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"I'm Not a Little Kid Anymore:" What Does it Mean to be Grown Up?

1/30/2020

In the next three posts, we will discuss one short story and two books by Jerry Spinelli, winner of the American Library Association’s Newbery Medal for his novel Maniac Magee. These works create opportunities to discuss questions about what it means to grow up and what happens when close friends have different ideas about what it means to grow up.

Questions for children to think about before reading the story Mongoose in The Library Card and the short novel Fourth Grade Rats:

What does it mean to be a baby or a little kid? What does it mean to be a big kid or to grow up?

If your best friend decided that growing up was about shoplifting, vandalism, and looking out for Number One which meant pushing little kids off swings and grabbing their twinkies, what would you do:

Would you go along with these things because your friend might ridicule you or maybe even stop being your friend if you didn’t?

Would you try to talk your friend out of doing these things or suggest doing some other things?

What if your friend thought you were just being a “baby” and didn’t want to do the things you thought would be more fun? Would you stay friends with him? If not how would you make new friends?

After the summary of Mongoose and Fourth Grade Rats presented below you will find questions for children to consider after reading the selections.

"I'm Not a Little Kid Anymore:" What Does it Mean to be Grown Up?

1/30/2020

Review by Terry Northcutt, Ph.D.

Mongoose in The Library Card
Jerry Spinelli
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks, Reprint Edition, 1998
Format: Four Short Stories, Mongoose: Pp. 3-52, Book: 176 Pages

Social Emotion Learning Categories:

The Library Card by Jerry Spinelli, winner of the American Library Association’s Newbery Medal for his novel Maniac Magee, captures the moment when a teenager recognizes that he is something new, something he has never been before, something closer to adult than child. Bobbie Morgan and Jamie Hill have this epiphany on their twelfth birthdays:

“People were smaller or seemed so anyway. Their teacher, their parents, older kids, grown-ups—suddenly they were not the danger they used to be. And neither were their weapons: detentions, groundings, scoldings, rules, threats. Nothing and no one was as big or as fearsome as before.”

Exhilarated by the knowledge that they knew more and could do more than when they were little kids, the boys shoplifted candy, sold it to younger kids, then used the money to buy spray paint to announce their new selves and their new names, Weasel and Mongoose, to the larger world on sidewalks and street signs, rooftops and chimneys, walls and doors.

Bobby Weasel Morgan decides to exercise his new powers not only by shoplifting, but also through defiance toward teachers. His future plans include dropping out of school on his sixteenth birthday and owning a red firebird with mag wheels. Of course, he has no particular plan about how he will come to own the firebird or what he will do after he leaves school, but these are his dreams for his new and expanding sense of himself.

Jamie Mongoose Hill initially follows Weasel’s lead, but as the result of a mysterious library card that appears amid his shoplifted candy, he chooses a different route. In December, while spraying a tree with his new name, Mongoose discovers a bug three times the size of his thumbnail, the biggest bug he has ever seen at a time of year when no bug should be crawling anywhere.

His curiosity about this bug leads him to consider the library card and then to a mysterious library where a librarian hands him a book entitled, I Wonder. Jamie discovers the bug was really the shell of a cicada and that there is a fish that climbs trees, a bird that fights its enemies by vomiting on them, and an insect that can walk around for two weeks with its head cut off. Spinelli’s depiction of Mongoose reading this book eloquently conveys the depth and breadth of words such as “passion” and “wonder” and “awe”:

“He had tried numerous times to read [the book] straight through, but he just couldn’t do it. He kept skipping ahead, skipping back, jumping all over the place. Same problem he had with a banana split. Each of its many parts was so tempting, he barely nibbled at one before being lured away by another. Different though, because when he finished a split, he was stuffed, felt like he’d never eat again. With this book, he could wolf it down at breakfast and be ready for more before lunchtime…Another difference: banana splits made Mongoose greedy. No grizzly bear ever guarded her cubs more ferociously than Jamie Mongoose Hill guarded a split. But with this book, appetite seemed to move in more than one direction. His hunger was to feed not only himself but someone else, to both take and give, to share. Which is what he did all week to his mother and father and older brother—till they were stuffed. But Weasel, he wasn’t biting.”

Mongoose is not just accumulating amazing facts to impress or gross out his peers. He is not experiencing the surprise of seeing the newest technological gadget which like the phone or computer initially astounds, but soon becomes familiar and just an extension of ordinary life. He is encountering the world beyond school and family as something mysterious and incomprehensible. Something that propels him deeper and deeper as he tries to fathom the world’s myriad possibilities. Something that connects him deeper and more meaningfully with himself, his family, his teacher, the world. Something more sustaining than wonder as surprise, astonishment, and amazement something perhaps equivalent to awe, and, therefore, more apt to sustain him through the late teen years and adulthood.

Spinelli realistically portrays Weasel’s confusion, anger, hurt and sadness as Jamie decides to take a different path.

Discussion Questions

For children and adolescents the story of Weasel and Mongoose provides a springboard for discussing their own evolution into something new and something they have never been before. After reading the story of Mongoose and Weasel, children might discuss the following questions:

What does it mean not to be “little kids” anymore?

How can they celebrate their new abilities and powers?

Have they ever encountered an activity that engulfs and extends them the way the information about insects does for Jamie? If they haven’t, how would they go about finding their hobbies, their interests, their passions?

Why do they think some kids choose to use their new knowledge, power and abilities like Weasel and others like Jamie?

Have they had friends from preschool who didn’t take destructive paths but whose interests just became so different they seldom had time for each other?

"I'm Not a Little Kid Anymore:" What Does it Mean to be Grown Up?

1/30/2020

Fourth Grade Rats
Jerry Spinelli
Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books, Reprint Edition, 2012
Format: Novel, Paperback, 160 Pages
Interest Level: Grade 3 to Grade 5

Review by Terry Northcutt, Ph.D.

At the beginning of the school year, Suds Morton discovered what it meant to be a fourth-grade rat. When children in the lower grades saw a fourth grader, they screamed, “RAT.” Fourth graders responded by baring their front teeth and snarling causing the younger children to scream and run away—usually laughing. It was just a game. One everyone soon tired of and forgot about within two weeks except Joey Peterson, Suds Morton’s best friend.

Joey was thrilled with being a Fourth-Grade Rat. For him it was a step toward growing up and becoming a man. He was an expert on what it meant to be a Rat, a grown up, a man. Suds was the daily recipient of Joey’s wisdom:

Rats don’t cry when they fall off the monkey bars and their thumb bends backwards
Rats aren’t scared of spiders.

Flying elephants on a lunch box are little kid stuff—paper bags are for rats.
Rats eat meat not peanut butter and jelly.

If you want to grow up you have to eat stuff you don’t like. “The worse it tastes the quicker you grow up.”
And growing up means you take care of Number One.

For Joey these words of wisdom translated into pushing little kids off swings and grabbing their twinkies. At home it meant trashing his room and saying “No” when his mother asked him to clean his trashed room.

As for Suds, he remains uncomfortable with ejecting little kids from swings, taking their food, trashing his room, and telling his mother, “No”—that is until the school bully tips him out of his chair onto the floor causing everyone in the lunch room to laugh, including Judy Billings, the girl he has adored since first grade. Humiliated and angry, he shoves the chocolate cake of a third grader into his face and mashes it around. The entire lunchroom howls with admiration and Judy Billings finally notices him.

Suds, at this point, goes on a rampage ejecting little kids from swings and all the other things Joey advocated. Unfortunately, Judy Billings turned out to be fickle and Joey, suddenly, starts eating peanut butter again. It seems his mother decided that Joey’s version of being grown up was not acceptable. She even accompanies him to Suds Morton’s house to apologize to Suds for pushing him into his shenanigans.

After Joey and his mother leave, Suds confesses to his mother. While initially Joey pressured him into doing things, later he did them on his own:

When I was being a rat, I thought I was having a great time. But I wasn’t. I was having a rotten time.” I thought of the faces of the little kids I had pushed around. “It was like other kids thought I was a big deal, or something. But I didn’t like myself…It’s no fun being a rat.”

With this confession, his mother lets him know that admitting he was wrong and taking the blame for his actions is more grown up and more like a man. to work at it.

Discussion Questions

Do you believe growing up means you have to give things up whether you’re ready to or not? Why or Why Not?

Does growing up mean not being afraid and not crying even when you’ve been hurt?

Does growing up mean you don’t care about scoldings, groundings, detentions, or rules? Why or why not?

Why do you think Joey thinks that growing up means being tough—that is, not crying when hurt, not being afraid of bees or spiders, pushing little kids off swings, taking their Twinkies?

What do you think Suds Morton’s mother thinks about what it means to be a man?

Why do you think Suds Morton’s mother said that confession is good for the soul?

Do you have other ideas about what it means to be grown up?

Are Kids Connecting by Fitting in or Belonging: The Difference is Important

1/30/2020

Review by Terry Northcutt, Ph.D.

Wringer
Jerry Spinelli
Publisher: HarperCollins, Reprint Edition, 2018
Format: Novel, Paperback, 240 pages
Interest Level: Grades 4-8

Questions for children to think about before reading Wringer:

If your community held an annual pigeon shoot in which people paid to shoot live pigeons to raise money for the local park would you become a wringer to put the wounded pigeons out of their misery?

What if all of your closest friends hated pigeons and were looking forward to being wringers and you liked pigeons, especially one visiting your room each day. What would you do and why? Would you show your friends your pet pigeon? Would you tell them all the good things you’ve learned about pigeons? What do you think your friends would say or do?

What would you do if you knew that your friends would bully you if you told them about your pigeon or let them know you didn’t want to be a wringer?

Introduction

Brene Brown, a researcher at the University of Houston has completed extensive research on connection. She defines connection as:

“The energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.”

After in-depth analysis of her research, Brown concluded that there are two primary ways in which we connect with each other: Fitting in and Belonging. When we strive to “fit in,” we tailor what we say, what we do and, sometimes, even how we dress to conform to the expectations of others. “Fitting in” is about shifting our external appearance and behavior to be accepted, while simultaneously suppressing aspects of our authentic self that we perceive will not be accepted. And we do this because we don’t feel secure in ourselves, we do not feel worthy.

By contrast “belonging” is being accepted for who we are. This doesn’t mean we can deliberately be rude, insensitive, and hurtful toward others. We all have to modify our words and actions to some degree for relationships to work well. It does mean we are valued for the most important facets of our authentic self. And when our imperfections result in friction, others work with us to repair relationships.

Thematically, Wringer, A Newbery Honor book by Jerry Spinelli is a story about societal pressure on boys to engage in rites of passage rooted in violence. But it is also a nuanced story illustrating the difference between connection based on “fitting in” and connection based on truly “belonging.”

Palmer is Accepted

   In the beginning of the novel, Palmer, the main character, finally achieves his goal of being accepted by Beans, the leader of the kids in his neighborhood. How does he know he is accepted? Beans and his sidekicks, Mutto and Henry, come to his ninth birthday party, bless him with the nickname, Snots, and bring him presents. The presents are questionable –an apple core, brown and rotting, a crusty holey, once-white sock, an ancient cigar butt—but to Palmer they mean “We came into your house. We gave you a cigar butt. You are one of us.”

Palmer Learns to “Fit in” with the Guys

Over the course of the book, Palmer learns what the guys expect of him. He learns they expect him to join in with them by harassing Dorothy, a neighbor who has always invited him to her birthday parties. When they call her Fishface, Palmer initially cringes and doesn’t join in. This changes when she doesn’t admire his bruise from the treatment, a community tradition in which boys receive knuckled punches to their arm by Farquar for each year of age. It is so painful, Palmer could barely lift his arm for days. His bruise made him a hero to other boys, but not to Dorothy.

Because Dorothy didn’t respect or admire his heroism, Palmer is angry and seeks revenge. He no longer feels bad about harassing her and joins the guys in throwing snowballs at her and blocking her path as she walks down sidewalks (called “treestumping”).

While Palmer rationalized his feelings about Dorothy so he could be one of the guys, he kept his feelings about becoming a wringer at the Family Fest Pigeon Shoot to himself. People paid to shoot live pigeons at this annual event. It was a way to raise funds to maintain a local park. Sometimes a shooter only wounded a bird. Wringers, boys of ten, rushed to the pigeons to put them out of their misery by wringing their necks. Palmer had dreaded his tenth birthday for many years because he did not want to be a wringer.

  Yet Beans and his sidekicks reveled in frequently reenacting the pigeon shoot at the park. Beans and Mutto played the role of shooters. When Henry, as wounded pigeon fell to the ground, they clamped their hands around his neck and shook him. Palmer does not participate in the reenactment and tries to divert the guys from going to the section of the park where the Pigeon Shoot takes place every August.

The guys also frequently express that they hate pigeons. Palmer does not hate pigeons. In his community, he had often heard that Pigeons were dirty and filthy, nothing more than rats with wings. But on a family trip to the city, he saw pigeons strutting and pecking. They were an accepted part of the landscape. To him they were pretty birds, agreeable birds who nodded as they walked as if to say, “Yes, I will. I agree. You’re right.” And then there was the man who had poured seeds all over himself and was covered in cooing pigeons and giggling as they snapped up the seeds.

Palmer’s decision not to become a wringer solidified when a pigeon tapped on his window, a pigeon he fed, a pigeon that roosted in his closet at night, a pigeon with many wonderful colors: green and purple around its neck, orange eyes trimmed in black, pink legs, white wingtips.

Every day after school the pigeon hopped into Palmer’s room, walked up his arm, stood on his head, and perched on the basket rim sometimes catching his Nerf ball shots before they dropped through the basket. He named the pigeon, Nipper.  Having allowed Nipper to become a part of his life, Palmer faced two problems:

How to avoid Nipper on the way home from school when the bird flew around the neighborhood.

How to keep the guys from knowing that he liked pigeons, that he didn’t want to be a wringer, and that he had a pigeon as a pet.

     Palmer is clear that if the guys become aware of these things, they will turn against him and harass him worse than they harass Dorothy. But his concern about Nipper and not being a wringer go beyond the guys. His father, like most males in the town, had been a wringer when he was a boy. He had, also, won the golden pigeon statue for Sharpshooter in 1989. So, how could Palmer be the only boy in the history of the town not to be a wringer? It was unthinkable.

Eventually the strain of not being able to share his enjoyment of Nipper with anyone and trying to protect himself and Nipper from the guys, overwhelms Palmer. And this is when he renews his relationship with Dorothy and learns the difference between belonging and fitting in.

Belonging
Spinelli doesn’t detail how the relationship between Dorothy and Palmer is restored--this would be an excellent discussion point for students. Spinelli does illustrate how Palmer thinks and feels in Dorothy’s presence:

"Same old across-the street Dorothy he had known all his life. And yet, somehow, not the same…Palmer had been seeing something else in her lately. Whatever it was, it registered not in his eyes but in his feelings and was most clearly known to him by its absence in the company of anyone but her. It made him feel floating."

The floating feeling was the same feeling he had experienced when he learned to swim. He had learned to trust the water to hold him up. He knew he could trust Dorothy, he could let go and she would hold him up.

And because he felt so supported in her presence, he found himself telling her all that he had been thinking and feeling. Sometimes he didn’t even know his true thoughts and feeling until they came out of his mouth.

He also tells his mother all that has been happening. She is not mad at Palmer for having a pigeon in his room. She is supportive and understanding about all that has happened. Reading the sections about how Palmer feels with Dorothy and how his mother reacts to his confession gives meaning to Brown’s definition of belonging as being seen, heard and valued without judgement.

I’m sure Spinelli probably didn’t read Brown’s research. In fact it may not have been published before he wrote Wringer, but the scenes with Dorothy and Palmer’s mother are so vivid, readers enter into the relief and deep sense of connection that ultimately provides the support Palmer needs to reclaim his authentic self.

When Palmer’s friends are gathered for Farquar to perform the treatment for Palmer’s tenth birthday, Palmer rolls up his sleeve, but then steps back and shakes his head. His friends stare at him, waiting:

"[Palmer} heard the scream, heard it coming a split second before the others heard it, the scream that he knew now had been growing inside him for a long time. He planted his feet and bent his knees and balled his fists and let it come all the way out:
No nothing! No Treatment! No wringer! No Snots! He thrust his scream at Beans, “I’m not Snots! My name is Palmer! My name is Palmer! He stepped back, he hunkered down. No!"

     He turned and ran, hearing the guys shout that he was dead meat, that they would wring his pigeon’s neck and pull its head off, and that they would pull his head off, too.

The guys do harass him for a time. Palmer is aware that the cost of “fitting in” which isolated him from his parents and his friend and left him in a continual state of anxiety was high. The cost of reclaiming his authentic self and the cost of acting on the first thing he had learned about himself—he did not want to be a wringer—was also high. However, it enabled him to experience true belonging: being seen, heard, and valued for his authentic self and finding the support he needed during a difficult time.

Readers can discuss the costs and benefits of “fitting in” and “belonging” and decide for themselves how they would like to connect with others.

  Perhaps, it isn’t always one or the other. Perhaps there are times and situations when “fitting in” for a short time is necessary, such as moving to a new place until you can find people who accept you for who you are. But even if it might be necessary for a time, how do you decide when you’re sacrificing too much of who you are: your thoughts, feelings, and values? And if you decide to leave a group, how can you diplomatically extricate yourself? It’s something for readers to think about.

Discussion Questions

On the first page of Wringer, Spinelli writes:

"He did not want to be a wringer.
     This was one of the first things he had learned about himself. He could not have said exactly when he learned it, but it was very early. And more than early, it was deep inside. In the stomach, like hunger."

What was one of the first things you learned about yourself? Do you remember what was happening when you learned it? How did you feel when the new information about yourself became clear to you?

Why was it so important to Palmer for Beans and his sidekicks Henry and Mutto to accept him?

How do you decide if you want to be part of a group? What is it about the kids in a particular group that makes you want to be friends with them? What is it about the kids in a different kind of group that makes you decide that you would rather not join them?

Do you think Beans is a good friend? Why or why not?

Why does Palmer join the guys in throwing snowballs at Dorothy and treestumping her?

What do you think about Dorothy’s reaction to being bullied? She did not step aside, step back, or run away. She did not scream, shout, or cry. She did not even look at the guys. She did nothing. She simply moved on as best she could?

Do you admire her approach or think it’s the wrong thing to do? How do you think Palmer thinks about the way Dorothy responds to the guys? Does his opinion change?

Do you think Dorothy is upset by these bullies? Why or why not?

Why do you think Beans harasses Dorothy? Why does he become more and more focused on harassing her and making her life miserable?

Why does Dorothy confront Palmer instead of Beans when being bullied?

Why does Palmer decide to renew his friendship with Dorothy?

How does Palmer finally extricate himself from the stress of loving his pigeon, and protecting his pigeon while, also, trying to keep the guys from turning against him?

Previews of Coming Attractions in 2020

12/31/2019

Belonging vs Fitting In Resilience Perseverance Problem Solving Responsible Decision-Making

Realistic Contemporary Fiction Biography Historical Fiction Graphic Novels

Terry Northcutt, Ph.D.

Recently, I was listening to some talks and interviews with Brene Brown, a research professor at the University of Houston who studies, courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy. Most people are aware that humans are social animals who are wired to connect. Connection is important because it is what gives life meaning and purpose. Brown takes the understanding about connection farther. Her research indicates that not all connections achieve this goal. There is a major difference between connections based on fitting in and those based on belonging.

The distinction between these two types of connection are essential for all of us to understand, but especially children who are in the process of discovering who they are, what they like, what they dislike, what they want, and what they need. When children and adolescents opt to fit in, they assess situations and people, then acclimate. They learn to say and do and dress according to what others expect and accept while simultaneously avoiding saying, doing, and dressing according to who they are, what they want, and what they need. Fitting in, then, is a type of connection that requires a child to shift and change, to become what others want, instead of who they really are. It often results in feelings of emptiness and loneliness.

Belonging, on the other hand, doesn’t require the child to shift and change to be like everyone else to be accepted. As such it doesn’t cut off the constant trying on of different styles and different suits of clothes so essential to developing a solid sense of identity. More important, it results in the deepest and most meaningful connections.

Granted there are some social rules and norms everyone needs to master to fit in with others. And children and adolescents do need to learn to modulate their likes, dislikes, needs, and wants in different situations. But to go beyond superficial connections that result in simply fitting in to deeper, more meaningful connections that enable them to belong, they will need to learn how to think about relationships. They will need to understand when relationships support who they are and when relationships require them to sacrifice too much of their authentic self.

In January, I will showcase three books that enable children to think about their relationships and begin to consider the line between fitting in and belonging. In the following months I will explore historical fiction and biographies that facilitate discussions about problem solving, perseverance, persistence, and other skills and strengths associated with overcoming internal and external obstacles.

Point of View: Seeing the Problem from your Friend's Perspective

11/30/2019

Granny Torrelli Makes Soup
Sharon Creech
Harper Collins; Reprint Edition, 2012
Interest Level: Grades 4-8
Pages: 180

Review by Terry Northcutt, Ph.D.


Granny Torrelli Makes Soup by Sharon Creech is an engaging story about friendship and how relationships change over time. It is a great story to read aloud because it invites discussions about perspective taking, coping with strong feelings, and resolving interpersonal conflicts. The story is told from the point of view of twelve-year old Rosie. At the beginning of the book we learn that she is angry at her best friend Bailey:

Bailey, who is usually so nice, Bailey, my neighbor, my friend, my buddy, my pal for my whole life, knowing me better than anybody, that Bailey, that Bailey I am so mad at right now, that Bailey, I hate him today…Why does he say Rosie, get over yourself! And why does he say that in that cold voice and slam the door in my face as if I am nobody?

This question takes center stage as Rosie and Granny Torrelli make soup. Rosie recounts past and present experiences with Bailey and Granny Torrelli shares parallel stories about her childhood relationship with Pardo.

As the reader moves between these different stories, they learn that Bailey has had a visual impairment since toddlerhood. He sees the world through a hazy, gauzy veil. When Rosie was quite young, she began helping Bailey. She wanted to make things easier for him.

Over the years their relationship changed. Inseparable as infants and preschool children, they went to different elementary schools. Bailey attended a school for children with visual impairments and learned to read Braille. Wanting to share everything with Bailey, Rosie asked him to teach her Braille, but she could not make sense of the dots on the paper.

She did not give up. Over the course of a year with the help of a teacher at her school, she secretly learned Braille at lunchtime. Rosie was certain that Bailey would be happy and proud when she read to him from one of his Braille books. But that is not what happened. Instead he told her to get over herself in that cold voice and slammed the door in her face. This scene is a great place to stop to ask students what Bailey might be feeling and why he reacted in this way.

As adults we understand Bailey’s need to feel capable, competent, and even a bit superior to Rosie sometimes. What Granny Torrelli labels as Rosie’s take-charge ways doesn’t leave space for Bailey to be an equal much less have talents and strengths separate from her.

Because of Granny Torrelli’s stories about her relationship with Pardo, Rosie is able to see how she is like her take-charge grandmother and how that causes problems in her relationship with Bailey. She has an epiphany: Until she read to Bailey from his Braille books, he had something he could do that she could not do. And that was something he wanted and needed. Now that Rosie understands the cause of Bailey’s reaction she can decide what to do next. But before reading what Rosie decides to do, students might want to generate ideas about how they might repair the relationship.

After the discussion, students can compare their thoughts with Rosie’s decision. She decided to take the soup to Bailey and his mother who live next door to say that she is sorry—something Granny Torrelli’s stubbornness prevented her from doing before she came to America and lost her best friend Pardo, forever. Bailey responds with a Braille rendering of “I’m sorry” and the two move on to enjoy the soup.

In the second section of the book Rosie and Bailey help Granny Torrelli make pasta and the reader is introduced to the problem of Janine. She has just moved into the neighborhood. Not only does she take an interest in Bailey, she asks him to teach her Braille. And Bailey agrees. Rosie soon becomes an ice queen and a tiger but works hard at controlling the intensity of her feelings. Readers can think about what feelings the ice queen and tiger relate to as well as share experiences in which they have experienced these feelings. They might also indicate how they controlled and coped with these intense feelings.

Again, Granny Torrelli shares parallel stories from her childhood experiences with Pardo. These stories about the time Pardo became enamored with Violetta, and Marcus became enchanted with Granny help the two understand the problem of jealousy. But Granny also tells another story. A story that initially seems unrelated to jealousy or anything else the three have discussed. She tells the story of the Gatozzi baby that was so sick there was concern that she would die. During visits to the family to bring food, Granny (as a girl) sat with the baby:

I sit all day long. She won’t let go of my fingers. Her parents let me hold her, and still she is clinging to my fingers, and all the time I am sitting there with that little sick baby, I am not thinking of Violetta or Pardo or Marco. I am only thinking the baby must get better, the baby must get better.

Granny is unsure if she should have told Rosie and Bailey this story. But it was the right story. Her understanding of life in its full complexity guided her in the selection of the story. On the day the baby shows signs of getting well, Granny has an epiphany:

And here is the thing, Bailey and Rosie, when I went home that day, I felt as if I was ten years older. I saw Violetta on her way to Pardo’s and I saw Marco down the lane looking for me, and I can’t explain it, but I felt as if my life was bigger.

Through the storytelling, through the chopping and stirring, the kneading and twisting of dough, Rosie comes to her own epiphany:

“…I am thinking that I cannot control who is going to come and who is going to go, and who will stay my buddy, my pal, and who will find me enchanting, and oddly I feel relieved.”

And it is this understanding and relief that enables Rosie to invite Janine, Bailey and the new family with two boys to a pasta party.

How Small Problems Grow into Difficult to Solve Dilemmas

10/7/2019

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Marvin Redpost Super Fast, Out of Control
Louis Sachar
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Format: Paperback, 79 pages
Interest Level: Second and Third Grade, but great material for discussion for grades three to five

Review by Terry Northcutt, Ph.D.

Marvin Redpost, the main character in Louis Sachar’s Marvin Redpost Super Fast Out of Control, has a problem. And this problem is one that will promote rich discussions for readers in third, fourth, and fifth grade.

Readers will quickly realize that Marvin's problem is not one with a variety of good solutions with potentially good outcomes, No, It is a dilemma, one of those predicaments that no matter what he decides results in equally problematic outcomes.

Yet the dilemma began as a small, easily resolved problem: a new bike that Marvin was afraid to ride because it was bigger than his old bike and had hand brakes and gears he didn’t know how to work. As adults we know that the problem of not knowing how to ride the bike and its associated fear could easily have been resolved if he had asked for some help from his father or brother then practiced a bit. But it is hard for anyone at any age to acknowledge fear sometimes, but especially for a young boy in third grade.

So, he chose to solve the problem and to cope with his fear by avoidance. He simply did not ride the bike. This worked well for about ten days. Then on a Saturday when Marvin and his friends Nick and Stuart were having difficulty thinking of something to do, Nick suggested they ride their bikes down Suicide Hill and Stuart agreed.

Marvin, of course, did not want to ride his bike, especially not down Suicide Hill. To save face with his friends, he again decided to solve the problem and cope with his fear by avoidance. His sister, Linzy, had been pestering the boys to play unicorns with her. Marvin yelled at her and called her a stupid pest. When she told their mother, Marvin refused to apologize. He was grounded for a week. Problem solved—maybe.
     Unfortunately, by the end of the school day on Monday, a rumor, initiated by Stuart, had spread throughout the school: Marvin would ride his bike down Suicide Hill on Saturday at noon. Marvin expecting everyone at his school to be at the hill is now faced with a dilemma: be labeled a chicken if he does not ride down the hill or the possibility of physical injury if he does ride down the hill.
     Readers join Marvin as he agonizes about what to do. He asks his mother if he can ride down the hill hoping she will say no. Unfortunately, she grants permission. Two incidents during the week suggest solutions but ultimately result in confusion. When his sister becomes afraid of a thunderstorm, his father tells her that the thunder can’t hurt her. He tries to help her differentiate between the fear inside her head and the fear of the thunderstorm that is outside. She is safe in the house. He advises her to stand up to the storm by saying, " I’m not afraid of you."

Later in the week, Officer Watson comes to Marvin's school to talk about illegal drugs. She says that if your friends call you chicken when you won’t take drugs that’s not being scared like a chicken. It’s being smart and brave because it takes a lot of courage to say no to your friends. Putting these two incidents together, Marvin wonders whether he should look his fear in the eye and ride down the hill or say no to riding down the hill because it’s stupid like taking drugs.

In the end Marvin rides his bike to the hill. Only his family is there to meet him. He realizes that while he has spent the week agonizing about what everyone thought, no one really cared. Marvin chooses to ride down the hill because it is something he wants to do. Sachar makes the ride sufficiently scary to justify the misery of Marvin’s dilemma and the danger associated with the hill.

Surprisingly, this is a seventy-nine page beginning chapter book with a medium-sized font, short chapters and one or two black and white illustrations per chapter. In terms of reading level, it falls somewhere between the end of second grade and the middle of third grade. However, in terms of content, it is rich with discussion possibilities for fourth and fifth grade readers:

When should you stand up to fear and face it?
When is fear a sign that something is truly dangerous and an unnecessary or foolish risk even if others label you a chicken for not doing it?
When should you say you’re afraid of something?
How do you know who is safe to tell about your fears?
What happens when you avoid problems? What happens when you don’t ask for help?

Six Strategies to Cope with Fear

9/3/2019

The Fear Place
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Interest Level, Middle Grade, (4-6)
Publisher: Aladdin (paperback) 1996
Paperback: 128 pages

Review by Terry Northcutt, Ph.D.

Sibling rivalry, an encounter with a cougar, a boy paralyzed with fear on a narrow ledge of a rock face with a six hundred foot drop to the gorge below, the same boy knowing he needs to navigate this rock ledge he calls the Fear Place to rescue a brother who may be injured. These are some of the plot elements in The Fear Place by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor that create the tension, conflict, and suspense that engage readers of adventure and survival books.
But the author of this book goes beyond these elements to bring readers into the experience of the thoughts, feelings and physical sensations that we all recognize as part of the experience of facing our worst fears. More important, through the story, readers will be able to recognize six strategies to cope with that fear. These strategies are presented in the Section on Social Emotional Learning after a summary of the story.

The Story
The book begins with a family trip to Estes Park in Colorado where the parents will conduct research for their fifth and final year. On the flight to Denver and the trek to the campground, the reader is introduced to Doug and his older brother Gordon (referred to as Gordie). The story is Doug’s story. It is a story about two brothers who are competitive; it is a story about a younger brother who feels that his older brother always gets the best and the most of everything; it is about two boys who have said and done hurtful things to each other for so long, they interpret every gesture and every word as a preconceived plan to win, to hurt, to get even.
And it is this conflict between the brothers that causes Gordie to leave his brother at the base camp and climb the rock face with the narrow ledge in the Comanche Wilderness area when his parents are called away to an uncle’s funeral. On his own in the High Meadow, Doug encounters a cougar. From this moment to the end of the book, Doug will be engaged in a full time endeavor to manage fear—fear that the cougar will attack, fear that his parents who have not returned as scheduled have been in a plane crash, fear that his brother who has not returned to the base camp is injured.
On his first encounter with the cougar, Doug learns how quickly fear spirals out of control with one terrifying thought generating another and another and another:

“He would be killed—his body mangled and mauled right here on the path. His face half eaten, Then Gordie would come back and the cougar would kill him, too. Mom and Dad would return to find both of their sons dead.”

While climbing the rock face in search of his brother, Doug learns to manage the avalanche of terrifying thoughts that fear constantly sets in motion. Sometimes he uses distraction. He keeps his mind busy thinking about the elk and the snowshoe rabbit and the marten that he had seen in the High Meadow. Other times he focuses on the here and now. Climbing the rock face he gives full attention to where his feet are and what his hands can grasp to hold onto rather than obsessing about the narrow ledge he will inevitably need to climb.
He works hard to put his fear into perspective by remembering the harrowing stories his father told the family about his escape from Cuba. He repeatedly asks himself if what he is facing is as bad as that. Most of the time he concludes that it is not. He also compares the current climb to past climbs and knows that he has successfully climbed worse.
His mother had taught him to stay optimistic, to assume the best, and not to borrow trouble. She had taught him the difference between possibilities and probabilities-- anything was possible but not everything was probable. And he began to consider that it was more likely that Gordon was just fine.

Doug does successfully navigate the narrow ledge and rescue his brother who has a broken leg. The trip down the rock face is as filled with suspense as the encounter with the cougar and the climb up the rock face. Phyllis Naylor has created an engaging novel and one that is also rich in its depiction of fear and coping with fear.

Social Emotional Learning: Coping with Fear

So what do readers take away from this novel about fear and coping with fear?

Fear can be so consuming it paralyzes body and mind, preventing any constructive action.

The more someone allows their mind to focus on their terrifying thoughts, the more frightened they become and the more terrible scenarios their mind generates. As Doug states when he encountered the cougar: “Fear begat fear.”

Distraction, focusing on what you need to do, and focusing on what you are doing in the here and now prevents an avalanche of terrifying thoughts.

Putting events into perspective by comparing them to past experiences generates confidence by providing proof of past competence which can be relied on in the present difficulty.

Putting events into perspective by comparing them to the experiences of others who have successfully faced more difficult circumstances provides a sense that the current situation is manageable.

Don’t borrow trouble. Anything is possible, but not everything is probable. Our worst fears are always possible, but in most circumstances they are highly unlikely to happen.

Author

Terry Northcutt, Ph.D.

I am a Psychologist with a love of entertaining and engaging stories that foster Social Emotional Learning.

I believe well written Children's Literature promotes rich discussions that enable children and adolescents to acquire the knowledge and skills essential for rewarding relationships and responsible decision making.

It is a joy to read and share such stories with teachers, parents, and other adults who have a passion for Children's Literature.

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