It takes a while for the main plot of this book to take hold, but once it does, get ready for a ride -- on a Buckeye Bus!
Take two boys on the fringes of sixth grade, one who swells in hives and itches, the other who was home schooled, has food allergies and refuses to pack-think, egged on by a third boy who's a bully with some redeeming qualities (albeit few), swirl in an intelligent girl also with food allergies who is light-years more mature than the boys, and you get...
...a plot to steal two pheasants from a local farmer against the backdrop of atoning for causing a life-threatening anaphylactic reaction to a swapped lunch.
I was a middle school teacher, so I've seen how mean kids can be to each other. I never taught 6th grade, but I thought this was spot-on, how it depicted the boys interacting with each other and the lone girl, although my son, 15, said kids tend to move much more freely among different groups in school than the story showed. In any case, middle school is almost always a disaster, no matter how you slice it, and while the kids in this story can regret what they've done and atone for it, your students should know, if they try something like this today, they'll likely end up facing very real consequences, despite their ages.
As a slice of dumb decisions in 6th grade, and a warning about why we respect food allergies and don't swap food in the cafeteria, this was an educational read.
A quick, fun but thought-provoking read.
Teachers: Food swapping during COVID remote learning is not as much of an issue, right now, but when we go back to physical in-class instruction, if you've got students with food allergies, this is an excellent way to introduce your students to the very real consequences of swapping food. The publisher offers an Educator's Guide for the book that includes nine discussion questions and a brief author biography.
