The Report Card

“‘Rats!’ And I kicked the seat in front of us. ‘I knew it! A lousy C—how could I be so stupid!’ Stephen was wishing he hadn’t begged to see my grades, and his face showed it. He gulped and said, ‘Um … Nora? I hate to tell you, but all your other grades are …’ I cut him off. ‘I know what they are.’ Stephen was completely confused. He said, ‘But … but if you know what the others are, then why are you mad about the C in spelling? Because all the others are … Ds! You got a D in everything! All Ds—except for that one C.’ ‘Rats!’ I said again. ‘Spelling!’”

The dialogue both introduces the two primary characters and showcases Clements’s humor. The characterization portrays Nora’s peculiar ways of reasoning, and, the miscommunication lends to the scene’s humor as Nora’s response subverts Stephen and the reader’s expectations.

“My room was ‘a mess.’ I was supposed to ‘get it all straightened up’ before dinner. ‘Or else.’ Mom’s orders.”

The way Nora quotes her mother is humorous for two reasons. First, it demonstrates how Nora doesn’t connect personally with this rule; Nora simply internalizes her mom’s repeated phrases without processing it through her own voice. Second, these quotes sound like words from many mothers’ mouths, connecting young readers to Nora through a shared experience.

“When I first started reading, Todd was in kindergarten, and he didn’t know how to read at all. So I figured that if little baby Nora let anyone see that she could read, it would be a big deal. And I thought it might also make Todd feel bad, or mad at me, or both. Plus, I didn’t want my mom and dad to make me read my own stories at bedtime. So I kept the fact of my reading a secret.”

Learning to read is a huge milestone for children, and Nora’s commitment to hiding her reading abilities demonstrates how highly she values family. First, she fears that her progress would overshadow her older brother’s achievements. Also, even though she can read her own books, she enjoys the time spent with her parents as they read her bedtime stories. Her tone doesn’t make her subterfuge sound like a devastating sacrifice, but rather a means to maintaining mutual happiness.

“My whole life was flashing in front of me like a report on the six o’clock news.”

Clements often uses distinctive similes to illustrate his characters’ experiences. Analogies like this one show Nora connecting a feeling to a familiar experience—in this case, a news report, which evokes images of a bright screen with rapidly changing pictures.

“Another fact from the memory files: I had gotten off to a bad start in kindergarten. That’s mostly because I spent my first two weeks at Philbrook Elementary School hiding under a table in Mrs. Bridge’s room, pretending I was a cat. I meowed and hissed, and at snack time I poured my milk into a plastic bowl I had brought from home. That was so I could lap up the milk with my tongue. I acted like a cat until 11:35 every day. Then I would get up, dust off my knees, put on my jacket, and get ready to ride the bus to my afternoon day care.”

This detail portrays the quirkiness of young children—and, specifically, Nora’s quirkiness—through her sudden and peculiarly consistent transition from a strange make-believe game to normal behavior. This illustration also shows how children often hide more beneath the surface of their play than adults realize. Nora has more complex reasons for pretending to be a cat than anyone understands: Not only do her actions express a scientific interest, but they also demonstrate her dedication to hiding her true self.

“Stephen wasn’t one of the smartest kids in the class. I could see that. But Stephen was such a good worker. If he couldn’t do something, he was patient and he didn’t give up. […] He liked to sit alone sometimes and look out the window or draw shapes with a pencil or crayon. He didn’t look at the pictures in the picture books; he studied them. Also, when Stephen played a game, he always played fair. And the most important thing to me was that during all the time I watched him, Stephen never said or did one mean or angry thing. Not once. To anyone—even if someone was mean to him first.”

This passage explains why Nora feels drawn to Stephen, showing how his motivations derive from a genuine heart. He cares about respect and fairness because he doesn’t take himself too seriously, and he therefore doesn’t view everything through the lens of competition. The scene also depicts Stephen’s true love of learning long before teachers and tests try to tell him what kind of student he is.

“School was suddenly all about the competition, and grades were how you could tell the winners from the losers. Every assignment and quiz became a contest. I even saw a couple of kids cheating on a spelling test. […] It felt like school had turned into a big race, and it looked like the gifted kids had already won. Which was one more reason that everyone in our class started sorting themselves out into the smart kids and the average kids and the dumb kids. And that was terrible because Stephen started thinking he was one of the dumb kids. It wasn’t true, not at all, not for any of the kids.”

This quote contextualizes how intelligence impacts the social hierarchy at Nora’s school. The school shows preference to students with high test scores, which the students notice and apply to their social status as well as their own self-worth. Knowing that school is a race makes many students do things they wouldn’t choose otherwise, like cheat on tests, which brings out their worst sides rather than their best.

“Fifth grade was when Ann had started turning into a grim little A-making machine—with plenty of pushing from Mom and Dad.”

Fifth grade is a big year for Philbrook students, which Nora knows in advance because of her older sister’s experience. Though Ann seems to enjoy her hard-working life, fifth grade is early for any child to become all-business and career oriented.

“That was too much for my dad. ‘No!’ he shouted. ‘You may not be excused! You’re not leaving this table until you have read your grades out loud to your family!’”

Both Rowley parents push their children to earn the best grades possible, but while Mom usually keeps her tone even, Dad grows angry when he doesn’t get his way. Here, Clements illustrates how the significance placed on grades at school often is reinforced at home.

“I could tell my dad didn’t like it when Mr. McKay said ‘big fat F.’ But I sort of enjoyed it. I was proud of that F. I was probably the only kid in the history of the school to fail the obstacle course fitness challenge. It took a lot of creativity to look completely uncoordinated and totally out of shape.”

Nora humorously reflects on a test that took some “creativity” fail. This quote emphasizes her flippant attitude toward grades; she doesn’t worry about how a failed Physical Education quiz will affect her future because she can prove her competence another time. As P.E. is stereotyped as the easiest class in any school, Nora displays her sense of humor by poking fun at how much effort failing the assignment required.

“And I said to myself, But so what? Grownups run everything and it stinks and there’s nothing kids can do about it because that’s the way it’s always been and that’s the way it’s always going to be. Big news. Then I caught myself. I hate to catch myself thinking like that. That kind of attitude has a name. It’s called being cynical. It comes from the Greek word for dog, kunikos. Because there was this bunch of losers in ancient Greece, sort of a club, called the Cynics. The Cynics had no respect for anything or anybody. Like a dog who chews up your best shoes and then wags his tail. Or makes a mess on your front lawn right while you’re watching. The kunikos doesn’t care and it does what it wants to, and it assumes everyone else is the same way it is. But I had caught myself. I didn’t let myself be cynical. Because that’s too easy. And because I knew better.”

Nora gives young readers advanced, accessible background knowledge about a group of Greek philosophers without explaining it like they’re unintelligent. This critical aspect of Nora’s character makes her intelligent enough to feel extraordinary and relatable enough for the audience to connect with her.

“I felt terrible. I had never lost my temper in public before, and I had never used my intelligence that way either. Merton had deserved every word I had thrown into his face, but I had gone too far.”

Nora’s outburst in the cafeteria demonstrates another example of how Nora’s good intentions don’t always produce the results she hoped. She intends to do something noble—help Stephen—at Merton’s expense. However, Merton doesn’t share Nora’s gift, and Nora knows better than to think herself above her classmates because of her intelligence. As someone who takes great care with her gift, Nora is surprised by how easily she weaponized her advantage.

“But … but it’s like you’ve been a spy … for years. Like you’ve been this genius secret agent, spying on all the regular kids. And all those Ds on your report card? I was really worried about you, and all the time you were just goofing around!”

In this reaction to learning Nora’s true abilities, Stephen actualizes her deepest fear: If she reveals her true self, everyone will treat her differently—even her own best friend. From the beginning, Nora has thought that these Ds wouldn’t affect her future because she can prove her intelligence later, and the audience understands that she uses this privilege to help others. However, from another perspective, her bad report card can make her look like she’s flaunting her intellectual immunity.

“Because those CMT scores are a huge deal. And since the kids are the ones who actually sit down and take the tests, the kids control the scores. That meant that the kids had all this power that they didn’t even know about.”

Empowering her fellow classmates is an important component of Nora’s plan, though the execution goes awry. Students can easily feel powerless when teachers force them to sit down for testing. However, Nora recognizes that these tests hold power over everything else—teachers, parents, administrators—and the kids hold more influence than they assume, whether this is a fair system or not.

“‘Isn’t it wonderful? Everything is falling into place so perfectly!’ I wanted to scream. I wanted to shout, Have you lost your mind? Did you stop for one second to think about how I might feel about all of this? But I didn’t. That didn’t seem like it would do any good at the moment. So I just nodded and tried to smile.”

In this scene, Nora’s mom dreams up big plans for her daughter’s future, confirming another of Nora’s worst fears: If people know about her intelligence, they will have specific expectations about her future. However, shortly following her discussion with Mrs. Byrne, Nora chooses to do the next good thing in this small way, practicing self-control when an outburst would do more harm than good.

“Five minutes later a beautiful silence settled over the house. And finally I felt like I could actually think. Except I didn’t. I went downstairs to the family room and did the opposite of thinking: I turned on the TV. I flipped to The Learning Channel and toured castles in Ireland for a while, then explored the Great Barrier Reef, and then went digging for dinosaur bones in Wyoming. I was on vacation.”

Nora has a natural response to facing uncertainty: avoidance. She decides to stay home from school to avoid her classmates and teachers, and she alleviates her stress by watching educational channels. However, she recognizes that this pastime doesn’t actively engage her mind, but rather distracts her from more important matters.

“Stephen shook his head and said, ‘That was my idea, the part about getting zeroes. And then we worked on the plan some more together. But that part was my idea, remember?’ At that moment I wished Stephen could have been a little less honest—because then he would have seen that I wasn’t trying to steal the credit for his idea. I was trying to keep us both from getting run out of town by an angry mob of teachers and parents. But Stephen wasn’t clever that way, and there wasn’t a sneaky bone in his body. Which is one of the things I’ve always liked best about him.”

This quote demonstrates how Clements can implement dynamic tones into a scene. Nora tries to save her and Stephen from getting “run out of town”—hyperbolic imagery that shortly precedes their threatened suspension—but Stephen misunderstands her intentions. Nora then sobers the humorous image by conceding that Stephen’s guilelessness is actually one of his character strengths.

“My first thought was for my mom and dad. Mom gasped and then sat there like a statue, her back straight and stiff, and I could see the beginning of a tear at the corner of her eye. Dad’s face showed pure disbelief. I felt terrible for them.”

Mom and Dad represent a hyper-enthusiasm for grades, which can perpetuate an unhealthy mindset for school, but Nora also sees the good intentions behind her parents’ urging. They put effort and sacrifice into giving their children the best chance at a successful life, and Mrs. Hackney’s call for Nora’s suspension implies that those efforts have little meaning. Even though Nora disagrees with what her parents stand for, she doesn’t want them to feel hurt.

“Dr. Trindler just smiled and tapped his fingertips together. The psychologist was enjoying himself.”

This line further supports Dr. Trindler’s characterization by describing his peculiar reaction to a room full of arguing adults. Though he is not an antagonist, the way he observes everyone betrays how he cares more about the situation’s interesting psychological implications than actually creating a solution that benefits everyone.

“I’ve always been a lightbulb girl. Thoughts would come blasting out of nowhere, like a lightning bolt on a sunny afternoon—BOOM!—and I’d have a new idea. This was different. An idea was definitely coming, but softly. It was like I was looking at a broad, green lawn, and then there was a passing cloud or a shift in the wind, and every blade of grass snapped to attention, sharp and crisp. And there across the lawn I could see the footsteps of an idea, a simple path, and I could see it had always been there. And the path was for me. All I had to do was the next good thing.”

Nora uses two similes to describe the difference between the nature of her more impetuous ideas verses her more thoughtful ones. The first one, emphasized by the onomatopoeia “BOOM!” looks reckless and exciting compared to the calmer, more detailed atmosphere illustrated in the lawn. The images suggest that the quality of the latter idea won’t subside as easily as Nora’s more dramatic and explosive plans.

“And I guess it wasn’t so smart to think that I could change everything by myself, or even with Stephen’s help. Or that everything could change quickly. Because that’s not how things happen.”

Nora assumed if her plan was big and loud enough, she could make a dramatic impact in a short time. However, the narrative shows each of those big ideas backfiring, and Nora learns that she can only achieve lasting change by enduring patiently and resolutely through the process. This idea aligns with her new way of formulating ideas, which relies on waiting and listening.

“Am I really trying to get away from new challenges? Do you think that trying to be normal after what’s happened this last week won’t be a new challenge for me? And that stuff about working up to my full potential—who gets to say what my full potential is? An IQ test? Shouldn’t I have something to say about what I want to accomplish? What if what I really want is to be normal? What if being normal is my big goal in life? Is there anything wrong with that? To be happy and read books and hang out with my friends and play soccer and listen to music? To grow up and get a job and read the newspaper and vote in elections and maybe get married someday? Would that be so terrible? I know that I’m different, and I hope I’ll always be smart. But I don’t want to get pushed ahead so that I’m always trying to do what someone else thinks a person with my intelligence ought to be doing. I want to use my intelligence the way I want to use it.”

Throughout the novel, Nora argues that a person’s social life and relationships with other people are just as dynamic and challenging as intellectual pursuits. Nora refuses to undermine how challenging and meaningful interpersonal relations are, and insists that success is best defined on an individual level, rather than imposed upon a person by external pressures.

“Nothing can stop an idea whose time has come.”

Mrs. Byrne uses fate-associated language to affirm that Nora played a significant role in addressing an important issue, contextualizing her flawed efforts as profound rather than shameful. Even though Nora’s plans didn’t go as she intended, she was right to not ignore the problem. The narrative never belittles or dismisses the importance of Nora’s ideas, despite her young age and susceptibility to mistakes.