Every year in August there is a festival where pigeons get shot and ten year old boys wring their necks to make sure they are dead, one problem Palmer has no interest to do so, and he even fears it. Not a big deal right? Well his dad is awarded with the best shooter award and all of his friends can’t wait for the day that they turn 10 so that they can wring the pigeons’ necks. On top of that, one day a pigeon comes to his room and he gradually cares for it and keeps it as a pet. If his friends had found out, they would wring the pigeon’s neck and Palmers neck right then and there. What was Palmer going to do when it came around to August?One main theme for this book is peer pressure. The whole time in the book Palmer has this inner struggle of what to do; on one hand he wants his friends to really like him, since just a couple of months ago, they barely even knew his name, and on the other hand, he wants to just accept the fact that he doesn’t want to wring the pigeons necks and keep his pet pigeon without having to worry about what everyone is going to think of him. This gives a really good message to kids who are reading it because in the end Palmer turns away from the peer pressure and keeps his pet pigeon and doesn’t wring any pigeons necks while letting everyone know it too. It’s good for kids who are the main target age to understand because peer pressure is something they would start to come across if they haven’t already. The cover of the book does not help you understand what the book is about at all. I had no idea what it was about and the cover looked somewhat dark and eerie. That is true. The book does have a dark mood to it. Personally the thought of wringing pigeon necks makes me cringe and I think it might be a little too much for kids who are 11-12 years old to read. I think reading it as a girl who is in college, I couldn’t relate to the book at all, but as for a 10 year old boy, I think they could more because a main focus is about Palmer’s friends and who his true friends are and that’s maybe something a younger boy cares about, his friends.
One thing that Jerry Spinelli really seems to capture well about children—their experience of a larger-than-life world. The ecstasy of a snow day. The stinging annoyance of a neighbor being called a 'friend. The blunt hungry yearning for acceptance. In Maniac Magee, this hyper-reality took the form of the mythic. In Wringer it's visceral, our protagonist's dread of turning ten:'In his dreams he looks down to find his hands around the neck of the pigeon. It feels silky. The pigeon's eye is like a polished shirt button. The pigeon's eye is orange with a smaller black button in the center. It looks up at him. It does not blink. It seems as if the bird is about to speak, but it does not. Only the voices speak: 'Wring it!' ' In Palmer's town, on the last day of Family Fest, thousands of pigeons are released from cages as live targets in a sharp shooting contest. At ten, he will join the ranks of the 'wringers', the boys responsible for snapping the necks of 'one-point' wounded pigeons. Palmer is turning nine. Palmer is out of birthdays.As it's been well noted, but not nearly often enough, the Pigeon Day of Wringer is clearly modeled on the live pigeon shoot held in Hegins, Pennsylvania every Labor Day until protests shut it down in '99. (Live pigeon shoots are still legal in PA.)On its own merit, Wringer is already a tightly suspenseful, claustrophobic novel: full of wonderful character moments and observational gems that build on its examination of peer pressure. But the truth behind the fiction sort of makes me wonder... maybe we do live in hyper-reality and as adults we've often just gotten too desensitized to see it. Palmer's voice seems to warn us himself: "He would come to it without having to pedal or run or walk or even more a muscle. He would fall smack into the lap of it without doing anything but breathe. In the end he would get there simply by growing one day older." Maybe we need exaggeration —maybe we need fear— to remind us how important it is to not be resigned to the wrongs of the world. Rating: 4.5 stars (Reread July 15, 2009)
What do You think about Wringer (2004)?
the plot in this book is thatpalmer is 9 about to turn 10 years old and that is the time he has to become a wringer.but he doesn't want to become a wringer so wants to stop his self from getting older. even thought becoming a wringer is a family fest and a honor and tradition. but he find a visitior on his windowsill and now he knows that it is time to stand up. a connection i have to this book is that i am soon going to be 12 and i don't want it to come but you can't stop time.so no matter how old you are going to turn you have to face your fears.so like want we all have to do is grow older so we can get wiser.that is why we have birthdays and wringers to celebrite you growing older. i give this book 3 stars out of 5 because i felt like palmer was acting like a baby because he did't act like a 9 year old about to turn 10. he acted like a 1 year oldand that us the part i didn't like about this book.
—cheyenne
For the life of me, I can't figure out why this book won a Newbery! My district made me read this to my class this year. There was an absolute uproar over it at a district meeting - people were not happy with the content. I had never read it before, but based on descriptions I had heard, I didn't want to read it at all. I ended up reading it for the first time with my class. We had some great discussions around it about bullying and being hurtful to others. I think that if this book is going to be mandatory, then there MUST be discussion about cruelty to animals. Parents were not happy about it either. Yet, it's still on the curriculum for next year. There are better books to read aloud. Yes, this book has beautiful imagery and great metaphors and similes, I just don't think the content is appropriate for a whole class. I wouldn't read it aloud again, given the choice. As for reading it just for myself, I really didn't like it. As for the nicknames, well, we had some fun with that. I had each student choose a character and tell one event in first person from the viewpoint of that character (they didn't understand personal narrative until this!). It was amazing what they came up with. I do think that many of my students enjoyed the book.
—Heather
My son selected this for Family Book Group. He prefers what he terms "realistic fiction" and Jerry Spinelli is one of his favorite authors.Like some of his other titles, this one is about finding your true self and identifying your real friends. Palmer's isolation is anguishing - it's very hard for me (as an adult) to read about him running around with his thuggish friends and working so hard to appear to be something he isn't. It was also hard to me to accept that the adults in his life wouldn't intervene - his teachers and parents clearly recognized something was wrong, but didn't do much to help him find his way. That said, I appreciated that the parents showed some growth during the novel. The dad, especially, comes to realize that his son might not feel the same as he did at that age. I thought his quiet, caring, companionship with Palmer during Family Fest was especially poignant: During the week his father said many things, mostly with his hands. He rubbed Palmer's hair and squeezed his shoulder and tugged on his shirt and tickled his ribs and pulled him backward with a finger hooked in the back pocket of his jeans and lightly brushed the side of his neck with his fingertips as he stopped and chatted with friends. Each of these things had a different meaning to Palmer and yet the same - a language unlearned, of words unheard, that came to roost at some warm and waiting perch far below his ears. (206)For me, Dorothy is a real hero of the book. She put up with Palmer when he and his friends mocked her. She called him on his sh*t (maybe a little too late, but she did it). And she was a real friend when he returned to her later. Dorothy is the friend I'd want if I were ten again.
—Janelle
