Palmer LaRue’s 10th birthday is getting closer and the fear inside of him
is growing stronger with each passing day. In his town, turning 10 is considered
to be the biggest and most honorable day of a boy’s life. When a boy turns
10, he has finally earned his place as a wringer. Palmer has feared turning 10
since he was 4 years old; standing at the soccer field; holding his moms hand;
listening to the people shrieking and calling “Wringer! Wringer!;” the
feeling of excitement suddenly turning to horror; Palmer realizing just what
is meant to be a wringer and knowing, at that moment, it was something he did
not want to be.
The smells and sights he experienced that day at the park have remained with
him, engraved in his memory like a bad nightmare. “Palmer hated the park.
He never played there, never swung on the swings, never slid down the sliding
board, never fed the ducks, and never watched a softball game. Most especially,
he never went near the soccer field. For in one month, for short weeks after
his birthday, the soccer field would become, as it did every year, a place
of horror.”
All his life Palmer has dreamed of being one of the guys. On his 9th birthday
that dream comes true; the guys initiate him into the group with a nickname
and “the
treatment”. He belongs; one of the boys just a year away from becoming
a wringer.
As the time grows closer will Palmer accept his fate of being a wringer or will
he risk everything and find the courage to oppose it?
To find out what Palmer will do and to find out just what being a wringer means,
read Jerry Spinelli's Suspense book, “Wringer”, and then decide
what you would do if you were 10 years old and faced with this situation. Wringer,
By Jerry Spinelli, Harper trophy, 1997, Gr. 4-7.