About this title: Martin Hastings has a bad reputation and practically no friends. Even worse, his parents are threatening to take away his beloved dog, Rufus. Martin really wants to be a good guy, but it isn't easy to be part of a family that never listens, or to be the oldest and biggest kid in class at school. Martin knows something must change, and gradually he ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Harper & Row, New York
Date Published: 1963
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. PB, A VERY GOOD USED COPY, TEXT CLEAN, SMOKE FREE. 194 p. illus. 22 cm. Includes Illustrations. Audience: Children/juvenile. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Harper & Row, Ny
Date Published: 1963
Description: A wonderful copy with some minor edgewear to the cover. Dust Jacket may have chips and close tears. A former library book with the usual identifiers in a protective glossy dust jacket covering. -, Hard Cover, Very Good / Good. read more
Description: Good in GOOD. jacket. FORMER LIBRARY BOOK. MAY HAVE COVER WEAR, SPINE CREASES, HIGHLIGHTING, UNDERLINING & PAGES YELLOWED FROM AGE. FASTER SERVICE FROM US! ! ! read more
Description: Acceptable. Former Library book. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Dell Publishing
Date Published: 1977
ISBN-13:9780440408574ISBN:0440408571
Description: Illustrated by Leonard Shortall. Good. 0440408571. Small tear at bottom of cover.; 194 pages. Martin, the bully of the block, did not care if he had any friends. A rare view emerges from an 11 year old boy's lonely world. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Dell Publishing Company 1969
Date Published: 1969
Description: This printing is a rebound, hardcover printing. This was probably originally printed as a paperback, but was bound in hardcover by library. Usual library markings. 194 pages. read more
"Martin is a deeply lonely preadolescent boy who earns a reputation for picking on children smaller than himself. He is self-absorbed, self-pitying, a compulsive liar, and a thief, and constantly justifies himself when challenged. This book follows his muted coming-of-age, as he turns from his destructive behavior and attempts to live down his reputation. His escapades are sometimes funny, but more often embarrassing as his bad behavior brings him humiliation and shame.
Martin's bad behavior grows out of his deeper problem: his parents are supremely inattentive to his basic relational needs. Their consistently selfish response toward him at every turn creates a poisonous family dynamic which is the source of his profound loneliness and insecurity. Early in the story, Martin's parents allow him to adopt a dog when he promises to reform his behavior, but the promise is so sweeping that it is impossible for him to live up to. When the dog becomes inconvenient for them, Martin's parents return it to its former owner, citing Martin's bad behavior. Although his father admits that he should not have asked Martin to commit to a standard beyond his abilities, he does not ask for forgiveness but instead urges Martin to be unselfish and think of the dog's needs. This scene provokes Martin to hate his parents, and he wonders "if goodness and unselfishness were something that adults talked about when what they really meant was Don't bother us" (61).
Martin himself never takes responsibility for his own behavior, but rather mysteriously outgrows it by the end of the story. While he does attain some reasonably admirable accomplishments (maintaining a newspaper route to save money for a saxophone and walking away from a provocation to fight), he never asks forgiveness or makes restitution to people he has injured. The gradual change in his behavior suggests that all along he has wanted to be good and just couldn't figure out the right technique. This opposes the biblical doctrine of original sin, which holds that humans are evil by nature. Martin's violent, narcissistic behavior may easily be understood as the natural expression of an evil heart, but the idea that he is merely a good-hearted, misunderstood boy trying to do the right thing falls far short.
While this story might be valuable for helping children cultivate compassion for the local playground bully, the poisonous character of Martin's family, and the wishy-washy way in which Martin's sinful behavior is explained, makes it an unsuitable choice for our family library."
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