The Misfits and Totally Joe

Blog # 8

The Misfits and Totally Joe – James Howe

Honestly, I first chose to read the combination of The Misfits and Totally Joe because I did not want to read a book with the word “geography” in the title. I didn’t really know what to expect before reading these novels, because I had never heard of either of them, but I was intrigued to find out! When I picked up The Misfits, I did not put it down until I was finished reading it!!! Let me say that again…when I picked up The Misfits, I DID NOT PUT IT DOWN UNTIL I FINISHED THE BOOK!! That has never happened in my life! What an accomplishment :) for me and for the author! Needless to say, I loved the book! Both book actually! I finished that one in two sittings! There are just so many things that I loved in both books and I don’t know why I liked these books so much more than the others we have read. Maybe it is because the other books had some sort of content within them…I get enough content in my classes, and when I read books, frankly I don’t care to read more about math or science.

I loved reading from Bobby’s perspective (The Misfits)! He is so easy to relate to; really they all were in a sense. And even though I didn’t really encounter the same situations the Gang of Five did, I was still able to see where my life was relatable to the story line. Everybody can relate to the Gang of Five! Even the popular kids! At some point in life, you feel as if you don’t fit in. You may not make it know to others or wear it on your sleeve that you feel that way, but you sure feel it. One of my favorite quotes in the entire book was on pg. 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” (Howe, 2001). I just love this statement! It is so extremely true! Often times in life, you don’t see the significance of a particular situation until it has passed. By looking back on events, you are able to learn so much about yourself and about life!

This novel would be such an incredibly great book to read at the beginning of a school year! To make students aware that if they put their heads together and unite as one body, changes can happen. When you get to know your classmates and who they really are, so many new opportunities are available. You can really influence others and be the friend they need. Another quote that stuck out to me was on pg. 124 “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.” This is such a deep statement and I think a lot of middle school students know this, but don’t know how to put it into action. This novel was extremely realistic, and I really liked the fact that the No Name Party didn’t win the election. Not because I didn’t want them to win (because I really did), but because of its realness! Even though they didn’t win the election, changes were still made. They made a difference.

I really enjoyed Totally Joe as well! I didn’t know it was a sequel to The Misfits until I started reading it! I was glad to get more from Joe’s perspective, especially because being openly gay was not common in my middle school, so I have never really heard the opinion/perspective of someone who is gay. I also really liked that the story was an alphabiography! I had never heard of something like this before and I thought it was a fabulous idea! Even though I want to teach math, I would love to do something like this in my class. Have them start at the beginning of the year and work on it until the end of the school year. I think that this assignment would allow the students to learn so much about themselves over the course of a year.

I love Joe’s character and how open he is in his alphabiography! I also really enjoyed getting to the end of a letter (chapter) to see his life lesson. Some of them really made me laugh, and some were very inspirational! Some of my favorites include…

“Life Lesson: Just be who you are, okay.” pg. 12

 “Life Lesson: Middle school is like being trapped in a reality show where there’s no way off the island and you’re always a loser.” pg. 94

“Life Lesson: No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. – Eleanor Roosevelt” pg. 173

“Life Lesson: I figured it out – when you’re writing, the person you’re talking to is mostly yourself.” pg. 176

“Life Lesson: A day can start out ordinary and end up being in the Top Ten.” pg. 184

“Life Lesson: Alphabiographies should be full of italics, CAPITAL LETTERS, and exclamation points! (Just like life!) And they should never end with the words ‘The End.’ They should always end with: TO BE CONTINUED” pg. 189

(Howe, 2005)

Sorry. That was a lot. But I couldn’t narrow it down! I just loved them all! I think this book would be good for students to read as well, just to see another perspective. Or maybe even to help them deal with life! I also really liked the roles of Aunt Pam and the Gang of Five. They just show what it means to have friends and family who love you no matter what. And being honest with them will help you feel more confident. Loved both book and would definitely recommend them to anyone!

All three articles were very interesting and contained topics that I had never really thought about before now. Blackburn & Smith, Jenkins, and Stewig all discussed topics that bring attention to ways to handle literature involving gays and lesbians. Stewig’s article was about censorship of lesbian and gay families in books. I think that it is definitely important to have books that involve these types of families. In the diverse world today, and becoming more diverse, there will be children from all types of families in our classes, and they need to feel as “normal” as possible. Showing all types of families in books allows all children to feel like they matter and are being represented. Jenkins article was about the idea of new realism in novels, meaning that books should portray real life situations that happen to all kinds of people. I agree in saying that children should know that life isn’t always going to be full of greatness. They need to be aware of the fact that life brings struggles as well. That being said, I think that students should be exposed to all sorts of situations that will help them succeed in the real world. And lastly, the Blackburn & Smith article was about the idea of heteronormativity. I had never heard this term before reading this article. “By heteronormativity we mean a way of being in the world that relies on the belief that heterosexuality is normal, which implicitly positions homosexuality and bisexuality as abnormal and thus inferior. It is often much more subtle than homophobia” (Blackburn, Smith, 2010). This article discusses how it is hard to bring lesbian and gay books into the society we live in because it is so heteronormativie. I definitely agree and think that changing society’s way of thinking is going to be hard, but the only way to change it is to put books out there that contain situations with lesbians and gays.

Citations:

Blackburn, M.,& Smith, J. (2010). Moving beyond the inclusion of lgbt-themed literatur inenglish language arts classrooms: Interrogating heteronormalitivity andexploring intersectionality. Journalof Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53(8),625-634.

Howe, J. (2001). The misfits. New York: AladdinPaperbacks.

Howe, J. (2005). Totally joe. New York: AladdinMix.

Jenkins, C. (1998).From queer to gay and back again: Young adult novels with gay/lesbian/queercontent. Library Quarterly , 68(3), 298-334.

Stewig, J.(1994). Self-censorship of picture books about gay and lesbian families. Concepts and Themes, 7(3), 184-193.