There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom by Louis Sachar

Its just so fun to reread books from your childhood!! And its also sort of amazing to see how your new/older perspective can entirely change the message of the story. Thus was my situation in my recent reread of Louis Sachar's There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom.

Bradley Chalkers is a bully. He was left behind so he's a year older than everyone else and he generally epitomizes the label "Problem Child." But that's the real problem--he's been labeled as a problem and does his best to live up to it. He has no friends and he's okay with that. Kids are scared of him because he beats them up and he's okay with that too. Or at least...he was. But when a new kid, Jeff, moves in and seems to want to be his friend, and when the new counselor, Carla, begins to work with him and be his friend...Bradley begins to think it might be worth trying.

As a kid, I loved this book because it was about this funny boy, Bradley who goes into the girl's bathroom accidentally and later two other people went into the wrong bathroom too! Yep. Awesome. But reading it now, as a teacher, the heartstrings were seriously given a workout. I totally felt for this kid who was limited by the labels put upon him. And his struggles to make friends and deal with things that were totally new to him--even something as simple as a birthday party!--brought me to tears. Literally. Let's just say its a great book. If you've read it before, read it again. Fabulous.

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