Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Shattering Glass. By: Gail Giles

Within the first paragraph of Gail Giles' novel Young Stewerd, who is narrating the story, explains that Simon Glass was hated by many people for different reasons. In the next sentence Young says he and his friends realized this only after they killed him. Young then tells the story of how he and his friends ended up befriending the outsider Simon, and as a simple nice gesture started to spiral out of control.
The idea of making Simon popular was Young's friend Rob's idea and Rob enlists Young, Bob, and Coop to help him with his mission. The only reason Rob wants to help Simon is for the sheer fact that he wants to know if it can be done. Each of the boys are responsible in helping Simon in different ways. As Young begins to spend more time with Simon he begins to dislike him more and more. He also sees how far Rob will go to help Simon out, even if it means hurting others along the way. And when Simon begins to go in a different direction of Rob's initial plan, everything does not go so smoothly. Unfortunately I can not say anything more about the story with out ruining it.

1) Simon Glass is a disliked loner at Young's high school, he is picked on and has no friends. Even in his situation, he does not accept Rob's gesture to make him popular at first. After Rob somewhat charms him into it, Simon decides to give it a shot. Rob then begins to instigate his plan of changing Simon completely to become popular. If you were in Simon's situation would you accept an invitation offered by one of the most liked people in the school to change who you are?

2) In the novel, Rob enlists Young, Bob, and Coop to help him with Simon's transformation. However Rob leaves out the part of his plan where he turns Lance into the new Simon. If one of your really good friends asked you to help them make somebody more popular at the stake of diminishing another person's social status, would you?

22 comments:

Sarah N. 7-8 said...

1. I could see where someone would accept the offer by the most popular person because they want to fit in. However, I personally wouldn't, because I think that it is more important to first accept yourself and be happy with who you are.

2. I think I would maybe try and help an outsider find friends, but I wouldn't intentionally make them popular to cause someone else to loose their friends.

Anonymous said...

1. I would like to say that I would not let someone change me but I think if i was in Simon's position, I would let Rob change me so I would be liked by more people.

2. I would love to help make someone else popular but I would never diminish another person's social status.

Laura P 7-8 said...

Sarah: I also think you should accept yourself for who you are, and not change into something your not just to fit in.

Ashley B. 1-2 said...

1) I would not accept the offer... You shouldn't have to act or be different to be accepted into society. If someone does not like me for who I am then that is their problem.

Abby M. 1-2 said...

2. Honestly, I think it was wrong for the boys to try to change Simon at all. They could have just befriended him, not tried to change the way he was just to fit in- this was basically another insult in itself. They were pretty much telling him that he wasn't good enough as he was and had to change. Therefore I would not take part in the plan at all.

Avi D. 7/8 said...

1. I would not change what I am because popularity is frankly not everything in life. Once high school is over life "starts over". You have to stay true to yourself otherwise you will be unhappy. I am not "popular" and yet I have the ability to find others who share my interests. However it seems that Simon has absolutely NO FRIENDS. In this case I would take some of Robs advice but still refrain from changing my values and intere3sts.

Lisa T. 1-2 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lisa T. 1-2 said...

1. Simon may have been desperate, as it seems like his situation was really tough, so I understand why he would go to extents to become popular. However, I'm sure it wouldn't feel right, and I don't know why he trusted Rob. If I were Simon, I wouldn't want to have to change myself and owe somebody for it.
2. I would not choose to be part of the plan; it seems pointless, especially when Simon's social status was swapped with somebody else's. In that case, the community in terms of bullying and acceptance had not improved at all. I agree with Abby that the boys should have just befriended Simon if they wanted to help him.

Laura P 7-8 said...

2.) Abby: I too think they could have not went to such extremes with Simon.
Lisa: I also agree that there was absolutely nothing gained by the swapping of the two boys' social statuses.

Brandon Messner said...

1. I'd take it. If I had no friends then I do not think I would refuse the help of Rob, who sounds even cooler than his name suggests.

2. First of all, I'm interested in your book because that does not make any sense at all. Well, I guess I would not do that if it was somehow possible because I do not see why someone has to replace Simon as the outcast child.

Nicole H. 7-8 said...

1. I don't think I would accept, knowing that in the end I did become popular, all of the people talking to me and hanging out with me aren't my real friends. It's best to be true to yourself and true friends will come along and find you.

Morgan O 7-8 said...

1) I agree with what Nicole said, but in addition i think that a part of being accepted by other people is accepting yourself first. Once you are comfortable with who you are, then the rest just comes naturally, so I would not accept the offer which would put me through a difficult transformation. Instead i would be myself and achieve what i wanted my own way.

Natesa W. 7-8 said...

1. I probably would accept it at first. But after going through everything, in the end I would still be my weird self, so I would still go back to my real friends.

Sydney M 7-8 said...

1. I think that I would accept the invitation to become popular. If you were invited to be one of the most liked kids in school, I think i would go along with them. Eventually like Natesa said, I would probably get sick of getting demands from someone, telling me how to be. I would rather be myself and be not popular with my other friends. I wouldn't want to completely change myself just to "fit in."

Rafiq O. 1-2 said...

1.) I read this book! :) It was really good...except for the end, but yeah, if I was in his position I would have probably gone through with it only because of his horrible predicament... BUT if things weren't as bad I most likely would have disapproved their advances to change me and just embrace who I am as an individual...

Heather B. 1-2 said...

1.) I don't think it would feel right, no matter the situation. I hope I would have a strong enough sense of self, and be suspicious enough of Rob's ulterior motives, to avoid him.

2.) I would not because it would not be fair to either person.

Nathan S. 7-8 said...

2) Nope. You can't exactly "make" someone popular or unpopular; they are who they are. Nothing can really change that.

Millie W. 7/8 said...

I personally think that it's a blatant insult for Rob and his friends to try and change Simon. I mean if I was in Simon position I would be weary that they were playing a joke on me. I would not take the offer, because if I want to be popular I can so that myself. But i'd rather be happy being unpopular that uncomfortable being popular. Like Avi says high school isn't everything.

Sarah H 1-2 said...

The boys should not have tried to change simon and no I would not have taken the offer. Every one should except and embrace who they are as thier own person and not try to change for others.

Hannah K. 1-2 said...

1) I think that Rob and his friends should have just befriended Simon if they wanted to be friends with him. I don't think it's worth having friends that don't like you for who you are.
2) I would like to say I would not have gone through with the offer in the first place, so no. It is wrong to hurt other people.

Josh R. 1-2 said...

1.I would help an outsider find friends. But I would never do it to intentionally hurt someone else or make them lose friends.

Mrs. Sherwood said...

Thread graded.