99 pages • 3 hours read
Andrew ClementsThe School Story
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2001A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Themes
The Power of Positive Thinking and Perseverance
Positive thinking and perseverance are shown to be important tools in advancing one’s aspirations and maintaining one’s confidence. Zoe most embodies this theme in the way she motivates and encourages Natalie while relentlessly pursuing her goals.
Throughout the novel, at every obstacle, Natalie loses hope and wants to give up on pursuing publication of The Cheater. Natalie lets her own self-doubt control her, forcing Zoe to refresh Natalie’s confidence. When Natalie first tries to back out of the plan after coming up with her pen name Cassandra Day, Zoe gives Cassandra Day a pep talk, telling her “Don’t you believe one thing that deadbeat Natalie tells you. You are a great writer […] And we are going to get this first [book] published” (33). Zoe’s positive thinking helps Natalie push forward despite her insecurities about her writing and the plan as a whole.
Later, Zoe demonstrates positive thinking about her own abilities when convincing Natalie not to back out again after Zoe decides to be Natalie’s agent. Zoe pleads with Natalie to “[j]ust let me give it a try. It’ll be fun, and I know I can do this…I know I can” (59). Zoe’s faith in herself convinces Natalie to accept Zoe as her literary agent, which ultimately turns out to be a successful move. Zoe continues to advocate for her own abilities as much as Natalie’s, which helps keep the plan to publish Natalie’s book on track even when progress seems difficult. Zoe’s optimism proves how positive thinking can be a powerful tool for boosting confidence and advancing goals.
Perseverance is the other side of the coin. With positive thinking comes confidence, and confidence helps motivate one to persevere through obstacles. Throughout the novel, Zoe refuses to take no for an answer or allow anything to get in her way. For every problem the girls face, from disguising Natalie’s identity to sorting out legal matters, Zoe does not give up until she has solved the problem. The biggest example of Zoe’s perseverance is when she “plays poker” with the publishing company to get Hannah as editor for The Cheater. Though it’s a delicate situation, Zoe remains confident and “[sends] the manuscript directly to Tom Morton” (140), who runs the entire company, along with a cover letter explaining that Letha has taken over an assignment intended for Hannah. Hannah describes it as a “gutsy move” and “had to admire this Zee Zee Reisman” (140). Zoe’s relentless pursuit of exactly what she wants makes her an invaluable agent to Natalie and shows how perseverance is important to accomplishing one’s goals.
Honesty Versus Deceit
The question of Honesty Versus Deceit is introduced in Chapter 5 through the differing perspectives of Natalie and Zoe on telling the truth. Natalie and Zoe “had different ideas about what was and was not a lie” (27). While “Natalie always got the best results with the whole truth” (27), Zoe approves of manipulating details, “as long as the truth was not entirely absent” (27). These different takes on honesty are a point of contention between the girls as they must use deceit to accomplish their plan of getting Natalie’s book published. Though Natalie believes using a pseudonym would be lying to her mother, Zoe convinces her to use one by citing examples of other famous authors with pseudonyms, like Mark Twain and Dr. Seuss.
Using deceit turns out to be advantageous to the girls. Zoe uses deceit again to convince Ms. Clayton to help with the girls’ plan. First, Zoe presents the plan under the guise of a “publishing club” and slowly allows the details of the girls plans to assemble themselves in Ms. Clayton’s mind. Instead of outright saying that Zoe wants Ms. Clayton to take on all the responsibilities that Zoe and Natalie cannot handle as children, she frames the plan in a way that seems innocent until she has roped in Ms. Clayton’s interest. Later, when Ms. Clayton indicates she may back out, Zoe remarks, “I think Mr. Karswell might help us, don’t you?” (87). By pretending to be interested in the advice of another teacher, Zoe convinces Ms. Clayton to stay on board with the plan and follow through with helping them. Deceit proves to be a useful tool for the girls as they navigate the publishing process, and even once the book has been published, deceit contributes to the climax of the novel.
In Chapter 20, Zoe convinces Natalie to bring Ms. Clayton to the publishing offices for a tour, not informing either of them that there was a publication party happening for The Cheater. The moment of revelation is emotionally impactful to Natalie because she unknowingly walks into her own publication party and finally gets to reveal herself as the author of The Cheater to her mother. As Cassandra Day, Natalie got “to know her mom in a way she never had before” (168), and Hannah “felt close to Cassandra Day and had loved their little exchanges about the manuscript” (175). This new dimension to Natalie’s relationship with her mother was only possible through Natalie’s deceit. As a result, when Natalie reveals the truth about Cassandra Day, it leads to an emotional moment in which “they hugged, [and] the people and the room and the building and the city around them disappeared” (187). The moment of Natalie’s reveal is all the sweeter by the deceit that made it happen, which helps communicate the concept that deceit is useful as long as the truth comes out eventually.
However, deceit can have its drawbacks. After successfully getting Natalie’s manuscript into her mother’s hands, Natalie feels guilty about the deception she and Zoe used to advance her work. She expresses that she feels “like the girl in my book. I feel like I’m a cheater too” (108). Natalie’s guilt comes from a place of compassion. She believes it’s not fair for her to have the advantages she’s had in part due to the deceptive nature of how she got to this point. Natalie’s moral compass causes her to feel guilty about the girls’ use of deceit to get their way.
Overall, in the question of honesty and deceit, the book communicates the benefits and drawbacks of deceit and how it can be necessary sometimes as long as the truth eventually comes out.
The Effects of Loss
The loss of a loved one is a powerful and intense experience, and The School Story communicates how tragedy can have long-term effects on a person and that grieving a loss is a slow, ongoing process. Through the story Natalie tells in The Cheater, Natalie’s interactions with her mother and Zoe, and Natalie’s coping methods, the long-term effects of loss are developed throughout the narrative.
Natalie’s book, The Cheater is about a girl who gets caught cheating in school. While Natalie says “the story was about Angela and her friends” (54), Zoe, Ms. Clayton, and Hannah all pick up on the importance of Angela’s relationship with her father. Zoe believes “[t]he book was like a good-bye poem from Natalie to her father” (55). Through her main character’s relationship with her father, Natalie works through her own emotions about losing her dad.
Though it has been four years, Natalie’s writing serves as a means of processing her grief about growing up without her father. Hannah expresses concern about Natalie because “[e]ver since she lost her dad, Natalie had kept much more to herself” (111). Hannah worries that Natalie doesn’t talk about her dad and might not be working through her emotions in a healthy way. However, Hannah also notices that “the strongest section of [The Cheater] was the part about this girl and her dad” (111). Natalie’s book acts as a motif to communicate the way people work through loss because of its contents and how those around her react to it.
The effects of losing a loved one are also explored through Natalie’s interactions with her mother and her best friend. Zoe describes that, as Natalie’s best friend, she “saw things” (52), and she recalls a time shortly after Natalie’s father died. Natalie was sleeping over and Zoe’s father came in to kiss Zoe goodnight. Zoe “never forgot the look on Natalie’s face—angry and soft and hurt and strong all at the same time” (54). From then on, Zoe understood how much Natalie’s loss took a toll on her. Zoe recognizes that the book is an important part of Natalie’s grief, and that’s why she pours all her efforts into getting the book published “for Natalie and her mom” (52).
Natalie’s interactions with her mother are also influenced by their shared loss. In the first chapter, Natalie speaks to her mom about her mom’s day at work because “When her dad died, Natalie decided she needed to talk to her mom more” (5). The relationship between Natalie and her mother is deepened by their shared loss and by the efforts Natalie makes to ensure her mother does not feel alone. This shared grief that bonds them shows one way in which loss influences people’s relationships.
Finally, The Effects of Loss theme is also developed through Natalie’s way of protecting her memories of her father. Natalie’s love for reading stems from her childhood, when her mother and father would read to her. While Natalie’s mom read in a “warm and safe” tone (9), Natalie’s dad would be “loud and reckless” with sound effects, funny voices, and improvised lines (9). After her father’s death, “Natalie hid some of her favorite books in the back of her closet. She didn’t want her mom to read them anymore. Those were Daddy’s books” (10). When revisiting these books, Natalie “could hear her father’s voice reading to her” (10). Natalie’s decision to hide her books comes from a place of pain.
She understands that she will never have her father read to her again, and she does what she can to protect and preserve his memory through the books he used to read her. Once Natalie’s love for writing begins, she builds herself a workspace with “her dad’s old red desk chair […] and his old Macintosh computer” because “it was as close as Natalie could get to her dad” (12). Natalie’s actions in preserving her father’s memory and using his belongings is a way for Natalie to cope with her grief over losing him.
Through Natalie’s book, relationships, and actions, The School Story communicates how grieving a loss can be a long-term process and can influence one’s decisions, interests, and relationships.
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By Andrew Clements
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