Concerning & Potentially Concerning Content

Most of the concerning and potentially concerning content comes at the start of the book. As we meet everyone, we see the rough state of the kids who have been basically discarded into this special classroom. One young lady Kiana calls her step-mother “Stepmonster” many times. As we meet her she refers to a character’s “stupid face”, calls a country character Old MacDonald, refers to the unteachables as a “dummy class”, etc. Parker, one of the nicer characters, frequently scratches up other people’s car paint and responds by either covering it up or leaving (never really shown as wrong). Aldo has an anger problem so as we meet him there is a barrage of calling people nut jobs, dumb, annoying, dumbest person in the world, super jerk, etc. He also makes a very unfortunate comment when Parker is having a really hard time getting through his reading that it caused everyone in the class to want to drink bleach (a way of saying it was long and excruciating). Mateo says his sister is like a comic villain because she’s evil and spits venom. References comic books (which today are typically very dark). He also makes a lot of references to things like Spongebob and Gremlins (a horror-type movie). He also talks about things like the zombie apocalypse and refers to Dawn, a substitute teacher, as Dawn of the Dead. Mr. Kermit, the teacher, begins the story uncaring and negative, unable to move past an issue from many years ago. He calls his colleagues dunderheads and makes bitter, unkind comments. Early on the issues with the class are shown through pranking a substitute, roasting marshmallows over a trash can inside, buttering the floor so someone who walks in slips and falls hard. — After this intro material as we progress towards a good ending there are only a few items to know about. The class realizes something they are leaving to do (something against the rules, they feel justified in doing) is going to get them in trouble, to which they decide that since they are already in trouble they might as well just do it. In addition to the references above, there are also mentions to Game of Thrones, Snapchat and Harry Potter. Unfortunate references include zombies, idiot, dumb, jerk, rejects, “oh my god”, ungodly, “gut him with a protractor”, “they will have her throat open”.