3/26/2019 The Cat Ate My Gymsuit - Wikipedia

The Cat Ate My Gymsuit

The Cat Ate My Gymsuit (1974) is a young adult novel written by Paula
The Cat Ate My Gymsuit
Danziger.

Contents
Plot
Inspiration
Sequel
External links

Plot
Ninth-grader Marcy Lewis is a smart and sensitive girl who nevertheless lacks
confidence. Being overweight, she is embarrassed to draw attention to herself,
and she is failing gym class due to her reluctance to change clothes in front of
the other girls (resulting in numerous creative excuses for why she doesn't have
her gym clothes, such as the titular "the cat ate my gymsuit"). Her verbally
abusive father Martin belittles and criticizes the entire family, while her Author Paula Danziger
nervous mother Lily encourages her daughter to ignore his behavior and try Country United States
not to set him off, leading to Marcy's inability to talk about how she really feels.
Language English
When her English teacher leaves his job, Marcy's English class receives a new Genre Young adult novel
teacher, Ms. Finney. Ms. Finney is a creative and challenging free-thinker who Publisher Putnam
encourages the class to analyze their emotional reactions, leading them to
Publication 1974
create a school club called Smedley, where they are encouraged to consider not date
only their feelings, but those of others. Through Smedley, Marcy begins to
Media type Print Paperback
make new friends and starts to learn to stand up for how she feels. However,
Pages 160 pp
her father dislikes Marcy's new assertiveness, while the school administration
dislikes Ms. Finney's unorthodox teaching style. Finally, Ms. Finney is ISBN 0-14-240654-6
dismissed on the grounds that she refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance. OCLC 67616260 (https://ww
w.worldcat.org/oclc/6
Marcy and her friends from Smedley start a protest against Ms. Finney's
7616260)
dismissal until the principal, Mr. Stone, suspends the whole group. To Marcy's
surprise, her mother, who is the president of the PTA, takes Marcy's side Followed by There's a Bat in Bunk
against both the school administration and Marcy's father, who is furious that Five
Marcy got herself suspended for what, to him, seems a trivial reason. The
entire school--students, parents, and administration alike--are divided over Ms. Finney's firing, with the parents forcing
their children to end friendships with each other over the disagreement. The children, however, refuse to go along with
this.

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