Notes

CHAPTER ONE: JAY
Posted on November 27, 2008
Pg.1-16: Exposition
Ellis’ and Walters’ novel begins with the first protagonist, Jay, who is surrounded by his peers in the school weight room. As a group, they cheer his bench pressing ability. Just as he attempts one beyond ten presses, Jay is interrupted by a student’s voice: it alerts, “There are cops in the school” (3). Students note the school is surrounded by dozens of police officers.The opening scene switches to the school hallway (4), where Jay and his friends scope out the current incident. They see two armed officers in black uniforms enter the building, followed by a squadron of police. Kevin leads Jay and Steve to see more of the action from an unauthorized area. When the PA announces a LOCKDOWN, warning students to follow lockdown protocols, the 3 boys ignore the announcement, enjoying their own “lockdown spot” to view the action from the school roof. Intrigued by the number of vehicles / officers / artillery, the boys are also confused and speculate about their purpose (10-11).
The boys see black suited cops that “towered over two students”, cuffed and held by officers (13), followed by Ms. Singh. When the 3 boys are spotted by the police, they escape back through the trap door (14-15), finding a room to hide so not to get caught.




















Chapter 2 NotesPlot Summary: Haroon is the narrator in this chapter of the novel, which is written by Deborah Ellis. Ms. Monalisa Singh, the coach of the ‘Reach for the Top’ course, which is probably some sort of extracurricular academic course for the students that have a wider range of knowledge and are willing to expand and compete on it. Suddenly, the PA turns on with Principal Atkins yelling out that there is a lockdown. Ms. Singh, who taught for a year in the Gaza Strip, in unmoved by this announcement. The team, consisting of Haroon, Jose, Nadia, Marie, Azeem, and Nygen, continues on in their Reach for the Top lighting round. While they are competing, the police break into the classroom and they handcuff Haroon and Azeem. In this chaos, Ms. Singh is very angry, often telling the police to let go of the boys. Haroon, after telling the man in authority that he is a 3rd generation Canadian-Persian, has his handcuffs taken off, but Azeem is arrested and put into the police car. The lockdown is then considered officially over and the students are ordered to leave the school immediately. Haroon meets up with his friend, Julian, who is using a puppet. While they are walking through the halls, a bunch of white ninth graders give some racist comments to Haroon and Julian. After telling the ninth graders to back off, they walk away, trying not to be noticed by the sea of police or interviewers outside the school
Key Characters
Monalisa Singh- Coach of the ‘Reach for the Top’ team
Taught in the Gaza Strip for one year
Teaching in the Gaza Strip built up her mental confidence and endurance, although she was not physically a large person
Objects to the handcuffing and potential arrest of Haroon and Azeem (although Azeem is still arrested)
Represents Deborah Ellis in a way, as she is a confident and intelligent. Also, Deborah Ellis is an anti- terrorism war activist, and so is Ms. Singh
Haroon Badawi- Protagonist of the portion of the book Deborah Ellis has written
-->3rd generation Canadian Persian
-->Implied to be academically successful, as he is on the ‘Reach for the Top’ team
-->He is handcuffed and nearly taken away by the police
-->A quiet and almost cowardice person, as he makes no attempt to help his team mate/friend Azeem when he is being taken away
Azeem- One of Haroon’s team mates/friends from the ‘Reach for the Top’ team
-->Brown skinned
-->Handcuffed and taken away by the police
-->Was handcuffed along with Haroon because they were ‘likely’ suspects for the unknown crime ( 9/11 Terrorist Attacks)
Jose, Nadia, Marie, and Nygen