made me promise I wouldn't make up anything, and I kept my word the whole time. It's interesting how much thinking I end up doing when I write. I look up and an hour's gone by, and everything I've been thinking about is right there on the paper. And six weeks later, I don't even realize I'm writing anymore. His attraction to Luz, her upcoming play, and her need for costumes fashioned by Tod's seamstress mother (or not) lead to some of the funniest scenes in the book.Īs he perseveres through his detentions, Tod is surprised: And we meet Luz, the girl who is a bit of an outcast herself.
We meet some of the teachers and learn about this inner city school where guards man the doors and free lunch programs assure food for the day. When he speaks of home, we meet his mother and stepfather and learn something about the life they have together. Tod is not the only character we meet in fact, he introduces us to a number of others through his journal entries. Tod is not amused but, it is better than cleaning the schoolyard with his partners in crime. She has agreed to the arrangement, and doesn't get in Tod's way of sharing his thoughts and actions each day. Woodrow, the school's guidance counsellor whose job is to supervise his punishment for the foreseeable future. After his latest illegal action (attempting to steal the school's video camera), Tod is assigned to daily detention with Mrs. It is Tod's honest, humorous, self-deprecating voice that earns top credits. I'm glad I started reading it during the day, or it would have been another sleepless night. What a voice! Scrawl reveals within its pages the tale of a bad boy, told from his point of view. He even put a new writer's quote up on the door yesterday." They know a lot about everything and have a lot to say and people want to listen. I don't think writers are like real people. (Sept."Well, I don't know about real writing. Even the inevitable ray of hope doesn't fully distract from the bleakness of Tod's life. There's little that hasn't been done before-the overly smart bully with a troubled home life is a standard trope-but Shulman throws in some nice twists and gives Tod a strong, solid voice. His bullying is often less about wanting to hurt other kids than genuinely needing money, although he doesn't show much remorse. Tod's house is barely habitable, and he is forced to help his mother in her job as a seamstress to make ends meet. As he writes, details of his home life emerge. He's also a superb student, hiding his good grades behind his rough demeanor. Tod's latest crime was breaking into school with his buddies to steal a video camera, but he has a long history of beating up kids for their lunch money and destroying property. Shulman (Mom and Dad Are Palindromes) makes his YA debut with the story of Tod, a school bully forced to spend detention writing in a journal.
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