| Title | : | The Rascals from Haskell's Gym |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0590302310 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780590302319 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | - |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1977 |
The Rascals from Haskell's Gym Reviews
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Suddenly I can't stop thinking about this book, which I read in fifth grade (I think). Boy, it was a different era in children's literature when this little gem was written! It's about two rival gymnastics teams, the "Raskells" from Haskells Gym and the Butterflies from Some Other Gym. Ironically, the protagonist of the story is a Butterfly. The Raskells are the bad guys, although it's hard to say that anyone in this book is a protagonist, or a bad guy. The protagonist (whose name I can't remember) is betrayed at the beginning when one of her friends defects to the Haskells Gym. They never speak again. There is no big hug at the end, no "may the best team win." Our Main Butterfly thinks of nothing else but defeating her rivals, and the rest of her team had better be on board, too!
How so? Well, the Rascals invite the Butterflies for ice cream sundaes, which none of them should be eating, since they're in training. One of the Butterflies, in particular, is struggling with her weight and is constantly teased by the Rascals and frowned at by the Main Butterfly and their coach. After they eat the ice cream, the overweight Buttefly is filled with remorse. Her friend, our "protagonist's", advice? Go make yourself throw up! She tells her about her dad's friend, a jockey who "makes weight" by sticking a riding crop down his throat. The overweight Butterfly runs into the bathroom and makes herself throw up the ice cream, and everyone is relieved!
Yes. This is a book that encourages bulimia as a viable dieting option!
It also encourages catty behavior, spying, and backstabbing! It makes young girls extremely sensitive about their bodies, and rightly so! No one wants to be the "chunky girl", right? And remember: let down the team, and you will have no friends!
And seriously: what's up with the title? When I was in fifth grade, I mostly remembered being baffled by the fact that the Rascals were horrible. Weren't they the stars of the book? I kept waiting for them to turn nice, or befriend Main Butterfly or for her to switch sides. It bugged me for years . . . until I realized that this book, frankly, had worse problems. -
Though this was not particularly well written nor were there any characters with whom I could identify I read this one several times. I aspired to be a talented gymnast when in reality I am a veritable klutz and most definitely, not a risk taker. I thought I might glean some useful instructions on how to be more like the girls featured in the book and less like me. Like so many of my other attempts to emulate literary figures, this one failed.
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Cons: why did I buy this book?
Pros: it smelled pretty good -
LOVED gymnastics growing up. I even did gymnastics myself, badly, in middle school. This book fed that gymnastics obsession. Still as good as I remember.
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3.75 stars
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Re-read June 2002.
