Charles Synyard (@CharlesSynyard)

“Daphne read the complaint. ’Mr. Bartosik has brought the complaint of smoking in the faculty parking lot against Bonnie Zaretki and Linda Compton.’ ”Linda took a brush out of her purse and began brushing her long, dark hair while Bonnie patted her mouth in what Katie was certain was a fake yawn. What's wrong with those two? she wondered. Don't they realize how serious it is to be brought before Teen Court?” (79-80) Finished reading Her Honor, Katie Shannon, the January 1989 fourth book in the Fabulous Five series by Betsy Haynes. These serials are pretty short, but yesterday was the first time I actually got to sit down and read one start to finish, only rising to make more tea twice. The above was just one of several funny scenes in an entry made for larger-than-life drama in a very small pond, but that I was somewhat wary of. Katie Shannon was heretofore the least sympathetic of the Fabulous Five girls’ clique, formerly of Mark Twain Elementary, now attending Wakeman “Wacko” Junior High. She has been the group’s radical feminist since the beginning of the Taffy Sinclair books (in one humorous scene on page 13 of the very first book, The Against Taffy Sinclair Club, when Katie is reluctant as her four friends want to begin a regimen to grow their busts faster when Taffy starts blossoming in the fifth grade, Jana Morgan sells the idea on her by saying, “Well, look at it this way. It’s a step toward becoming a genuine, bona fide bra burner. I mean, in order to burn one, you’ve got to own one. Right?”) While I note with chagrin that the other mainstays have become less natural, more of stock characters in the Fabulous Five series—Melanie Edwards is “boy crazy”, Christie Winchell is the brainy one, and Beth Barry is theatrical, while Jana is the well-rounded leader (in addition to often jumping to conclusions, she used to be boy crazy too, but has “settled down” on snagging boyfriend Randy Kirwan)—Katie has always been the radfem, not interested in boys and often critiquing plans to become more attractive to them. How did Katie become this way? She’s been a feminist since the fourth grade, and now it’s seventh grade. We get a clue from this amusing yet eye-rolling detail of her home life. ”She ran in the side door of the old white frame house where she lived with her mother and her cat, Libber. Libber was a scroungy-looking yellow cat that had staked out a claim on their back porch until they took her in. After they had taken her to the vet's to have her fixed, her mother said the cat was a liberated woman, so they named her Libber.” (38) Katie’s father died when she was a baby, and her mother scrapes together enough to live on as a freelance journalist. Absent a good man at home, is it any wonder she doesn’t appreciate the guys at school, either? Until now, that is. The best part of this little novel is that yes, our fiery red-haired feminist finally gets a love interest herself—and it isn’t the kind of “sensitive”, male-feminist type she could imagine herself liking. It’s Tony Calcaterra, a buff delinquent who boasts of already having had eight detentions (I think four to five weeks of school have elapsed so far). Katie. In another way, she‘s a girl, or rather a student, after my own heart. She’s proud of always following the rules, as I was at her age. I managed to get through school without ever having a detention, but poor Katie, she accidentally incurs one, when trying to warn two others to quiet down before they get in trouble, but she’s the one who gets caught. As I would have been, she‘s devastated over what to others is routine. Yet, it’s also easy to laugh along with Clarence Marshall and Richie Corriero as they tease the goody-goody the next day for finally getting hers, then claiming it’s a mistake. If you hadn’t already guessed, Tony Calcaterra stands up for her, insisting the detention may have been unjust (8-11). When Katie is still selected for Teen Court, a new experiment to adjudicate minor infractions, she aims only to be fair. When Tony shows up as defendant, she finds he is being wrongfully accused (Mr. Naser claimed he was being disruptive, but the bell had not rung yet), and he is let off. After school, he hits on her, and it’s adorable to see that strong, independent Katie‘s “thoughts jumbled, and her face felt hot” yet “as stiff as plaster” from talking to this “macho“ guy (checked, the word “macho“ appears in the text thirteen times). Then, Tony asks her out! “’You have a boyfriend?’ Tony asked suddenly. “Katie's arms tightened around her books. Then, trying to sound casual she said, ’No, I'm between boyfriends.’ She cringed inside at her words. Boy! That sounded dumb. "‘I mean, uh, I'm not dating.’ She felt the blood drain from her face. ’I mean not anyone steady,’ she added hurriedly. Why don't I keep my dumb mouth shut, she thought angrily. She didn't want him to think she didn't date at all.” (36-37) I can tell you, she had definitely never been dating before, and it‘s just great to see her waffling in real time because of this one interested guy. It’s often said by feminists that strong women make good partners. The caveat is, they make good partners for even stronger men. Tony cares about looking tough, he even says something Katie finds sexist once, but he proves to be just as concerned with fairness as she is. He always wears an earring, for which he routinely gets warned or in trouble, as the school rules stipulate that boys shall not wear earrings. After he gets into a fight with Clarence Marshall, who called him a sissy for wearing one, the issue of boys wearing earrings comes before Teen Court, and Tony concludes his remarks by saying, ”’There's a lot of talk these days about discrimination, especially discrimination against women.‘ He paused and looked sheepishly at Katie. ’The trouble is, discrimination can be a two-way street, and a lot of people don't think about that.” (71) Unlike what would happen today, Tony says he would not wear a dress, which would disturb people—which is exactly correct, since cross-dressing confuses the system of sexual signaling humans rely on to find mates. This is a good standard to go by. Unfortunately, by the late 1980s cultural standards had already deteriorated significantly, so not only did women wear pants to school, but outside of school it was increasingly common for men to wear earrings. The Teen Court reasonably finds the rule unfair, and starts a petition to change it. What I wish Haynes would have had someone bring up, but does not, is why does the school allow girls to wear earrings, either? Ear piercing is bodily mutilation, and is often a first step toward tattoos and other more serious forms of body modification. Later on, a teacher says the school would never allow students to smoke or do anything that would compromise their health. Then, shouldn’t girls be barred from wearing earrings, as well as boys, whatever the culture finds acceptable? For anyone who finds this drama dialed a little low for his tastes, things get exciting fast when that smoking incident comes to Teen Court. Bonnie’s dad, a lawyer, shows up, and says he’ll see the participants in this “kangaroo court” in a real court of law if they don’t lay off his little darling (80-81)! While I am sure Her Honor, Katie Shannon found few boy readers when it came out, it is a good primer for a bad boy trying to win a good girl. Tony ends up asking Katie out three times, then even ends up in Teen Court once more, for spray painting their initials on the outside wall of the school! While they aren’t exactly going out by the end, she has basically resolved to—albeit still with some self-deception. ”She would have to give some serious thought to going out with him. Only to find out if he was on the level, of course, she assured herself.” (113) The cover, again by the talented Ralph Amatrudi, shows Katie as chief judge when Tony, middle, and Clarence, right, show up to be disciplined for their fight. Can hear Clarence shouting, “This guy is just—“, Katie saying, “EXCUSE me?”, while smug Tony keeps cool. Unfortunately, it is misleading in three ways. First, it was actually an amicable scene, with both boys sorry and ready to make amends; second, Tony doesn’t seem to be wearing his earring; third, there is never any mention of there being a gavel. The next book, The Bragging War, will be the first starring over-dramatic Beth! Although drama from her home life featured prominently in the first Fabulous Five serial, Seventh Grade Rumors, which was from Jana’s perspective. #BetsyHaynes #HerHonorKatieShannon #FabulousFive #RalphAmatrudi #coverart #art #feminism #radfem #teencourt #court #fairness #discrimination #reversediscrimination #earrings #earpiercing #jewelry #romance #detention #school #childrensliterature #childrensbooks #literature #books