The Misfits

The Misfits is a young adult novel by bestselling American author James Howe. The first of four in The Misfits series, the novel chronicles a group of unpopular seventh graders’ participation in a contentious student council election. The series inspired No-Name Calling Week, a bullying-prevention initiative that has been held by schools across the country.

Plot Summary

The Misfits is told from the perspective of Bobby Godspeed, a seventh grader living in Paintbrush Falls, New York. Bobby lives with his dad and works part time as a tie salesman at a department store. Bobby has three best friends, Addie, Skeezie, and Joe. Together, they jokingly call themselves the Gang of Five. The Gang of Five are unpopular and are often bullied at school.

One day at school, Addie refuses to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance because she doesn’t believe everyone in the United States experiences liberty, justice, and freedom. The student council elections are coming up soon, and every student has the option to take part in the campaigns as members of either the Republican or the Democrat party. Addie, an Independent, decides to start her own political party, The Freedom Party. Addie plans to run as vice president and wants to ask another student, DuShawn, to run as president. Addie believes DuShawn will have a good chance of winning because he is popular, smart, and African American.

In the cafeteria, Addie approaches DuShawn and asks him to run as class president as a member of her new independent third party. DuShawn is one of only three African American seventh graders at Paintbrush Falls Middle School. DuShawn and his friends point out that Addie mainly wants him to run because of the color of his skin. However, DuShawn surprises everyone by saying yes.

Addie convinces Bobby to run for treasurer on the Freedom Party ticket. At the end of the day, in their homeroom classroom, Bobby meets up with Addie and DuShawn. Addie explains that they are allowed to run as a third party if they can come up with a cause that is not being represented at Paintbrush Falls Middle School. Addie has decided that the Freedom Party will represent minority students.

On Sunday, everyone meets at Joe’s house to design campaign posters. Bobby invites Kelsey, an extremely shy girl whom he has a crush on. The group decides their party slogan will be “Freedom for One, Freedom for All” with the dolphin as the party symbol. After they finish the posters, Bobby, Skeezie and Joe hang out in Joe’s room. Joe tells Bobby and Skeezie that he is gay and that he has a crush on Colin, a nice, popular student running for vice president on the Democratic ticket. Skeezie reveals that Addie also has a crush on Colin.

The next morning, as Bobby and Addie hang up their campaign posters, they are called into the principal’s office. The principal tells Addie that she doesn’t have permission to run in the student council elections under a third party. The principal believes the Freedom Party, along with Addie’s refusal to say the Pledge of Allegiance, are just ploys to get attention, pointing out that the Freedom Party is meant to represent minorities but only has one minority student, DuShawn, running on their ticket.

At lunch, Bobby witnesses another student getting bullied and being called by a mean name. Bobby comes up with a new idea for their political party: the No-Name Party. Whereas The Freedom Party didn’t have a clear mission, the No-Name Party will stand up against name-calling at school. Later, Addie asks DuShawn if he will still run as president under the No-Name Party, but DuShawn says he has to think about it.

The Gang of Five makes new campaign posters. Each one features a mean name with a circle around it and a slash drawn through it. Later, after school, DuShawn approaches Addie and says he does not want to be a part of her political party.

The next day, Addie and Bobby meet with the principal and their homeroom teacher. They are told that they didn’t receive permission to create the No-Name Party. Bobby explains the purpose of the party: to put an end to name-calling. Everyone is surprised to hear Bobby speak up because he is normally a quiet kid. Finally, Bobby convinces the principal to let them run in the student council elections.

Addie convinces Bobby to give the campaign speech at the student council elections assembly, even though Addie is now running as president, because she believes Bobby has an important story to tell. At the assembly, Bobby shares a story about a mean nickname he received in third grade, “Fluff,” because he used to always eat peanut butter and Marshmallow Fluff sandwiches. Bobby explains that he ate those sandwiches after his mom died because he heard they were her favorites. The nickname “Fluff” was extremely hurtful. Bobby proposes that they start No-Name Day, one day a year when students will promise to stop name-calling. After his speech, everyone congratulates Bobby. Kelsey tells Bobby she likes him and asks him to the middle school dance. Colin reveals that he is gay and that he has a crush on Joe, and the two begin dating. DuShawn reveals he has a crush on Addie, and they begin dating as well.

The No-Name Party ends up losing the election, but the principal agrees to create No-Name Day and to address name-calling more seriously. At the end of the novel, Bobby reveals what happens to each character as adults: Addie becomes a middle school social studies teacher, Skeezie marries a waitress and they purchase a local diner, Joe becomes a famous writer, and Bobby becomes a senator.