The Misfits

The Misfits by James Howe

Novel for children ages 10-12

5 out of 5 stars

When the gang of five, the kids who were referred to as misfits by rest of the school’s population, decides to create a third party to run in this year’s student council elections they teach everyone a valuable lesson on the effects of name calling.

The Misfits represents a great, well-written story for many reasons. First of all, the narrator of the story is the main character named Bobby. While he speaks in dialogue and narrates the story, he uses very precise language. He says the reason for this is because of the fact that his father read him detailed novels and he watched many classic movies. Due to this precise language, the reader knows exactly what it is that the author wants to get across and it helps the reader to feel as if he or she is actually in the scene. The rich vocabulary provides an immense amount of detail. Another reason why this story is considered well written is due to the fact that so many developed characters exist within this story. This is great because the wide range of children that will read this story will each have a character to relate to, which is important for readers of this age. Above all of that, the story teaches a valuable lesson about the popular saying, “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.”  Most people know that this is not true; words in fact do have an effect on people and this is projected loud and clear through this story. Through this theme, students learn the effects labeling and name-calling has on others and they come to terms with the effects that it has on themselves and hopefully they will be learn to deal with their own issues and refrain from committing the hurtful act of calling other people names.

Due to all the reasons listed above as well as for the high level of reading that this book offers, I definitely want to use this book within my classroom if I teach the upper elementary school grades. While reading this book with children, I would do a similar activity with my students as the gang of five does in the story; I would have each student list all the names that they remember being called in their life time. After this, as a class we would discuss the different names, the meanings, and the effects that labeling and name-calling have on people. Lastly, I would have my class complete an advocacy project similar to the one in the story where they would make posters and sponsor a “No Name-Calling Day”. Hopefully little by little students and people everywhere will learn to refrain from name-calling due to the negative effects it has on most people.