Chapters 2 & 3

Summary: 2. Give My Regards to Clark, Poindexter

Kenny describes the social breakdown of his school, Clark Elementary. Larry Dunn has been held back for several grades. His age and strength make him king of kindergarten to fourth grade. Kenny’s older brother Byron, and Byron’s friend Buphead, have also been held back several times and are in the sixth grade. Kenny describes Byron as the god of Clark Elementary. Kenny is picked on at school for being intelligent, his enjoyment of reading, and having a lazy eye. He states that the harassment would be worse if Byron were not his brother. 

On the days that Byron and Buphead skip school, Kenny usually fears what he will experience on the bus ride. Today, however, two new students join the bus. They have raggedy clothes and country accents. Kenny believes that God has sent these two kids to be teased more than himself. When one of the new boys says, “Hiya y’all,” to the other students, Larry Dunn starts insulting them. The bus driver jumps up and starts reprimanding the students that were mocking the new kids. The bus driver then tells the new kids to sit next to Kenny because he does not bother anyone.

Summary: 3. The World’s Greatest Dinosaur War Ever

In class, Rufus, the older of the new kids, is assigned a seat next to Kenny. Kenny was originally hoping that people would pick on Rufus instead of him, but he worries that if they are next to each other, people will harass them both. Rufus and Kenny become friends. Each day at lunch, Kenny shares his second sandwich with Rufus and Cody, Rufus’s younger brother. Kenny and Rufus have battles with Kenny’s plastic dinosaurs. Kenny recalls his former friend, LJ, who would regularly steal dinosaurs from him.

Instead of harassing Kenny and Rufus, the other students just pick on Rufus and Cody. They each own only two shirts and two pairs of pants. On the bus, Larry Dunn points out that Rufus and Cody take turns wearing the same pair of jeans. Kenny laughs and Rufus stops talking to him. Eventually, Kenny’s mother has a talk with Rufus and Cody at the bus stop, and Rufus returns to Kenny’s house to have a plastic dinosaur battle.

Analysis: Chapters 2 & 3

These chapters juxtapose Kenny and Byron’s vastly different characters. The scenes at school demonstrate how different the two boys are while also emphasizing an intriguing dynamic between them. Kenny describes Byron as a delinquent and a bully and explains that Byron is just as likely to pick on Kenny as he is to pick on anyone else, but he also makes it is clear that Byron uses his status to protect him from other bullies at school. Kenny is often teased by other students, but they know to leave Kenny alone when Byron is around, suggesting that the family bond is strong enough that even the other students at school recognize it. Though the two siblings are shown throughout this section to be as opposite as two brothers can be, the importance of family bonds them together.

These early chapters establish the story as a coming-of-age novel, or bildungsroman, specifically through Kenny’s experience with Rufus. Kenny’s initial hope that Rufus’s arrival might divert the bullies’ attention away from himself, along with his initial dismay at being paired up with Rufus socially, reveal that he’s as self-protective as any victim of pervasive bullying. However, Kenny’s empathetic and generous nature allows a friendship to grow between the two characters when he shares his food with Rufus and Cody. The conflict between Rufus and Kenny after Kenny laughs along with the bullies about Rufus’s clothes is significant because it shows that while Kenny has mostly good intentions, he’s still a kid and a product of the social structure at his school. However, unlike Byron who seems not to care about how he makes others feel, Kenny is plagued by guilt and remorse when he realizes he has hurt his new friend’s feelings. The chapter’s resolution, with Kenny reflecting on his gratitude toward his mother for helping him fix the friendship, suggests that Kenny’s empathy has grown as a result of this experience.