Finland?


 

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Authority  “I have entered high school with the wrong hair, the wrong clothes, the wrong attitude.  And I don’t have anyone to sit with.  I am an outcast” – Melinda (4). The adults throughout the book  Speak  range from supportive to indifferent to abysmal in their interactions with Melinda and the other students. We meet Melinda as she is on the way to her first day of high school.  She feels ill-prepared physically for school – she doesn’t have the right clothes (wearing a skirt she hates) nor does she have the right hairstyle.  She feels alone and alludes to a recent traumatic event which seems to be the catalyst for lost friendships and anticipated bullying at school. Her day goes from bad to worse as Mr. Neck, “gray jock buzz cut, whistle around the neck thicker than his head” (9), seems to have it out for Melinda from the beginning of the first day. Mr. Neck is a jerk to Melinda in almost every interaction he has with her. He gets ...
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