated insights which make it enjoyable to teens and adults, it is really written so that the fourth through eight graders can "get it." I predict (and I dare to be proved wrong) that the Newbery Committee, a lot of middle grade teachers and a lot of children's librarians, won't go near this gem of a story because of the "G-word." Perhaps I am being gauche in discussing all of this award stuff, but awards are important. \

My friend Michael Cart told me so, and he's never steered me wrong. I was in Chicago at the end of May for Book Expo, and I attended the day-long series of events sponsored by the Association of Booksellers for Children and the Children's Book Council. While the highlight of that day was a lunchtime reading by Christopher Paul Curtis from his next, unfinished book, there was an afternoon series of presentations and workshops about the importance of children's book awards in getting books into the hands of young readers. Michael Cart gave an incredible talk about the history and value of these awards, so I take it all even more seriously now than I already did.

It would be a major loss to see this one fall between the cracks. THE MISFITS is an essential story for kids going into junior high or trying to live through it. It is certainly a must-read.

Richie Partington

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