Book Club Meeting 1

Book Club Meeting 1

Today was our first book club meeting. Danielle, Stephanie, Taylor and I are reading "Handbook for Boys" by Walter Dean Myers and everyone likes it, except for one person. The book is about a boy who is rescued from having to spend time in jail for assault by an older man. The boy has to work in the man's barber shop, and while doing so, listens to the old man and his friends impart bits of wisdom.

During our meeting we discussed the characters. Jimmy, the main character, is twelve years old, and has quite a temper. He gets in a lot of trouble because of it. He lives with his mom, who works as a waitress, and they have a close relationship. They live in an apartment in the Bronx. His mom and dad are separated, and his dad is trying to get back together with his mom, which she does not seem to be too happy about.

Duke is the barber who saved Jimmy. We all liked him. He has an easy way about him, is very sincere in his desire to help young kids stay out of trouble and get a college education, which he will bankroll with the money he received from the sale of his wife's beauty school.

Cap is one of Duke friends, and nobody in the group liked him much. He is a grumpy man,  yet I believe his heart must be in the right place, or Duke would not be his friend.

Kevin is another young man who Duke took under his wing. He was caught by his mother when he was smoking weed in his bedroom. His mother called the police and Kevin was charged with possession. Kevin sounds like a serious boy, because he keeps asking Jimmy if he is keeping his grades up. Kevin seems to be taking his studies seriously.

As we were talking about the book, Danielle mentioned a connection she saw between the book and a boy at the school where she does her fieldwork.  The boy in question is in sixth grade and he was talking about how he had never been happier than when his uncle came out of jail. Danielle said that she wanted this boy to read this book. A book like this might be helpful to this boy.  She was wishing the boy had a place like Duke's Barbershop to go to. A place where people were looking out for him. A place with good male role models, who want the boy to stay out of trouble and make the best of his life.

We agreed that Duke seemed to having a positive influence on Jimmy. Jimmy takes the tidbits of wisdom that he heard that day home with him, and he keeps mulling them over in his mind.  The fact that he is thinking about what Duke and Cap are saying, and following up on this conversation with his mother and his uncle, seems to be a step in the right direction.

I love this book so far. I love the way it is written. The narrator of the story is Jimmy and the book is written the way I would imagine Jimmy to speak. There is a lot of vernacular, which makes the characters come alive. We were thinking that the vernacular would be difficult to understand for students in 'white suburbia'. More the reason for them to read it, if you ask me!