There’s a Boy in the Girls
Bathroom, by Louis Sachar, is
a story about a boy named Bradley who has behavior and social problems.
Carla (Bradley’s counselor)
influenced Bradley to start doing his homework. Bradley really wanted a gold
star from Mrs. Ebbel, his teacher. Carla explained to Bradley that in order to
get a gold star, he should do his homework. “What?” “Homework” The smile
dropped off his face. “No. No I can’t” he said. “Sure you can,” said Carla
(Page 105 Paragraph 10 Chapter 27.)
Another example of how Carla
influenced Bradley was she helped him be more socially accepted. He wants to
learn to be polite and having manners because he is tired of people calling him
a monster. “Well, how does a monster stop being a monster?” he asked. “I mean
if everyone sees only a monster and they keep treating him like a monster, how
does he stop being a monster?” “It isn’t easy,” Carla said “I think, first, he
has to realize for himself that he isn’t a monster (Page 90 Paragraph 6 Chapter
23.)” Bradley was being polite to Colleen by saying hello. Even though she
didn’t return the favor he was still being polite. “Hello, Colleen!” he called
to her she stopped and looked at him oddly, then walked away without returning
his hello (Page 128 Paragraph 9 Chapter 32). Bradley had respect for Carla’s
book. Bradley did not read while he had his lunch. “He didn’t read while he
ate. He was afraid he might accidentally spill food on the book even though
there were no such things as accidents (Page 128 Paragraph 8 Chapter 32.)
Bradley was lucky to have Carla as
his counselor. This helped Bradley make
more friends and get invited to Colleen’s birthday party. Bradley also
succeeded doing his homework and for that he received a gold star. In the end,
Bradley could not have made these changes without Carla.
