Bradley Chalkers is the oldest kid in the fifth grade. He tells enormous lies. He picks fights with girls. No one likes him-except Carla, the new school counselor. She thinks Bradley is sensitive and generous, and knows that Bradley could change, if only he weren't afraid to try. But when you feel like the most-hated kid in the whole school, believing in yourself can be the hardest thing in the world...
Louis Sachar (pronounced Sacker), born March 20, 1954, is an American author of children's books.
Louis was born in East Meadow, New York, in 1954. When he was nine, he moved to Tustin, California. He went to college at the University of California at Berkeley and graduated in 1976, as an economics major. The next year, he wrote his first book, Sideways Stories from Wayside School .
He was working at a sweater warehouse during the day and wrote at night. Almost a year later, he was fired from the job. He decided to go to law school. He attended Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.
His first book was published while he was in law school. He graduated in 1980. For the next eight years he worked part-time as a lawyer and continued to try to write children's books. Then his books started selling well enough so that he was able to quit practicing law. His wife's name is Carla. When he first met her, she was a counselor at an elementary school. She was the inspiration behind the counselor in There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom . He was married in 1985. Hisdaughter, Sherre, was born in 1987.
There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom, Louis Sachar
There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom is a 1987 juvenile fiction book from the author Louis Sachar. The title comes from a point when a character, Jeff, accidentally enters the girls' bathroom while trying to go to the school counselor's office when a teacher gives him the wrong directions and is horribly embarrassed by it.
This is a kid's book, but I love it so much. When I was in third grade, my teacher, Mrs. Kent, read it to our class. When she got to a certain part, she was crying so hard, she couldn't read, so she called me up to read that part. I told my mom how good it was, and we took turns reading from it to each other, finishing the whole thing in a few hours. The summer when I was 19, I somehow remembered it, bought it, and read it again. I later read it to my husband on a car trip, and he really liked it too. The other night, Louis Sachar's "Holes" came on tv and reminded me of this book yet again, so I had to add it to my favorites. It is very special to me.
It's a shame the title is so ridiculous, because the book itself is not. It's an honest and insightful look in to what makes a person "good" or "bad" and how one changes the way others perceive him. It also shows beautifully the difference that adults can make on the lives and self-images of children--either to help them or to hurt them (hopefully unintentionally).
My strongest emotions at the end of this were anger and gratitude. The portrayal of the school system in this book is heartbreaking. Bradley's teacher frustrated me so much--people like that have no business being teachers. She had him sitting in a back corner surrounded by empty desks and told the new boy that she was sorry those were the only open seats, because she knows nobody wants to sit by THAT boy.
And then announcing to the class that there were 16 A's and the rest B's... except for one F, when every student in the class will know who got the F is beyond belief heartless.
What honestly made me angry was the depiction of the school board and the angry parent meeting that got Carla fired. The one person who actually cares about the students and helping them learn to think for themselves (educating them, in other words) is the person they gang up on and reject. The saddest part is that I fear that depiction is all too accurate in so many cases.
What made me grateful was that in the midst of all of these horrible teachers and misguided systems, there are people like Carla. People who aren't so quick to give up on the students. People who want to help mold healthy individuals and not simply produce students who excel at doing what they're told. People who don't make the poor Mom have to repeat "But deep down inside he's really a good boy," because they can already see it for themselves.
And the birthday party scene where all the girls start fighting over who gets to help Bradley and explain to him what happens at birthday parties goes a long way to restoring my faith in humanity after the school board scene. That whole party was just so wonderfully well done, with Bradley slowly relaxing and everyone being so kind to him and all of them just having so much fun as a result. Beautiful!
Lovely, lovely book. I can't wait to recommend it to my students!
As a teacher, I read a lot of juvenile fiction and much of it is good! Some of it is forgettable, but this book is not. I love this book. This book is about Bradley Chalkers. Bradley is a bully. Bradley is a behavior problem. He doesn't do his homework, classwork...anything. Teachers pass him from grade to grade just so that don't have to teach him again. Now, he's in 5th grade and his school hires a counselor named Miss Davis, or Carla, as she likes to be called. The rest, as they say, is history (for Bradley).
And, yes...he does go into the girls' bathroom! My students love this book.
I really loved the way the intensity of Bradley was captured- and I went up and down with him as he made progress, then went backward, then forward again. There are so many beautiful touches: his absurdly long list of topics to talk about, his talking stuffed animals, the picture of the monster with the heart....
I was pleasantly suprised by this book, because the cover didn't indicate to me it would be so intense or layered. (The cover is a large, fairly realistic rendering of a surprised boy's face- and it looked like it would be light and maybe silly.) It had those layers without stepping out of being accessible to kids- which I think is pretty artful.
Having blown through the Wayside books with my girls, I thought I'd pick up another Louis Sachar book. Holes is off limits - Liz and I have set some ground rules with what we allow ourselves to read out loud to the kids.
I saw this book and thought: WOAH. That's by Louis Sachar? No way! I'd always seen this lying around at home - in my sisters room. (A room covered in books.) I was also slightly embarrassed by the cover, which may help explain why I'd never read it.
Then, half-way through the book, I realized I HAD read it. Not only that, but there were parts that stuck with me, and would bother me from time to time. I'd think about it, get a little angry about the scene, and then get angry with myself, because I couldn't remember where I had heard it. On more than one occasion I'd thought about asking about it in the goodreads "What's the Name of That Book?" group, but I never did.
In other news, it seems like boys bathrooms and girls bathrooms and girls and boys bathrooms and boys in girls bathrooms seems to be all anybody can talk about these days. States, cities, and localities are passing laws right and left. (For instance: In case you're wondering, reading this book had nothing to do with that.
As is the case when I read a book with any of my daughters, I'll let them come up and offer the true review. They also determine the number of stars to give the book. I read this one over the course of a month or so, at night, just before they all fell asleep - or were supposed to, at least. I'll go call them up.
There may be some mild spoilers in here. Read on at your own risk.
Dad: So, what'd you think?
Gwennie: I love, love, love, love, loved it!
El: I loved it, too!
Poppy: *scared* I don't know where to sit! *crams onto the bench*
*Just read what we have so far*
Poppy: Hey! I love, love, love, love, loved it TOO!!!
Dad: Poppy, what do you remember about the book?
Poppy: The. The. Uhhh... When he said, "GIVE ME A DOLLAR OR I WILL SPIT ON YOU!!!"
Dad: Did you like that part?
Poppy: Yessss.... Give me a dollar or I will spit on you! (She and Gwennie keep repeating this.)
Dad: Do you think it's nice to spit on people?
Poppy: No.
Dad: So why do you like that part?
Poppy: Uhhhhh... Because I just do.
Eleanor: Is it because it's interesting?
Poppy: Yes.
Dad: Eleanor, what's your favorite part?
Eleanor: I liked it when it was Colleen's birthday party! And my favorite character was Carla.
Dad: Why was Carla your favorite?
Eleanor: Um. Because she was really nice.
Dad: You were going to add some more stuff to that?
El: Yeah. I was going to add some more to my favorite part. I thought it was funny when Bradley tore his pants because he thought you had to have torn pants to go to a birthday party.
Dad: Gwen - your turn.
Gwennie: You mean my saddest favorite part?
Dad: Whatever you want. Go ahead. :)
Gwennie: MY saddest favorite part iiiisss... um... *looks around the room while chewing her hair* It was ... when Carla was leaving.
Dad: What do you mean?
Gwen: I mean, I didn't like it when Carla was going to go work with kindergartners.
Dad: Why not?
Gwen: Because it made Bradley sad.
Eleanor: I didn't like that part either, but I have a question.
Dad: What's that?
Eleanor: Why, when Bradley was going to the barbershop - and said he wanted to go to school - why did his mother- why was his mother like, "Bradley! Don't do that again!" He didn't do anything. I mean, I know that the car swerved, but I feel like it's not Bradley's fault that the car swerved. He just startled his mother a little. Why was she like that?
Dad: Well, Bradley's mother was driving the car, and holding on to the steering wheel. The way he startled her made her jerk the wheel - which made the car swerve.
El: But, he didn't mean to startle her, so why was she like that?
Dad: When you're in the car with a driver, you need to be careful to not startle, or distract the driver.
El: I get it. But I feel like when you're driving the car, and someone's crying really loud in the back seat we don't get in big trouble like that.
Dad: True. But, if I know the crying's going on - it's not the same kind of distracting as something that startles a driver.
Dad: Poppy, should we add anything else to the review?
Poppy: I have nowhere to sit. (She left to go look through some Halloween candy she found in here. No joke. It's March. And it's the day after Easter. And Poppy found some old Halloween candy.)
Gwen: I think I know what to add.
Dad: What are you going to add?
Gwen: I'm going to add that we liked the book.
El: AND I RECOMMEND IT TO PEOPLE! OHHHH!!! We forgot to say how many stars we're going to give the book!!!
Dad: How many stars are we going to give it?
El: Five! How many stars do you want to give it, Gwen?
Gwen: Um. F. I. V. E.
Poppy: (Has been saying five and six continuously)
This is a perfect read-aloud book, one I'd seen in classrooms for ages but never actually read until my coteacher suggested it. And she was right. There's so much to have deeper conversations around with our class.
Bradley, the 'bad kid', is everyone's idea of a nightmare, but the book slowly lets you in to see exactly how low his self-esteem is. I loved seeing Bradley alone in his room, using his model animals to allow himself to actually feel what he's feeling instead of just yelling ...moreThis is a perfect read-aloud book, one I'd seen in classrooms for ages but never actually read until my coteacher suggested it. And she was right. There's so much to have deeper conversations around with our class.
Bradley, the 'bad kid', is everyone's idea of a nightmare, but the book slowly lets you in to see exactly how low his self-esteem is. I loved seeing Bradley alone in his room, using his model animals to allow himself to actually feel what he's feeling instead of just yelling and raging and growling at everything around him to scare people off. In life it's hard to let people in and actually be yourself, especially when you hate yourself as much as Bradley does. He gets through it and realizes he can be a friend and a good person, but I love that it's slow and hard - it goes terribly over and over again. That's how it really is in life. You can't just fix stuff immediately.
I also loved that Jeff - who at first I thought would be the main character who "gets to know the real Bradley" and understands him - was actually the secondary character. He was a friend to Bradley, but he didn't just stick by him or discover him. He got angry at him, he ditched him for the "cool kids"; it was a lot more like real life. I also felt his frustration - after trying to Bradley's frustration, I would've given up too. You can only do so much to be someone's friend, after all. Sometimes they have to do things on their own!
I also really like that Louis Sachar used the idea of a "monster" to symbolize Bradley. We all kind of feel like monsters sometimes. I know I can feel scary and terrible and like no one would want to be around. We all have things we hate about ourselves, even though mine aren't tentacles or having four fingers. But it reminds me of the movie "Monsters, Inc." - the monsters are scary to some people, but darn, aren't they also awesome and kind of adorable? So Bradley - and the rest of us - can be those things, too. Probably. Eventually.