The Report Card
| Author | Andrew Clements |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Brian Selznick |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's novel |
| Publisher | Aladdin Paperbacks |
Publication date | 2004 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 173 |
The Report Card is a children's novel by Andrew Clements,[1] first published in 2004. The story is narrated by a 5th-grade girl, Nora Rose Rowley. Nora is secretly a genius but does not tell anyone for fear that she will be thought of as "different".
Plot summary
11-year-old Nora has been secretly hiding her extraordinary intelligence from her parents and teachers, and still trying her best to do badly in school to prove to herself as "nothing more than average." She first noticed she was different after she perfectly put together a puzzle with no problem at all. When she started school, she acted like a cat so nobody would notice that she was different. But, after getting unwanted attention for it, decides to copy her classmates and observe them. One of her classmates, Stephen, comes to her absolute attention, and she becomes friends with him.
However, after their CMT scores come out, his relatively low, grades started becoming a competition and Stephen started thinking he was stupid and dumb, so she gets a bad report card, all Ds except for a C in spelling, to prove her point.
However, Nora forgot to log out of her account at the library, and Mrs. Byrne, the librarian, notices she was looking up Connecticut Mastery Testing, and looked at her history, which completely contradicted her academic record. Mrs. Byrne confronted Nora, and she was forced to confess. Mrs. Byrne admitted that she wasn't happy when they started giving out grade for Library skills, and that she would help Nora with her plant to demote grades.
Nora tells Stephen everything about her being a genius, and he comes up with a plan. Stephen leaked to Jennie Springs, the head of gossip in their school, and the fact that she is a genius is exposed. She acts like a snob all day, by starting conversations with teachers about things that aren't being taught yet. The next day, however, she has to face Ms. Hackney, the principal of Philbrook Elementary, to explain herself for scoring a zero on three tests. She explains that she dislikes grades because they cause too much competition. The next day, she stays home from school, playing sick. However, she had to go to school because Stephen started a campaign to call upon all students to follow her act and start a rebellion — to score zero in the next examination. He even passed out fliers for their cause!
In the end, after a school meeting, Stephen and Nora apologize on behalf of the involved students before the whole school, and she tells them she thinks grades cause too much competition, and it causes the extra smart kids to be all snobbish and stuck-up, and the normal kids to think they're dumb. Mrs. Byrne supported Nora, saying that she did think grades were getting too much attention. Nora told her mom and Mrs. Hackney that she did not want to be promoted to special classes, as she prefers to stay normal. The book ends on Nora saying goodbye to Stephen for the day, and she was glad that she treated him normally.
Characters
Nora Rose Rowley: The main character of the story and secretive genius. Her appearance is described as being short with reddish-blond hair. Researching is her favorite hobby. She was so intelligent by kindergarten that she taught herself to understand Spanish by watching the Univision channel and also to read National Geographic at 2 and a half. Nora loves astronomy, Latin, archaeology, soccer, ect. Her mother describes Nora as thoughtful, kind and caring. She has two siblings: Ann (6 years older) and Todd (3 years older). Her best friend is Stephen, who has average intelligence but still gets better grades than Nora.
Stephen: Nora's best friend. His self-confidence is poor due to low CMT. His favorite subject is English. He has never said one mean or angry thing. He got a higher grade than Nora in everything because Nora purposely had failed in everything. He was said to be a good friend, but forgot about her when some of his other friends come by.
Ms. Hackney: The principal at Nora's school. She is one of the people in the meeting to explain her low grades, and was deeply upset by her getting three 0s in a row.
Mrs. Byrne: The librarian at Philbrook Elementary School. She was one of the first to find out about Nora's unusually high intelligence and played a large role in carrying out her plan. She was equally unhappy about the competition for grades.
Dr. Trindler: The guidance counselor who gave her an IQ test.
Ms. Noyes: Nora's Social Studies and English teacher
Mrs. Zhang: Nora's science and math teacher.
Mr. Rowley: Nora's dad.
Mrs. Rowley: Nora's mom who expects great grades for all her children.
Todd: Nora's older brother. He is said to get low grades and show little concern. He is 3 years older than Nora.
Ann: Nora's older sister. She was said to get perfect grades, and is in band. She is 6 years older than Nora.
References
- ↑ Webber, Carlie (April 6, 2004). "Review: The Report Card". Kidsreads.com. Retrieved May 30, 2016.