Purple Climbing Days

The Kids of the Polk Street School #9

by Patricia Reilly Giff

What's worse than a blue Monday?  For Richard "Beast" Best, it's a purple Monday spent climbing a fat brown rope with fat brown knots.



Beast wishes he could climb up that rope like Emily Arrow and Matthew Jackson.  Just looking at it hanging down from the gym ceiling makes him dizzy



Beast is afraid and hopes his friends won't find out.  But Mrs. Miller, the meanest substitute teacher in the whole school, finds out his secret and tells him to meet her in the gym after school.  Miller the Killer. What will she do to him?

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Middle Grade

80 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Patricia Reilly Giff was the author of many beloved books for children, including the Kids of the Polk Street School books, the Friends and Amigos books, and the Polka Dot Private Eye books. Several of her novels for older readers have been chosen as ALA-ALSC Notable Books and ALA-YALSA Best Books for Young Adults. They include The Gift of the Pirate Queen; All the Way Home; Water Street; Nory Ryan's Song, a Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Golden Kite Honor Book for Fiction; and the Newbery Honor Books Lily's Crossing and Pictures of Hollis Woods. Lily's Crossing was also chosen as a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book.

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars — What a great story! In this one, Richard “Beast” Best is afraid to climb the rope in gym, and really, he is not just afraid, he is terrified. He gets a reprieve when Mr. Bell, the gym teacher, is absent because classes won’t climb the rope with Mrs. “Miller the Killer” substitute. He also gets a distraction when his class gets a new class pet: a skink. He doesn’t learn a lesson, though, until a challenge makes him pick up the skink, which then loses its tail because - wait for it - it’s afraid of Richard. Who causes him to realize that? Mrs. Miller. And not only that, but the Killer helps him overcome his own fear by helping him climb the rope after school one day. What a sub! She totally ruins her reputation of being the meanest one ever. Sadly, I still can’t give one of these 5 stars. I know these kids are young. I know that they have no filter and can be cruel. But I want better examples for them and reasons why they shouldn’t be that way.

[Gina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a pretty good book. I liked that the book taught Richard to conquer his fears.

[Sharon Buxton · Rating 2 out of 5]

C. fiction, children, early elementary; boy overcomes fear, from stash, discard