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

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.
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