The Misfits

Wow. What a great book. It's hard for me to grasp the reason why this book is on the controversial list. I think this is such a great book for children who are at the stage in school where groups and cliques begin to arise. I feel like this book can give hope and inspiration to anytime of child whether they be in the "misfit" group or not.
The characters in this book are so real to me. I feel like I could change the name of each and every character to someone I know personally. Their personalities are so lifelike and so easy to relate to. I love how this group of friends isn't the average cookie cutter type of children that we normally read about in this type of literature. I love that they have their flaws and that it is easy to recognize and easily pointed out. But I also love how they use each others weaknesses to their advantage by substituting someone else's strength. I love how throughout the whole book I thought for sure that Addy was going to be the president just because of her attitude. Come to find out that she wasn't elected and she didn't even give the presidential candidate speech. I could go on and on about the parts that I liked.
One last thing that I wanted to comment on was the idea of Joe being homosexual. I know this is why some controversy has come up about the book but I don't think that Howe was flambouant about the way he presented it. I feel like he presented Joe as a strong willed and very intelligent boy who was only trying to be himself. I really did feel sorry for him when 'fagot' ( yes with one g) was written on his locker. He never missed a beat though. He jumped right back at the person who wrote it with a comeback. He never hung is head about it. I feel like this book has a lot of important lessons for children to learn and is able to help them through a difficult time in their lives. I definitely will keep this book in mind for the future.