The Cat Ate My Gymsuit (1974

1974 in literature

The year 1974 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics is founded by Allen Ginsberg and Anne Waldman.-New books:*Richard Adams - Shardik*Kingsley Amis - Ending Up...

) is a young adult novel written by Paula Danziger

Paula Danziger

Paula Danziger was a U.S. and e.u. children's author. She grew up in Metuchen, NJ. She lived in New York City and in Bearsville, NY...

.

Plot

The story follows Marcy Lewis, an amply-contoured thirteen-year-old freshman girl who hates her looks. She has a verbally abusive father

Father

A father, Pop, Dad, or Papa, is defined as a male parent of any type of offspring. The adjective "paternal" refers to father, parallel to "maternal" for mother...

 and it seems her parents, Martin and Lily, are always fighting. Her dad doesn't make her feel good about her excuses that result in her failing gym for the year. Marcy refuses to take gym due to her insecurity over her large figure. Marcy only has one friend, Nancy Sheridan. Nancy later admits she was Marcy's friend only because her mother told her to be, as both of their mothers were friends and participated in the PTA

Parent-Teacher Association

In the U.S. a parent-teacher association or Parent-Teacher-Student Association is a formal organization composed of parents, teachers and staff that is intended to facilitate parental participation in a public or private school. Most public and private K-8 schools in the U.S. have a PTA, a...

. Later on, Nancy grows to like Marcy as a good friend. However as Nancy was very popular Marcy sometimes got jealous of her. Through this club, Marcy meets a lot of new friends. She even meets a boy who seems to be attracted to her, Joel Anderson, whose attorney father works with the Board of Education

Board of education

A board of education or a school board or school committee is the title of the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or higher administrative level....

. Then one day, the principal comes to observe Ms. Finney. She teaches the material well, but the same teaching techniques that work for the kids by Ms. Finney are abhorred by the school administrators. Marcy and her friends suddenly find themselves coming to Ms. Finney’s defense when she is threatened with the loss of her job. Marcy even stands up to her father one day. Ms. Finney brings a legal case against her firing; once in court some of her students speak in her defense. Ms. Finney also brings up the legal case for refusing to say the school Pledge of Allegiance

Pledge of Allegiance

The Pledge of Allegiance of the United States is an expression of loyalty to the federal flag and the republic of the United States of America, originally composed by Christian Socialist Francis Bellamy in 1892 and formally adopted by Congress as the pledge in 1942...

. The school board reluctantly reinstates her, but Ms. Finney, realizing that she would be going back into an impossible situation, immediately resigns. Marcy and her friends feel betrayed, but come to understand her reasons, as they eventually use her lessons as they move forward in life.

Inspiration

The most recent edition of the book has an afterword by Danziger explaining why she initially wrote the book and why it is still relevant today.

The title of the book comes from one of the many excuses Marcy offers to her gym teacher such as "the cat ate my gymsuit" to get out of physical education classes.

External links

• Scholastic Books website on Paula Danziger