Nutmeg Children's Book Award - 2005

Belle Teal
by Ann M. Martin

Scholastic Press, 2001

Booktalk

It is the early 1960’s in a rural town somewhere in the south. Belle Teal Harper xcited about going into fifth grade—finally, she will have the wonderful Miss Casey for a teacher. Belle Teal can’t wait to see her best friend Clarice and her buddy Little Boss. Even though she has to wear an old dress on the first day of school, Belle Teal thinks that the school year will start smoothly. First of all, Gran is acting funny calling Belle Teal by the wrog name, putting on weird clothes, and getting confused a lot of the time. Mama is not around much since she is going back to school and working long hours at her new job. Then two new students join Belle Teal’s class: Vanessa is a stuck-up girl with a nasty attitude, particularly towards Belle Teal. Darryl is a very shy African-American boy who is at the Coker Creek Elementary School as a result of desegregation legislation. A Halloween scheme that Belle Teal hopes will help Darryl leads to tragedy for someone else in the class. Then, Miss Casey’s egalitarian casting of the Christmas pageant leads to more problems. Belle Teal discovers that Little Boss is not the only classmate with an ugly secret. As the small town’s prejudices and fears come to a boil, Belle Teal’s assumptions about the people she knows and cares for are tested. As she faces losses she doesn’t understand and surprises about people she thought she knew, Belle Teal tries to do the right thing and, in so doing, finds her own strengths.

Questions for Discussion

1. How would you describe Miss Casey? Have you ever had a teacher like her?

2. Little Boss’s home life is a train wreck waiting to happen. Belle Teal and her classmates have known that, but never knew how bad it was until it was too late. Could they have done something to help Little Boss?

3. Little Boss and his friends Vernon and Chas are bullies. Primarily, they bully Darryl but then Belle Teal comes under their fire. How do they react to the bullying? What else could they and the other students have done to stop the bullying?

4. Big Boss is a scary person whose presence disrupts the school on several occasions. Was there a better way for the adults to deal with him? In today’s world, is there more that could be done for either Big Boss or Little Boss?

5. Darryl and his cousins are painfully shy when they arrive at the school. Belle Teal, who is usually very outgoing, finds herself tongue-tied when she first meets Darryl. She thinks of many questions to ask him, but it takes weeks before she finally befriends him, and that is only when Clarice is home sick for several days. Have you ever wanted to talk to someone new at your school but been unsure how to get a conversation going?

6. Much of the frostiness to Darryl comes from the long standing institution of segregation. Belle Teal and many others are not vocally opposed to the presence of the African-American students in their school. How does their initial silence affect not only Darryl and his cousins but each other? How does silent support compare with noisy protest?

7. At the Halloween party, Belle Teal and Daryl swap costumes after making a huge fuss about what each of them are going to wear. What did Belle Teal hope would happen when they switched? What were the unexpected results of their plan? Have you ever planned a trick that backfired?

8. The Christmas Pageant is another time when expectations about casting the play are not met. Miss Casey chooses Belle Teal to be Mary when Vanessa thought she should have the part. Miss Casey also taps Darryl to be one of the wise men. Jealousy and racism lead to a false accusation of a crime. Why do you think the police were so quick to believe Big Boss? How do you think Darryl felt?

9. Gran is losing her memory and becomes disoriented much of the time. Belle Teal is frightened and Mama is unsure of what to do. Not only does Gran think she is at church during the school pageant, but she also made mistakes on the fruit cake recipe. Do you know anyone who is losing his or her memories? What can you do to help? How does Mama feel?

10. Vanessa, also know as HRH (Her Royal Highness,) takes an instant disliking to Belle Teal. She is mean and stuck-up, bragging about trips to France and all the fancy clothes she has. In fact, Vanessa has a powerful secret of her own to hide. Have you ever met someone like Vanessa? Do you think most kids like her may be just as afraid as everyone else?

11. What would the story have been like if it had been written from the point of view of someone else? Darryl? Vanessa? Little Boss? Clarice? Miss Casey?

TOPICS FOR FURTHER READING AND DISCUSSION

Brown vs. the Board of Education,1954: Annotated Bibliography of Selected Children’s and Young Adult Books
http://www.library.uiuc.edu/edx/brown.htm

Desegregation of the schools

Civil Rights Movement

National Civil Rights Museum
http://www.civilrightsmuseum.org/

Alzheimer’s Disease

Child Abuse

Book Discussion Guide to Belle Teal from Scholastic Books
(From Scholastic's Teacher site: http://www2.scholastic.com/teachers/authorsandbooks)

Submitted by: Bina Williams, Bridgeport Public Library

Last updated on: 18 September, 2008

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