Chapter Fifty-Four: Based on the Book

Chapter 54: Based on the Book

When Dana, the Title One Reading teacher, was hired, I shared with her my vision of the entire school reading one book. She recommended Holes, so we used Title One funds to buy over 200 copies of the book so every student, teacher, counselor, bus driver – everybody - could read the same book and talk about it. Dana made a great choice. The book is a big hit with everyone and better yet, the movie is about to be released. In early May we announce that in two weeks all students who haven’t had a major recent misbehavior will go see a matinee of Holes. My desk is piled high with permission slips and envelopes stuffed with $5 for the movie and $5 for popcorn and soda. We pick up the tab for children without money but most manage to find the funds. For two weeks we have almost no behavior problems but on the big day we send an extra bus for any children who misbehave and need to be removed from the theatre. The campus is quiet with only the newest and naughtiest students left behind.

When the movie goers return Shasta reports only one incident: Odis a black fourteen-year-old boy who has been romantically linked to many of our female students and who not only lost the privilege of attending the movie but also was absent from school today, (his Mom called saying he had a fever) showed up at the theatre. His mother dropped him off! The staff had wisely separated girls and boys so there would be no issues in the darkened theatre, but Odis snuck in late and found his way to a seat between Nishonda and Estralitta. Shasta caught him lip to lip with Estralitta and while she wanted to toss him out of the theatre, she wasn’t sure she could legally do that, so she moved him to sit with the boys and there were no further incidents. She said when the busses left, Odis was standing outside the theatre waiting for his mother to pick him up. On a lark I phone his mother to both question her and report the incident. Yes she knew he lost the privilege of attending the movie but she has the right to take him to any movie any time and since he was feeling better, she did. She didn’t know about the kissing and she’ll talk to him….

As the movie goers got off the busses they were bubbling with enthusiasm. Many thank me and several talk about how the movie wasn’t the same as the book - or at least they pictured it differently. For many of my students this was the first time they had read a book and then been to the movie…. The whole adventure is so positive (despite Odis) that we brainstorm how to incorporate this into the curriculum more often next year.