Module 6 - There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom

Module 6 – There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom


*image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There's_a_Boy_in_the_Girls'_Bathroom


There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom
by: Louis Sachar


Sachar, L. (1987). There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom. New York: Dell Yearling.


Summary:

Bradley Chalkers is a boy that needs a lot of help in the discipline department. He acts like he doesn’t care about anything and he’s even done poorly in school. The new school counselor shows the kids that she is not “Miss Perfect”. She helps Bradley realize it is okay to be who you really are inside. A new kid to the school, Jeff, learns to deal with peer pressure and becomes friends with Bradley.


Impressions of the Book:

This book is a great realistic fiction book just like Frindle. Bradley gets into a lot of trouble and Jeff just wants to be friends with Bradley. The new counselor wanted to show the kids that she can relate to them and they can share their thoughts with her.

Ways to use in the Library:

A great read aloud for older readers. You could also an author study of Louis Sachar with this book, Holes and Dogs Don’t Tell Jokes.

Reviews:
-from: http://www.amazon.com

From Publishers Weekly

Fifth grader Bradley Chalkers is bright, imaginative, antisocial and friendless. Unlike the kids at school, who hate him, Bradley's collection of chipped and broken little pottery animals allows him to be brave, smart and vulnerable; he uses them to resolve the rejection of peers and adults. Jeff, a new boy at school, offers friendship but then withdraws his offer, because Bradley is hard to like. Enter Carla Davis, new school counselor, who is caring and funny, and who gradually helps restore Bradley's self-confidence. Feelings and emotions are strongly evoked in this touching and serious story of a disturbed child that is infused with humor and insight.

Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 4-7 An unlikely protagonist, Bradley Chalkers is a friendless, lying, insecure bully who is the oldest boy in his fifth-grade class. In this humorous novel that tells of Bradley's learning to like himself and to make friends, Sachar ably captures both middle-grade angst and joy. Bradley's triumph comes through the friendship of a new boy at school and the help of the new school counselor. Readers, like the astute counselor, can see the strengths that Bradley has, and will cheer at his minor victories and cringe at his setbacks along the way. The story is unusual, witty, and satisfying, if not always believable: a few incidents just do not work. For instance, even though Bradley has not been doing his homework, his complete ignorance of it is unlikely (``He hadn't realized. . .he would need to bring his book home''), and his total unfamiliarity with birthday parties is too extreme for a ten year old, even one who hadn't been to a party in three years. Yet Bradley's need for acceptance even as he holds back from classmates who might mock or hurt him is genuine, and his eventual success will gratify readers. David Gale, ``School Library Journal''

Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Review

"A humorous and immensely appealing story...Readers are likely to come away with the sense that they've been rooting for themselves too"--Kirkus. -- Review

"A humorous and immensely appealing story...Readers are likely to come away with the sense that they've been rooting for themselves too"--Kirkus.