Rascals from Haskell's Gym by Frank Bonham

by Frank Bonham

The Meadowdale Butterflies, led by a slightly impaired Sissy Benedict, have to come up with a little bit extra when their arch rivals, Haskell's Raskells, inject unfair tactics into the invitational gymnastic meet

Genres: Childrens

Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Frank Bonham (February 25, 1914 – 1988) was an author of Westerns and young adult novels. Bonham wrote 48 novels, as well as TV scripts. Bonham was born in Los Angeles. He was a UCLA graduate. Bonham was known for his works for young adults written in the 1960s, with tough, realistic urban settings, including The Nitty Gritty and Durango Street, as well as for his westerns. Several of his works have been published posthumously, many of which were drawn from his pulp magazine stories, originally published between 1941 and 1952. Durango Street was an ALA Notable Book.

Reviews

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

Suddenly I can't stop thinking about this book, which I read in fifth grade (I think). Boy, it was a different era in children's literature when this little gem was written! It's about two rival gymnastics teams, the "Raskells" from Haskells Gym and the Butterflies from Some Other Gym. Ironically, the protagonist of the story is a Butterfly. The Raskells are the bad guys, although it's hard to say that anyone in this book is a protagonist, or a bad guy. The protagonist (whose name I can't remember) is betrayed at the beginning when one of her friends defects to the Haskells Gym. They never speak again. There is no big hug at the end, no "may the best team win." Our Main Butterfly thinks of nothing else but defeating her rivals, and the rest of her team had better be on board, too!

How so? Well, the Rascals invite the Butterflies for ice cream sundaes, which none of them should be eating, since they're in training. One of the Butterflies, in particular, is struggling with her weight and is constantly teased by the Rascals and frowned at by the Main Butterfly and their coach. After they eat the ice cream, the overweight Buttefly is filled with remorse. Her friend, our "protagonist's", advice? Go make yourself throw up! She tells her about her dad's friend, a jockey who "makes weight" by sticking a riding crop down his throat. The overweight Butterfly runs into the bathroom and makes herself throw up the ice cream, and everyone is relieved!

Yes. This is a book that encourages bulimia as a viable dieting option!

It also encourages catty behavior, spying, and backstabbing! It makes young girls extremely sensitive about their bodies, and rightly so! No one wants to be the "chunky girl", right? And remember: let down the team, and you will have no friends!

And seriously: what's up with the title? When I was in fifth grade, I mostly remembered being baffled by the fact that the Rascals were horrible. Weren't they the stars of the book? I kept waiting for them to turn nice, or befriend Main Butterfly or for her to switch sides. It bugged me for years . . . until I realized that this book, frankly, had worse problems.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though this was not particularly well written nor were there any characters with whom I could identify I read this one several times. I aspired to be a talented gymnast when in reality I am a veritable klutz and most definitely, not a risk taker. I thought I might glean some useful instructions on how to be more like the girls featured in the book and less like me. Like so many of my other attempts to emulate literary figures, this one failed.

[Liz . · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first got this book in a Goodwill when I was 9 or so- now at 24 I hunted it down to reread because I couldn’t get it out of my head. You can absolutely tell it was written in the 70s but the writing is quaint. A feel-good story that’s easy to read. No idea if the gymnastics content is accurate

[Kate Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cons: why did I buy this book?
Pros: it smelled pretty good

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOVED gymnastics growing up. I even did gymnastics myself, badly, in middle school. This book fed that gymnastics obsession. Still as good as I remember.

[Emma Voels · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great little book about a girl learning how to be confident in herself and finding the strength to bet the odds against her.

[DarBesko · Rating 5 out of 5]

This uplifting book is hard to put down. The suspense keeps the reader captivated.

[Aurora Dimitre · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sissy tries to help her gymnastics team, the Butterflies, win against the Haskell's in a big meet.

3.5 stars but I'm bumping it to four stars because I remember enjoying this a lot when I was a kid and in gymnastics myself. The story is still pretty good - Sissy gains confidence in herself as she learns what 'style' looks like in gymnastics. Along the way, she helps her dad find some lost money so that they can buy and restore an old hotel where Mark Twain wrote.

I think some of the dislike for this book comes from two instances where the girls suggest throwing up a meal is a good alternative when one of them overindulges in ice cream. That is absolutely wrong and shows the age of the book, but it is less than two paragraphs so you can still enjoy the story by skimming that part.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-read June 2002.