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Slap Your Sides by M. E. Kerr

Summary

Thirteen year old Jubal Shoemaker's older brother, Bud, a Quaker, is drafted by the service during World War II. Because Bud's a pacifist, he feels he can't joint the service and remain true to his beliefs, so he becomes a conscientious objector that instead served in the Civilian Public Service. But his beliefs and actions don't sit well with the townspeople of Sweetcreek PA, who don't respect conscientious objectors. The Shoemaker family is harrassed with signs painted on their business door and wherever they go. Jubal just wants to be accepted by his peers and the town. His friend Daria has older brothers in the army, and she can't understand the Shoemaker's beliefs. But they remain friends throughout the town's slander and rejection.

Booktalk

As a Quaker during WWII, teenager Jubal Shoemaker is a pacifist: "If a war comes, I will do everything to oppose it . . . So help me God." The more he prays about it, the surer he is. When it's time for him to be conscripted, he intends to follow his older brother Bud as a conscientious objector. But it's hard in their small Pennsylvania town to be against the war when patriotism is fervent. Graffiti labeling Bud a slacker appears on the family department store, longtime employees and customers leave without warning. Jubal's growing relationship with a local young woman ends abruptly when her brother is killed at the front. Despite himself, Jubal cries when he hears the patriotic songs. His Quaker dad isn't nearly as strong a pacifist as his wife; the war breaks them both. Tensions increase in town and at the farm where the 15-year-old works until he accidentally kills a mentally ill Quaker while trying to protect Daria, whose dad is Radio Dan, and must face the fact that he has taken another person's life. Radio Dan explains what happened: Read p 185 from "That fatal Saturday" to "Food for thought, isn't it listeners?"

195 pages, 4th grade and up

Discussion questions

  1. Jubal always wanted to be like his older brother. Does this change when Bud becomes a conscientious objector?
  2. What makes Jubal and Daria's relationship so complicated?
  3. How does Jubal react when he learns Daria has been the one vandalizing their store?
  4. How does religion play a role in each character's relationship with each other and the town?
  5. What's Tommy's relationship with Bud like? and with Jubal?
  6. How does Aunt Lizzie's opinions create more conflict in the town?
  7. What role does Hart's farm and horses play in Jubal's life?
  8. What is the significance and role of Radio Dan in the story?
  9. How is the song "Slap Your Sides" important?

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