Save Me a Seat (Scholastic Gold)

This story comes from the point of view of two different fifth-grade boys with seemingly nothing in common. First, Ravi, "fresh off the boat," after his father receives a promotion and accepts a new IT position in America. Ravi assumes that the only other Indian student in his class, Dillon Samreen, will quickly become best buddies. Dillon is an ABCD (American Born Confused Desi) who dresses and speaks more like an American. Dillon finds school not so challenging academically, but socially and culturally, he has a lot to learn.Then there is Joe, the biggest kid in class, whose closest two friends have moved away. Joe has an auditory processing disorder, which makes school difficult. He also is an easy target for bullies like Dillon, who prey upon other children's vulnerabilities. Dillon picks on Joe unmercifully and goes about it sneakily so that the teachers are unaware. To make matters worse, Joe's mom has recently lost her job and has begun working in the school cafeteria as a lunchroom monitor. Dillon uses this fact to torment Joe even more.The new 5th-grade teacher, Mrs. Beam, doesn't realize at first how intelligent Ravi is and asks him to go to the resource room with Joe to get tested. Ravi takes this as an enormous insult, and he is angry and frustrated. Joe is happy to go to his resource teacher, Miss Frost, who understands Joe and provides him with support and lots of M & M's.Ravi finds out just how cruel Dillon can be when he tricks him into eating chili with meat in it—something that he is not allowed to eat. Joe and Ravi both learn a valuable lesson that things are not always what they seem.Anyone who has ever experienced bullying will especially identify with Joe, a lovable character with a kind heart. Joe feels empathy for Ravi and knows he is in for a rude awakening when Dillon shows his true colors.Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan have nailed their characters and tell a moving and realistic story in this sometimes heartbreaking yet moving tale. As a retired middle-school teacher, I would read this book with my class as it has so many valuable embedded lessons. It is one of the best books I've read this year, and I have no trouble giving it five stars.

It seems the objective of this book is to bridge cultural gaps between a poor oversized white American kid, Joe, and a petite Indian boy with a superiority complex, Ravi.How do these two unlikely stars align? By rallying against the rich entitled one-dimensional bully, Dillon, an “ABCD” which is a slur for an Americanized Indian American boy who sticks his “snake tongue” out at girls and sags his pants. Dillion commits several misdemeanors at school (kleptomania) and the kids never report him. Instead they begin to exhibit behavioral issues at home until they ultimately commit a felony (bodily harm) against the bully.In a world where bringing peanuts to school could be a deadly crime against your peanut allergy classmates, these two protagonists unleash leeches on Dillons private area.The moral: If you’re having trouble with a major bully, don’t talk to the school, don’t let your parents talk to the school, but unite against your mutual enemy and you will be friends be default.Several times in the book “white people” are referred to as a mass heard of monolithic culture. Introducing the world to youth in this fashion seems counter productive to the message this book tried to get across.Ravi is offended his name is mispronounced, but in his thoughts he spends the entire book calling his soon-to-be-BFF “Big Foot”. He also nicknames a faceless boy in his class “Jim/Tim” throughout. If learning names is a sign of respect and a major plot point of a sign of respect for Ravi, which does he not extend the courtesy to his peers? Something children learn is “be the change you want to see in the world”. Ravi does not do this. He also embodies every Asian American stereotype you’ve ever heard of.Joe is a classic modern American oaf. A sedentary, over eating, American boy. Although poor, he forces his mom to quit her job at the school because he’d rather be bullied and risk poverty. In the same chapter, his father is forced to quit his job too to be closer to home bc Joe has been bullying his mom while he’s out on the road driving a truck.So in the final chapter, Joe has two unemployed parents and conspires to physically harm his bully, Dillon, but at least he has someone to with at lunch... his co-conspirator, Ravi.The ending is with dots of ellipses. Ravi & Joe never speak, or form common ground. But it’s assumed they are bonded by harming their mutual bully. However the author never reconciles the fact Ravi harbors anti-learning disabled prejudices and Joe’s dad is apparently a raging anti-immigrant wing nut.It’s very weird and ultimately unresolved but does somehow elude to a “happy” ending.

Read this novel with my 5th grade class. It taught students that perspectives can change. And gave insight into different cultures.

I was very pleased with the outcome of this book, not because it ended on a positive note for the main characters, but because it really took its time in reaching that point. Ravi and Joe weren't the closest of friends along the way and they didn't really team up to take down the bully like some cheesy 1980s children's movie. They simply came to their own realizations about each other and the other people in their lives in their own way and in their own time. I also liked that the adults in this book weren't the useless side characters they are often portrayed as in children's literature. They weren't perfect, but they were reliable and competent adults.Ravi comes a long way from where he was in the beginning, and Joe discovers that it is possible to stick up for himself without fundamentally changing who he is. I gained a whole new level of respect for Joe when he stood up to his father, and I felt a nervous agony as I read through Ravi's acclimation struggles, particularly those relating Dillon. I'd say that Dillon was the most one-dimensional character in the whole book, the classic unredeemable villain. All around him though, characters showed depth and wavering loyalties. Even his followers were only loyal to a certain extant.In summation, two fully realized main characters and a satisfying plot tells me this book was a winner. Worth the read!

My child and I took turns reading this to each other. We couldn’t put it down. It is such a wonderful story about friendship and a really fun book to read.

This is a very interesting book that touches on different perspectives, bullying, cross-cultural differences, and more. I enjoyed reading it as an adult and my daughter enjoys reading it as a 3rd grader.

My 8 year old loved this book. Great story line.

Well written. It was great to have a character who had once been the popular kid in school and now found himself on the other end of the school popularity spectrum. I think it would make an excellent classroom read aloud and bring up some great discussion among students.

Save Me a Seat arrived in excellent condition.( The story is great too. My students are going to love it.)

my son liked it