Pardon Me, You Are Stepping on My Eyeballs, seemed to be a lot like the first series of books we read by Zindel. There were many similarities to The Pigman, The Pigman and Me, and the Marigolds play. Again, we are dealing with teenagers, both of which have a dysfunctional family. One mother is a drunk, while the other mother is living her life again through that of her daughter, pushing her to be everything she wanted.
For the multiple intelligence, I chose to work with a Verbal, Linguistic, and Intrapersonal Intelligences activity. I chose to have my students use the template for and Elegy to one of the characters in the book. It was interesting that most students chose to do the elegy to Marsh and his dad. Many of them wanted to show Marsh their homes and schools, like the example given on the website. However, many of them did not want them to see their friends or teachers. One child had a wish that caught me off guard. One child in my class wrote, “I wish I could write a letter to my dad. My dad died when I was little.” It broke my heart. Using the Elegy template in the classroom helped the students and myself to make connections beyond the ones we did for the other books.
I would like to evaluate this novel according to the implied reader. I believe Zindel specifically wrote this book for students in high school, or there of, who are not in the “in crowd.” I believe he wrote this book for those students who see themselves as different or even odd. A student like this could identify with Marsh and his feelings of loneliness. I believe that they would relate to his insecurities and need to have one person in his life that he can truly depend upon. These students are struggling to find meaning and purpose to life. Sometimes, unfortunately, the do not find their “out” and are consumed with other things to take place of it; such as drugs, alcohol, or even dropping out of school. I believe that this book would help those students to see that you can be strong. I think it too would help them to see that it is okay to be different, and that this difference makes them independent and unique.
I would also like to pair this novel to a classic that I have read in my classroom in years past. Dear Mr. Henshaw is about a young boy, middle school age, whose father is gone from the home and divorced from the mother. He is a truck driver. The whole book is written in diary form, showing all the ups and downs the boy goes through while dealing with the trials of being a teenager in a single parent home.
Finally, as an intervention activity, I would like to use this book with Dear Mr. Henshaw as a springboard into letter writing. After reading Dear Mr. Henshaw, the students and I would do an activity on friendly letter writing. We would go over the format, and then write a letter to another student in the room. The only catch is, the letter would not be signed. The students would have to describe themselves using details and the person receiving the letter would have to guess who wrote the letter. Next, we would read this book. When finished, we would visit the website: This website is geared toward high school writing, but I would make adaptations, such as using the television screen and going through each step of writing the letter with the students. I would also explain to them the similarities between their letters and that of Marsh’s dad, trying to persuade Marsh that the government was “out to get him.”