The Misfits and Totally Joe

The Misfits and Totally Joe

Like most of the books we’ve read so far for this class, I felt like the Misfits was something that most middle grade students could relate to in some aspect or another. As is shown in the Misfits, middle grades students are generally trying to find out who they are at this age and trying to determine what group they belong to. I felt like this book addressed the major points of struggle for middle grades students. Student’s popularity is always a major struggle in middle school because students always want to feel like they are in the “cool” group. The Misfits addresses this popularity struggle through the election process with the no-name party coming in a close second in the end. Family problems and teacher interactions were shown in the story with the father having to overcome an addiction to alcohol. This portrayed how students in middle school and any age have to face struggles at home that can cause their attention in school to sometimes not be as sharp. Lastly, the Misfits shows how this age level is the start of hormones kicking in for students as the guys and girls begin to develop feelings for one another. I really liked reading this book because of all the real life issues that it shows and felt that it would be a good read for middle grades students. Because the book was told from a middle schooler’s point of view, it was a very easy read and something I feel that could be enjoyed by a middle school class.

Totally Joe was a little different than the Misfits. By doing an assignment for school as honestly as possible, Joe leaks out to his teacher and eventually to his classmates that he is homosexual. What I really liked about this book was that it showed the different perspectives of the world to homosexuality. Joe’s close friends and family accepted him and were happy to support his feelings because he was being himself instead of trying to be who he really wasn’t. This showed that some people can be accepting of feelings and beliefs even if they are different than their own. Then, the other side and more often seen side was shown by some of the other students in the school. They were not as accepting and refused to accept Joe’s feelings as normal or atleast ok for him to have.

In the Blackburn and Smith article, they discuss the idea of heteronormality, or the idea that being heterosexual is the norm for people and homosexuality is something other than normal. This idea is troublesome to me because of everything we have studied in previous classes about accepting other peoples norms and understanding that there is not one single normal. Everyone creates their own normal and for Joe, he felt that being homosexual was normal for him and he was fine with this.

Stewig’s article discussed censoring books that are available to students in school library’s and resources that the school provides. I know this topic is very controversial in the school systems today but personally I am against the whole idea of censoring books especially once you get to the middle school level. All that does is create some fantasy world for the students instead of allowing them to personally choose their books and content.

Blackburn, M., & Smith, J. (2010). Moving beyond the inclusion of lgbt-themed literature in english language arts classrooms: Interrogating hereonomalitivity and exploring intersectionality. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 53(8), 625-634.

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

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

Jenkins, C. (1998) From queer to gay and back again: Young adult novels with gay/lesbian/queer content. 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.