the misfits

Howe, J. (2003). The misfits. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 978-0689839566

The Misfits starts out as the story of how a group of friends, self-dubbed the "Gang of Five," tries to survive seventh grade without making waves, and turns into a story about how the friends lead a surprising charge for change and fairness in middle school.

When student council elections roll around, Addie, the most passionate and outspoken member of the "Gang of Five," decides to spearhead a new political party, feeling her interests are not represented by the popular kids running as democrats and republicans. Addie, has gained something of a reputation as a troublemaker for refusing to say the Pledge of Allegiance, seeks to create a new party that represents all of the misfits—students who, for whatever reason, don’t fit in. Their political party—first called the Freedom Party, then the No-Name Party, struggles to figure out what it means to be a misfit, or a minority, and how the pecking order of middle school does and doesn’t reflect the larger inequities of society.

The story is told from Bobby’s perspective, and is interspersed with dialogue the group records during their “Forum” meetings, where they discuss what’s going on with school and the election and write everything down. The author’s respect for middle school aged kids is so clearly evident, and he writes characters that are thoughtful and reflective, even as they’re stealing each others’ desserts and sniffing their armpits, to make sure they’re deodorant is working. Howe simultaneously has the characters fully invested in their lives as middle school students, but also vaguely aware that there’s a bigger world out there.

Part of what is so appealing about this book is how the misfits find pride in themselves and strength in their friendship. The theme of the book is less about fitting in, and more about imagining how to widen the circle of who “fits” in middle school. The book deals with some serious topics—race, sexuality, difficult family issues— but the dialogue is really snappy and funny, and lends a lightness to the book that’s a nice balance for some of the heavier themes.

The publisher recommends this book for 10-14 year olds, and that seems about right to me. There’s some slightly coarse language—one of the characters is called a fag repeatedly-- but nothing most 10 year olds haven’t already heard. This book has shown up on a lot of GLBT booklists, because one of the main characters is gay, so it’s a good one to know for that population.

It’s a great read for students who liked but have outgrown Andrew Clements books like No Talking and Frindle, where kids take a risk to make school a better place, and wind up being smarter than the grown ups. It’s also a great realistic fiction book for those tweens who aren’t interested in vampires or dragons or magic pants or wizarding school. Finally, I think it’s an unusual book in that I think both boys and girls would enjoy it—it deals with middle school issues from both perspectives.

James Howe, who is such an amazingly prolific writer, has written two sequels about these characters, called Totally Joe and Addie on the Inside. Also, this book led the establishment of national no name calling week initiative, which is spearheaded by GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network