Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade

Nothing's Fair in Fifth Grade
By: Barthe DeClements
Realistic Fiction

This book is told from the perspective of a fifth grade student named Jenifer. Jenifer and the rest of her classmates make jokes and rude comments about the new girl Elise. They call her "gross,disgusting and fat." Elise's mother tells the teacher Mrs. Hanson that Elise is not allowed to eat anything for lunch besides what is in her lunch box. Elise gets in trouble with Mrs. Hanson when she begins to eat other students lunch. Elise learns they she can no longer ask her classmates for their food because she will be in trouble with the teacher. When lunch money begins to disappear, everyone suspects Elise, especially since Jenifer saw her in the store buying candy with two quarters. While Jenny is getting D's in math, Elise gets a 100 on every assignment. After Elise is embarrassed in front of the whole class when her skirt falls down, Jenny has the idea to ask Elise to be her math tutor. Jenny's mom agrees to pay Elise 50 cents an hour so she can pay back all the kids lunch money that she took. Just when things are starting to go slightly better for Elise, Mrs. Hanson accuses her of stealing the book money envelope, which she just happened to misplace. With Elise help in math, Jenny's grades began to improve and their friendship grew as well. They began to hang out more and Jenny became Elise only friend, not even her own mother seemed to like her very much. When all of the girls decide to get a ride from a stranger to the mall, he turns the wrong way and everyone else jumps out at the light expect for Elise's younger sister. Elise becomes extremely upset because she knows her mother will for sure send her to boarding school now. Luckily, Mrs. Hanson is able to talk Elise's mother into letting her return to school in the fall by telling her she is the top student and has been helping other students do better in school. In the end, Elise loses a lot of weight and is happy because she can see her shoes for the first time in two years, not to mention she has made best friends.

I think this book could be implemented in the classroom in various ways. For one, you could discuss with your students how important it is to be healthy and the dangers of becoming obese. This can be a lesson where you stress to them the importance of eating healthy and exercising and the many ways they can do this. You can also take the opportunity to talk with your students about how people come from different types of homes. It is essential that they know that someone should never be made fun of because of their weight or any other trait. Discuss with them how they shouldn't make judgments about people without really getting to know them first. You can share personal stories of your own with them about judgments you have made that turned out to be completely wrong. Challenge your students to work with and get to know someone that they normally wouldn't. This can be a good learning experience not only for the classroom, but for the real world as well.