Yash is the best athlete at Robinette Middle School. He’s so good, in fact, that he’s already been playing on the high school’s JV sports teams. Imagine his shock when he learns that his JV practices have kept him from earning a state-mandated credit for eighth-grade PE. To graduate, he has to take Physical Education Equivalency—PEE— also known as “Slugfest” in summer school.
At Slugfest, Yash meets the other students. Kaden is an academic superstar who’s physically hopeless. Twins Sarah and Stuart are too busy trying to kill each other to pay attention in class. Jesse is a notorious prankster. Arabella protests just about everything—including mandatory PE. And Cleo is a natural athlete who has sworn off sports. Then there’s their “coach,” Mrs. Tamara Finnerty, a retired teacher whose idea of physical education seems to have frozen in preschool. But Yash doesn’t care—as long as he gets the credit. Too bad one of his fellow “slugs” is determined to blow the lid off a scandal that could make all their time in summer school a waste. And if that weren’t bad enough, Yash is in danger of losing his star spot on the JV football team.
So Yash recruits his fellow PE rejects to train with him. Spending the summer with the most hapless crew in school can surprise a person. And their teacher might be hiding the biggest surprise yet.
Gordan Korman once again gives us another story about a bunch of misfit kids and the teacher who brings them together.
The overall theme of this story is fairness, specifically unfairness. Most of our starring characters face unfair circumstances, and I quote, “When you’re a kid, you don’t always control everything about your life.”
Arnie Yashenko, a.k.a. Yash, big shot athlete, was given a pass by the school to train with the JV instead of attending P.E., only to be told at the end of the school year that he’s missing a state-mandated credit for P.E. and has to earn the credit in summer school. Firstly, why was this law passed at the end of the school year when summer school was the only solution to the problem? Not cool, state education department. Not cool.
Cleo Marchand was a great athlete until she broke her foot skiing. She was in and out of the hospital and missed three months of school. Now she has to make up for every class she missed, including P.E.E. Not so much unfair, more like a big bummer.
When Arabella Hopp’s father left her mother for a younger woman, she swore never to be a victim again. As a form of defiance, she skipped three years of P.E. I admire her rebellious spirit, but I disagree with her actions.
Sadly, these are all probable situations that could happen in real life. These kids have every right to complain, and they do, but not for long. They identified the power they did have and worked together to improve their situation.
This was a heartfelt underdog story about working hard, teamwork, sportsmanship, and standing up to unfairness.