The Misfits

The Misfits by James Howe

I have heard a lot about this story in other classes and have wanted to read it ever since. Five students are picked on and singled out by their classmates for five different reasons but one thing that they all have in common is that they are different from the rest of their peers. One occasion that got me at the beginning of the story was when Addie, the girl of the group, refused to stand during the Pledge of Allegiance and actually gave decent reasoning for not doing so. Thus begins the adventure of The Misfits; these students do things a little differently than everyone else.

Addie is sent to the Principal's office due to her little outrage in class with the Pledge, and she decides that the rest of her group of outsiders should form another group to run in the student government so that everyone gets a voice. The same woman who is in charge of student government is the same teacher that Addie spoke out to during class, and she turns down the request. With the help of other students outside of the group of 5, they begin to plot their campaign anyways. They come up with a great slogan: "sticks and stones may break our bones, but names will break our spirit," however since they didn't get permission from Mrs. Wyman, they are forced to be removed from consideration at all.

Bobby decides to come up with the "No-Name Party," where they hope to end name calling at their school. He writes a powerful speech and although he is afraid to give it, he does so anyways, and even though they lose the election which is an unexpected ending, they have touched the entire school and the rest of their peers. Some of the parts of the ending were a little too perfect; for example, with Joe and Colin going to the dance together; it just seems as though that wouldn't have just fit together just like that in the real world, and that it wouldn't just turn out that Colin is gay as well, but I think that the characters deserved a "fairy-tale ending," and even though they didn't win the election, they definitely changed the little world that they lived in in their school.

This is a pretty powerful book, it's such a shame that many parents disagree with it being put into classroom shelves. Children/students should know that they can do anything they put their minds too and maybe even change the world a little bit along the way.