In the beginning of this chapter it is announced that Mrs. Baker's seventh grade class will be going on their camping trip. Mrs. baker does not even enjoy camping but knows that everyone else has fun. Unfortunately, Bobby Kennedy is shot and killed and Heather locks herself in her room listening to the Beatles, when finally she comes out and joins Holling in lighting a candle for him at St. Adelberts. The next week they go on their camping trip in the Catskills and they tell scary stories, have good food, are rattled by the thought of snakes climbing in their sleeping bags, it rains on everyone and everything, and they go swimming in the lake. Right at the end of their trip they all start to get bitten by mosquitos but it was still fun! Now it is time for Danny Hupher's Bar Mitzvah and he does a great job in his ceremony for becoming a man. The attend the celebration and then to tie everything together the students greet Lieutenant Baker when he arrives home to reunite with Mrs. Baker. As Holling says, "it was a happy ending!"
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This month is the beginning of the atomic bomb drills, which have always seems stupid and pointless to Holling. Kowalski and Associates gets the architecture job at Yankee Stadium instead of HoodHood and Associates. After his sister and Dad have a big argument, his sister decides to run away from home with Chit to support Bobby Kennedy. Mr. HoodHood gets a Ford Mustang Convertible and Mrs. Baker take shoaling on a field trip around the important sites of Long Island. They come to a church and Holling lights a candle for his sister. Later, he receives a call from her in the middle of the night telling him that she is alone and does not have enough money to purchase a bus ticket from Minneapolis to Long Island. Holling wakes up early in the morning and uses his own savings bond to pay the fee. They meet and spend the day in New York City then return home. Holling goes on a field trip with Mrs. Baker around Long Island. In the end of the chapter, Mrs. Baker receives a telegram that informs her that her husband is safe and coming home soon just in time for the strawberries.
In April, Holling is officially announced as apart of the varsity track team. Mrs. Sidman had become the new principal because Mr. Guareschi received an administrative reassignment. President Lyndon B. Johnson had also given up his job at the White House and announced that he would not be running for office again. Along with this news, Holling's Father told him that Kowalski and Associates was going out of business. Because of this Meryl Lee might also be moving. Mrs. Baker gave Holling a month off from Shakespeare so that she could coach him for track. One afternoon, while Holling and Meryl Lee were working on their project for school, it was announced that MLK had been shot and killed. Everyone was both shocked and horrified by this. Holling had tickets to opening day at Yankee Stadium and he planned on going and missing practice. His father couldn't take him so Mrs. Baker kindly took him. The game was great and Holling and his friends had good food and were even invited onto the field at the end. The players also all recognized Mrs. Baker from one of her impressive track meets. They went on Spring break and then it was back to practice. He had his first track meet and everyone was there cheering for him.
The Ides of March are approaching. The war is starting to become worse and the broadcasts have the HoodHood family in disbelief. Mrs. Bakers rats start some trouble in the ceiling when the asbestos tiles start to become weighed down. Holling is trying out for track and surprisingly makes it onto the varsity tema after gaining motivation from both Mrs. Baker and the two devil rats chasing him. Him and Meryl Lee still have a special connection. Mai Tai is saved by Doug Swieteck when a bully makes fun of her culture. He even gets suspended but it shows his true nice side. Mrs. Baker follows Hollings rules and doesn't embarrass the class when they were being examined. The rats were killed during a bus crash and the gray skies faded away leaving nothing but rainy, march day.
It's time for Mr. HoodHood's big award ceremony. There is a little problem with the moldy plaster ceiling right before, which throws him off a little bit, but all goes well. Holling is assigned to read Romeo and Juliet, which seems pretty fitting for the month. Holling does have a hard time digesting certain parts of the story though. He is also trying to make plans for Valentine's Day and manages to arrange something with Meryl Lee. He takes her to see Romeo and Juliet and then sat talking about each of their fathers designs for the new junior high building. Mr. Kowalski wants classical, classical, classical, but Mr. HoodHood is taking a more modern spin. Unfortunately, Meryl Lee leaked the plans to her father and he decided to copy HoodHood and Associates. This was not good for Holling and his Father was not pleased. Holling wrongly blames Meryl Lee for everything, but she insists she had hardly anything to do with it. She admired his drawing and stupidly showed her father. Surprisingly, her Father pulled out his bid and Holling's father was very nasty about the news. Holling forgives Meryl Lee and even shows up to her house with a coke and a rose. The next day at school, they see a telegram on Mrs. Baker's desk and it says that Mrs. Baker's husband is MIA.
Holling is not exactly starting his new year off the way he wants to. Doug Swieteck's brother had put up pictures of Holling as Ariel the fairy all over the school. They were everywhere you looked, and he even took the time to paint the tights yellow. Doug was not supposed tot ell the whole story of why his brother did this or why he had a black eye but he did anyway (withe the promise of a cream puff from Goldman's bakery). Holing is even considering military school because of how embarrassed he is. As if it was't bad enough he had o take a one hundred fifty question test on the Tragedy of Macbeth. Holding's sister is not too pleased with the pictures either, considering that they are all over her high school too. Sadly, none of his family members are happy about his idea of military school. The next day at school Holling says something very dumb to Mrs. Baker and she decides to basically avoid him. Because of their awful principal, all of the students had to be in school on a cold, gray day just because of some standardized test practice. The day got better when Mrs. Bigio had brought in some warm hot chocolate. Holling gets vengeance on Doug Swieteck's brother. Just when Doug wants to strike back, Holling is too busy saving his sister from getting hit by a bus, but hurting his bottom at the same time. He was taken to see a nurse and luckily he was okay. He had made the headlines for the second time n one month. Then things turned around when instead of the embarassing Ariel pictures, it was a great action shot of him saving his sister.
It's the holiday season and to no ones surprise, Mrs. Baker is the only one not in the spirit. All of the other classrooms have festive decorations except for her. His debut as Ariel the fairy is approaching and he decides to go to his parents and show them just exactly what he will be wearing on the stage. Although Holling is pretty upset about having to perform, he receives the best possible news he could at that moment in his life. Mickey Mantle, a famous Yankee baseball player, would be coming to the Bakers Sporting Emporium to sign baseballs and do a demonstration. This was so exciting for Holling and for pretty much his whole class! He could not miss this opportunity for anything. Then, just as everything was getting good Mrs Baker had to announce Hollings role in the play. Now the whole class was tempted to go, just because they would be getting extra credit. Luckily, the two events were on the same day, but Mrs. Baker said there would be time for both. Holling performed in the play and made his best effort to make it to the signing. He ran into many obstacles like being locked out of the dressing room, running out in the cold in just yellow tights and a floral cape, and then not having a ride and ending up hitching a ride on the bus. He finally made it, and he saw Mickey and all of his classmates waiting to get their balls signed. When Holling was up , Mickey refused to sign the ball because of what he was wearing and Holling was crushed. Then suddenly, Danny Hupfer stood up for Holling. This was really him showing a different side to him. Holiday break is almost upon them and it could not have been a better end to the last days of school. Because of what when on with Mickey, two baseball players came to do a private session with Danny, Doug, and Holing. The holidays wouldn't be that be after all.
It's the rainy month of November and Holling's life has not changed too much. He still sounds his Wednesdays with Mrs. Baker, but he has really gotten hooked on Shakespeare. He memorizes the curses from the Tempest and starts to relate the events in his life to the writing. He is also still dealing with finding a way to get over twenty cream puffs in the next few days without an advance in his allowance. Mrs. Baker is really testing him lately, but luckily for Holling his father landed the deal with Baker Sports emporium. Sadly, he still will not budge about the allowance. So, Holling heads over to Goldman Bakery in hopes that his insufficient amount of money will be enough. It is not, but to his surprise Mr. Goldman was looking for a young boy who knew Shakespeare. Holling is perfect for that and lands the role along with the amount of cream puffs he needs to meet the needs of the whole class and even two extras. His spirits are the next day, but quickly fall after his hard work payed for in cream puffs had been devoured by the notorious rats. In the end of the chapter Mrs. Baker spares Holling one more day before he is potentially killed by his classmates, by replacing the cream puffs with new ones. All seems better for Holling but wonders if there will always be someone who makes everything fine in the end. He starts to wonder if the writing of Shakespeare is exactly like reality, or if sometimes the quality of mercy is strained.
For several weeks from September to October, Holling is forced to stay with Mrs. Baker to clean erasers, wipe down blackboards, and straighten the room while his classmates are at their religious classes. He knows he has to do it in order to ensure that his father will be happy with him. As Holling's chore list seems to grow, he is now tasked with the challenge of carrying up twelve trays of cream puffs to the seventh grade classroom. After he has done this, he willingly cleans all of the teachers erasers outside. Trying not to show and defeat he does clean them, but while he is in the process of doing so, he gets chalk all over the cream puffs. This is bad considering they are not for the class, but for a more picky group of women. Holding only gets in more trouble when he is forced to clean out the cage where Mrs. Baker keeps her too rats. They get out and cause a lot of commotion. Holling is paranoid and continues with his feeling that Mrs. Baker hates his guts and that she is out to get him. Thats why when she forces him to read Shakespeare with him, he does not complain knowing it is probably what she wants. To holding's surprise, he enjoys the story and really has a new found appreciation for writing and the message behind it.
Holling HoodHood is a Presbyterian boy who lives smack in the middle of the south and north sides of town. His whole class is made up of jewish students and Catholic students. Holling is the only one is is neither of those religions, which leads him to spending his Wednesdays with his new teacher Mrs. Baker. Right off the bat, Holling was under the impression that she hated his guts. He had made a minor mistake involving his english and that really set him off to a bad start. He reached out to his family for support, but they were no help. He had to handle this on his own. He is very alert and is ready to catch mrs. Baker if she decides to pull a trick on him. Another obstacle in a smooth seventh grade year was the bully of the school, Doug. He was not even the biggest problem, it is his brother. On the first day he asks Holling to play soccer and it does not go well. Although, Holling expected to get crushed, he made a mistake and tripped the brother causing him to fly out of control. Of course, Holling is the one to blame, and it's not going too well so far.
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March 2017
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