The Misfits

Kids who get called the worst names oftentimes find each other. That's how it was with us. Skeezie Tookis and Addie Carle and Joe Bunch and me. We call ourselves the Gang of Five, but there are only four of us. We do it to keep people on their toes. Make 'em wonder. Or maybe we do it because we figure that there's one more kid out there who's going to need a gang to be a part of. A misfit, like us.
Skeezie, Addie, Joe, and Bobby -- they've been friends forever. They laugh together, have lunch together, and get together once a week at the Candy Kitchen to eat ice cream and talk about important issues. Life isn't always fair, but at least they have each other -- and all they really want to do is survive the seventh grade.
That turns out to be more of a challenge than any of them had anticipated. Starting with Addie's refusal to say the Pledge of Allegiance and her insistence on creating a new political party to run for student council, the Gang of Five is in for the ride of their lives. Along the way they will learn about politics and popularity, love and loss, and what it means to be a misfit. After years of getting by, they are given the chance to stand up and be seen -- not as the one-word jokes their classmates have tried to reduce them to, but as the full, complicated human beings they are just beginning to discover they truly are.

Author: James Howe
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Published: 10/01/2001
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 8.30h x 6.50w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9780689839559
Audience: Ages 9-12

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 5.2
Point Value: 7
Interest Level: Middle Grade
Quiz #/Name: 54853 / Misfits


Award: Rhode Island Teen Book Award - Nominee


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 10/29/2001 pg. 64
School Library Journal 11/01/2001 pg. 158
Horn Book Magazine 11/01/2001 pg. 750
Voice of Youth Advocates 12/01/2001 pg. 359
Booklist 11/15/2001 pg. 572
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 01/01/2002 pg. 174
Lambda Book Report 11/01/2001 pg. 29
New York Times 03/10/2002 pg. 20
Booksense '76 Mar/Apr 2002 03/01/2002 pg. 1
Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2001 pg. 86 - Superior,Well Above Average
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2002 pg. 86 - Superior,Well Above Average
School Library Journal 05/01/2005 pg. 51

About the Author
James Howe is the author of more than ninety books for young readers. Bunnicula, coauthored by his late wife Deborah and published in 1979, is considered a modern classic of children's literature. The author has written six highly popular sequels, along with the spinoff series Tales from the House of Bunnicula and Bunnicula and Friends. Among his other books are picture books such as Horace and Morris but Mostly Dolores and beginning reader series that include the Pinky and Rex and Houndsley and Catina books. He has also written for older readers. The Misfits, published in 2001, inspired the nationwide antibullying initiative No Name-Calling Week, as well as three sequels, Totally Joe, Addie on the Inside, and Also Known as Elvis. A common theme in James Howe's books from preschool through teens is the acceptance of difference and being true to oneself. Visit him online at JamesHowe.com.