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The Monkeyface Chronicles
We meet Philip the day he turns 13. He goes to school that day and he falls victim to the school bullies who deliver a vicious version of the outlawed "Birthday Beats". Reluctantly, Phillip, accompanied by his mom and grandfather turns them in to the school administration. To Philip's surprise, the bullies all confess and are suspended. This is not the end of the bullying, and Philip, because of his facial deformity, learns to handle them. He learns to survive his immersion into public school after years of home schooling that had shielded him from the inevitable cruelty of his peers
- Even though well intended, do you feel that Philip's family did him any favours by home schooling him for so many years?
- Why do people bully?
- The theme of families comes through loud and clear in this book. Even though many families are pretty messed up, they can also be the source of our strongest bonds. Please discuss.
Q1: I do not see how home-schooling Philip benefited him. It made his appearance at a elementary school more dramatic if anything. Like, the kids would have known about him already, and maybe if he was one of their peers from the beginning they could have adjusted, and accepted his 'flaw' earlier on.
ReplyDeleteQ2: That is a very good question, one that is usually given the typical answer of, 'to make themselves feel better' etc. but it is a question I do not understand, and will not even attempt to answer.
Q3: I am not deeply rooted in my family, so families and whatnot are a foreign concept to me. However, in this book I think the theme of families was in fact the source of the strongest bonds. Even after all the accidents, and confessions, the brothers seemed to fall right into their designated roles and quickly adjusted to the news of what they were to each other. So in the end, their bonds were very strong.
---I have never been more disappointed in an ending of a book before! (I am sure I have been but this ending, wow) Philip was given a new chance, new start and he returns to the source of all his pain, ends up with a 'promiscuous' bar-girl he went to school with and was tormented by..I was just very disappointed in how Scarsbrook ended this novel.
I agree, the ending did disapoint me, however, looking fromt he authors point of view, we have to try and understand where he is comming from. I found it refreshing that the author decided to stand out and show us that not every story has a happy ending.
ReplyDelete:) Taylor Richards
I think that making Philip stay homeschooled didn't benefit him in the way that the bullying would have stopped but I think there's a possibility it wouldn't have been as harsh.The other way to look at it is that if he had gone to school when he was younger hemay not have been able to cope with all of the bullying because it would have been a longer time period and he was little he wouldn't know how to defend himself as well.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with the age old answer that people are insecure with themselves and make themselves feel better, have power etc. I believe this because when they do bully they have control which makes them feel like there good at something or makes them have something in common with others.
Families are usually always our strongest bonds. I believe this is true because they are there throught out your life wether it be constant or not. Also because people need someone to be able to fall back on and who better then someone who you know and will most likely alwasy be in your life.
- Amber Raivio
I don't think that homeschooling benefitted Phillip. If he had been introduced to the other children at a young age, they would have had more time to adjust to his appearance and learn to accept him. Also, I have heard that younger children are generally more open and accepting of others and, had he been placed in pre-school or kindergarten with the other children, they may have responded with curiosity rather than aggression. I really am unsure of why people bully in general, and I am sure there are a multitude of reasons, but I think that this is too big a question to discuss. I also found the premise of this book somewhat unbelievable, because, after doing some research, I have found it is very uncommon for children born with cleft palates to be left with their deformity. Usually, they are operated on at a young age to correct it.
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