3 Days Off

by Susie Morgenstern
PRMS (deleting) Hardcover 89 pages
genre: YA realistic fiction

The reason I'm deleting this one from the collection is that it is not one likely to be a hit with my students. Although it's quite short, there are no chapter breaks - just the three days of suspension. It's written from the perspective of a high school boy in France. He's not exceptional until his teacher pushes him one day to share what he's thinking / daydreaming about . . . and he blurts out, "I'd like to rip your skirt off and see what I find underneath."

Thus begins his three-day suspension from school. There were parts of this book I liked. "The idea of adding more to her (his mother's) misery made him feel bad. It would be one abandonment on top of another. Misery must be an even heavier burden to bear than a future." "He felt terrible. But he said nothing. Life wasn't like a rough draft on the computer. You couldn't erase your mistakes by saying you were sorry."

When he spends time helping the two men unload crates, that really resonated. "He had no idea how much money could ever repay the backbreaking work they did every day. The constant physical effort, the strain. No amount of money could compensate for that continuous agony." I love that he feels a strong connection to them when they part. "He felt like he had met two of the best people on earth, and felt a tug at his heart to watch them go."

But my favorite line is on page 10: "She (Mademoiselle March) had seen Dead Poets Society and wished she were a teacher like Robin Williams in the movie. She had all the motivation but not the talent. Not everyone can be gifted. One day people will realize that a good teacher is above all a virtuoso."

Basically, William is a hormonal teenager who thinks about (but doesn't have) sex all the time. This is actually a fairly contemplative book for older, more cynical teens.