Scrawl

Scrawl (2010) is a young adult novel by American author Mark Shulman, who has written more than 200 books for young readers. Scrawl follows a young teenage bully, Tod Munn, and his experience in detention where he is required by a guidance counselor to write about himself in a journal. In the journal, Tod describes his struggles with coming from a low-income family, low self-esteem, and his problematic behavior at school. The novel was a finalist for the 2010 CYBILS Award.

This guide uses the 2010 Roaring Book Press edition.

Content Warning: Scrawl deals with themes of bullying and personal struggle.

Plot Summary

Eighth grade bully Tod Munn is writing in a journal as punishment for an incident involving vandalism and destruction of school property. The narrative begins with Tod describing how he regularly bullies another student, but the entry cuts off midsentence. The narrative then jumps back a week to Tod introducing himself in the journal. He addresses Mrs. Woodrow, the guidance counselor supervising his punishment and reading the journal. Tod claims that he is simply complying with an easy punishment. Tod’s friends, Rex, Bernie, and Rob, were also involved and punished; they must pick up trash in detention. Tod meets the word count requirement by describing his hatred of the school and its rules.

In further entries, Tod continues to rant against the school while describing the way classmates, teachers, and school security guards treat him. He is also bitter because he is from a low-income household. He has had several unsuccessful meetings with the principal, guidance counselors, and his mother to address his behavior. Mrs. Woodrow leaves notes in the margins of the journal, and Tod replies to them in writing. She asks him to describe his friends. Rex is unpredictable and moody. Bernie is poorer than Tod but positive and has known Tod the longest. Rob is middle class and outwardly friendly but also an outcast like the others.

When Tod skips detention one day, the principal, Mr. Carnegie, calls Tod's mother, who is not happy to be taken away from her busy sewing job for the local dry cleaner. Tod’s mother has forcibly enrolled him in her sewing school. Tod helps his mother with mending, but she keeps his earnings.

In English class with Mr. Harmon, Tod’s favorite class, Tod tries to play stupid but has insightful comments about the reading. Looking at his journal entries, Mrs. Woodrow thanks Tod for his cooperation and honesty. Later, Tod helps Luz Montoya, the "spooky goth girl" (33), staple her artwork to the wall. Luz is an artist, while Tod is constantly put down by their art teacher for not being good enough. Luz has created a sphinx statue made of car parts, that is on display at the school’s entrance, and Tod admires it. Meanwhile, Tod’s friends are growing suspicious and jealous of Tod’s easier punishment.

Tod writes about the school spelling bee a month ago from which the teachers excluded him; they teamed up to prevent him from winning. Tod misspelled a word on purpose to appease them and highlight their hypocrisy. Tod almost gives up writing at this point but is encouraged to continue by Mrs. Woodrow. He tells her more about Rex, who has lost faith in religion, and Rob, who has money but seeks thrills elsewhere. He also tells her about Greg, the head of the video club, and Karen, a popular rich girl, who are both mean to him.

Mrs. Woodrow gives Tod sandwiches because he has had to sell his free lunch card for extra money. Mrs. Woodrow asks why Tod hides his intelligence, and he claims that it’s so that he doesn’t become a target for more bullying. His good grades are ignored at home. His house is old, small, and cold. Tod describes the compact layout of his home and claims that his stepfather often complains about Tod watching TV.

Luz invites Tod to the school play auditions. Tod is secretly hoping that she will ask him to audition. Instead, she asks him to ask his mother to sew costumes. Tod feels ashamed and stupid for being hopeful. On his way out, Tod accidentally knocks over Luz's sphinx and destroys it. Tod wishes that he could fix it and begs Mrs. Woodrow not to tell anyone. The next day, Tod is shocked to see that the sphinx statue is back in place, unbroken. He thinks that his wish for it to be repaired somehow came true, so now he must fulfill the promise he made with himself in exchange: He has to help Luz with the costumes.

Tod and Bernie search the dry cleaner’s dumpster for clothes which Tod can use for the costumes; he fills up a box and hides it in his locker. Later, he steals a pair of pants off a clothesline and steals Greg’s jacket for a character’s costume. In gym class, Tod gets into a fight with Rob. On the bus ride home, Tod spots a thrift store and scours the boxes of second-hand donations behind the store for several useful costume pieces. Greg suddenly appears and records Tod holding up a dress to post online to ridicule Tod. Nevertheless, Tod spends the weekend secretly sewing. At home, Tod’s mom confronts him about his secret bag of clothes. She criticizes his sewing skills and shows him how to do it properly.

Later, Tod finally delivers the clothes to Luz, who is impressed. She reveals that she replaced the sphinx with another model she had at home. Tod leaves a note for Mrs. Woodrow at the end of the entry, since he assumes that it’s his last day of detention. He claims that he's learned his lesson and appreciates the writing punishment but is ready for it to be over. A week later, however, Tod has been suspended for a month and explains why in a new journal that he has started keeping. Rex and Rob were going to light the play set on fire and frame Bernie and Tod, but Tod caught them. The set was destroyed anyway, and the boys were suspended. Tod is vindicated when he reveals that Greg has been cyberbullying him, Karen has been stealing other kids’ money, and Rex and Rob are responsible for the play sabotage. Tod reveals that “Rex,” “Rob,” and “Bernie” are all nicknames that describe his friends’ behavior; their real names are Donny, Scott, and Doug, respectively.

Tod goes to the play, where Luz gives him credit for the costumes in front of everyone. Tod exits the auditorium proudly. Mrs. Woodrow reveals that she has supported Tod because when she met him after the vandalism incident, he claimed that he was influenced by the grammatically incorrect signs on every school door which read: “No trespassing violators / will be prosecuted” (229). Because they were trespassing violators, they technically shouldn’t have been in trouble. Mrs. Woodrow and Tod share a smile.