The Saturday Boy
By: Alina Bergstrom
Setting
Eleven year old Derek Lamb lived in a small town where he went to elementary school. Derek was having a hard time in school, at home, and with his former best friend, Budgie. Budgie ends up to be a bully to Derek in school. When the two are back at school, after spending what Derek thought was a fun day playing at Budgie's house, Budgie humiliates Derek in front of the other kids, even letting him know that Derek is his archenemy.
Main Character
Derek Lamb is an 11 year old 5th grader, that gets bullied by his former best friend Budgie. Derek's own lack of focus and also a love for comic books, and superheroes, like Zeroman and Dinoman makes him an easy target. Derek also struggles with the fact that his dad is in Afghanistan flying Apache helicopters. To comfort himself, Derek reads and rereads the letters his dad has sent him over the course of his life - all 91 of them, which he keeps in his dad's old plastic Knight Rider lunch box.
Conflict
Budgie continues to be antagonist to Derek in school, which drops his confidence and forces him to lie to his dad and say that everything is "okay" when in reality it is not. Derek then seeks revenge on Budgie for all the mean things he had said, it backfires. Hurt and angry, Derek takes his magic markers and writes on the boys' room wall to express his feelings about Derek, which earns him a trip to the principle's office, and a call home to his already stressed out mom.
Rising Action A
Budgie is how he earned the nickname Saturday boy. Budgie and his mom found Derek waiting at the school bus stop in the pouring rain on Saturday morning. And by Monday morning, everyone knew about it. Budgie passed mean notes to Derek in class which disabled his ability to pay attention to the teacher in class.
Rising Action B
On Christmas Eve, Derek was very exited because he would participate in a play. Though his part didn't have many lines he was still very eager to perform in front of his mother. When it was his turn to go up to the wings of the stage, to his luck, stood his enemy Budgie. Budgie began to call Derek names which made him furious. The night ended with a fight between Budgie and Derek.
Resolution
The book ended with a bittersweet ending, with Budgie and Derek sorting out their differences and reuniting. But he also learns that his dad's helicopter has been shot down and his dad didn't survive. Derek then made new friends that liked the same things as him including a girl named Violet, whose mother died from cancer.