[2015] Christina Stancati: The Misfits

The Misfits by James Howe

"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." Bobby Goodspeed

I thought about relationships in my own elementary school, and the people who were considered misfits and popular there. I remember how some people would make fun of others just because of the way they spoke, or because of their height or weight. I thought about how some of the people who were bullied would also laugh at themselves but after reading, I see that they were probably hiding their hurt and just trying to fit in.

I put myself inside the situations that were being described in the story, and I tried to feel what the characters were feeling. It helped me to understand the story better and to relate to each character on a deeper level. I was sensing their isolation, their worries, their lack of self-esteem, their hurt, their pain... I was visualizing myself as the fifth member of the "Gang of Five" and feeling a little like a misfit myself.

Throughout the book, I tried to guess what would happen next and how I expected the characters to react. It helped me to stay connected to the story and also made me think about my own judgements that I was making.The narrator also made me predict because of how he often hinted at information that would come later. It was almost as if he was trying to make his story more suspenseful.

VISUALIZING:

PREDICTING:

MAKING CONNECTIONS:

"And I'm thinking there's a lot more to all of us than the names we're called or what we show on the outside." Bobby Goodspeed