The Misfits, by James Howe

The Misfits, by James Howe is a "timely, sensitive, laugh-out-loud must-read." says a voice of Youth Advocates. I agree. This novel is told in the voice of a twelve year old boy, Bobby Goodspeed, who works in the tie section of the men's section of a department store. Bobby and his friends: Addie, JoDan, and Skeezie are 'misfits'. They don't really fit in with other kids. They are all different. For example, Addie is always trying to stand up for herself and her freedom, even if its against the rules, JoDan also known as Joe is gay, Skeezie is against love and lazy, and Bobby is a fat kid. All have been friends for a long time because their differences with other people brought them together. One quote that I liked from the first half of the book is in chapter 12, Bobby has just figured this out, "This business of really knowing people, deep down, including your own self, it is not something you can learn in school or from a book. It takes your whole being to do it -your eyes and your ears, your brain and your heart. Maybe your heart most of all." I thought it was a good thought that he came up with. This book is geared towards10 -14 year olds. I think even older people can read it and get something out of it. This book shows a lot about different people, different thoughts, and accepting things that have gone on and will go on. I have enjoyed reading it so far, it is fun that it is written in the eyes of a twelve year old so you can see how a kid would write, in their thought process, and speak. I think this book would be good to be read in a junior high/middle school and high school class setting. It shows and discusses a lot of controversial issues and would be great to have classroom discussions with. I am looking forward to reading the remainder of the book.
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After reading the rest of the book I really enjoyed it. I feel like it has a lot of key points that a lot of young teens face. There were two quotes that I agreed with a lot and wanted to put on here. The first was on page 95, "when you're living through them, events are nothing more than stuff that happens. You're not thinking about significance. Significance only comes when you look back at your life. At the moment, what you're thinking is whether you've got enough money in your pocket for hot fudge or you should just order a single scoop." I really agree with this quote, its not something you think about in your day to day life but then when you look back after a year or so you think of whether something was significant or not. Another quote I really agree with is towards the end of the book, "the way I look at it, love does not necessarily make for a happy ending any more than winning does. What makes for a happy ending is what Addie said all along: freedom. The freedom to be who you are without anybody calling you names." I agree with this quote too because everyone should be able to be who they are without being made fun of.