62 pages • 2 hours read
R. J. PalacioAuggie & Me
Fiction | Short Story Collection | Middle Grade | Published in 2014A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 3, Chapters 67-76Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 3: “Shingaling”
Chapter 67 Summary: “How We Got to Know Each Other Better”
The three girls continue to become friends over the next weeks. Mrs. Atanabi is fun but pushes them hard at practice. She encourages them and tells them fun stories but makes sure that every detail about the dance is right. Charlotte discovers that Ximena’s isn’t always snarky, just when she is around popular kids. When Ximena and Summer come over to Charlotte’s house, she’s nervous to feel accepted. Eventually she relaxes, and the girls have fun.
Chapter 68 Summary: “How I Prefer Happy Endings”
Charlotte doesn’t like that getting older means seeing that “sometimes stories don’t have happy endings” (233). Summer and Charlotte, and eventually Ximena, Google Gordy Johnson but can’t find anything concrete.
Chapter 69 Summary: “How I Discovered Something About Maya”
The fifth graders have their science fair, and Charlotte and Reno get a B+. She’s happy that Auggie and Jack get an A because she likes to see Jack happy. The “boy war” grows more intense. Charlotte feels bad that Julian is leaving mean post-it notes for Jack and Auggie. One day at lunch, Maya becomes invested in the conflict. Charlotte realizes that Maya has a “little crush” on Jack too. As Maya explains her dot game, Charlotte becomes bored, seeing how much fun Summer’s table and Ellie’s table are having. When Maya says that Ximena is “awful,” Charlotte tries to explain that Ellie was the one that ditched them, and Savanna hadn’t been nice to them. Maya doesn’t seem to understand this and still blames Ximena.
Chapter 70 Summary: “How February Made Us Money, Too!”
Mrs. Atanabi is late for every dance practice, which means the girls make $36. They all say “God bless America” when they get their dollar (239).
Chapter 71 Summary: “How Ximena Made a Discovery”
This chapter is the transcript of an article written about a dance performance in 1978. The “shingaling” was the center of its performance. The choreographer, Petra Echevarri explains that the songs in the performance were on a cassette tape that friend of hers made for her before passing away.
Chapter 72 Summary: “How We Texted”
Ximena, Charlotte, and Summer text each other about the article about their performance. They realize that Petra Echevarri is their dance teacher, Petra Atanabi. Charlotte shares that her mom thinks that Gordy Johnson might have passed away.
Chapter 73 Summary: “How We Went to Ximena Chin’s House”
Charlotte and Summer go over to Ximena’s house for a sleepover. She lives in a luxury apartment near Central Park. They learn that Ximena’s father is Chinese, and her mother is Spanish. They both work for the UN, so Ximena has lived all around the world. When Charlotte sees a photo of Ximena and Ellie on the wall, she thinks it’s a little strange. She sees a class photo and realizes that there’s a Post-it note over Auggie’s face. Ximena tries to explain that it was Savanna and the boys fooling around and that she thinks “Auggie’s amazing” (250) even if she isn’t comfortable around him.
Chapter 74 Summary: “How We Played Truth or Dare”
The girls play truth or dare. Summer shares about the day that her father passed away. Charlotte comments that she would hate being invisible, because then she would hear everyone talking behind her back saying that she’s “such a phony” (252). Ximena kindly says that she might not be a phony, but she does care too much what people think. When the girls ask if Ximena would be hanging out with the popular kids if they weren’t skiing that day, she admits that she would be. Charlotte is upset to hear that Savanna thinks she’s a teacher’s pet and gets roles because of it. Ximena tries to explain that Ellie and Charlotte used to be cliquey, and that Savanna felt left out. Charlotte realizes that she never thought about that. The girls drift off to slip singing the shingaling song together.
Chapter 75 Summary: “How Our Venn Diagrams Look”
Charlotte writes a Venn diagram of what she, Summer, and Ximena have in common. It shows that she doesn’t consider herself as popular or pretty as them, but that she feels pride for what they do have in common.
Chapter 76 Summary: “How We Never Talked About It”
Part 3, Chapters 67-76 Analysis
These chapters demonstrate how people are not always what they seem. Just as Charlotte is anxious under her eager surface, she learns that Ximena is kind “under her layers and layers and layers of snarkiness and mischief” (228). When Charlotte expects Ximena to “hit me with a sarcastic comeback” (228) after Charlotte calls her stupid for not realizing that a blind man didn’t know what she looks like, Ximena laughs instead. As Summer and Charlotte spend more time with Ximena, they learn that, while she has a privileged upbringing, she also has moved so much that she doesn’t have a lot of permanent friendships. Ximena even points out that Savanna, who Charlotte sees as intentionally unkind, felt left out when Charlotte and Ellie were best friends.
As Charlotte becomes more observant of others, she finally realizes that Maya has a social development delay of some kind. Maya doesn’t understand the difference between a forced playdate and voluntary friendship. While Maya might appear belligerent or unkind, Charlotte realizes that Maya hasn’t developed emotionally since they were young. As Charlotte becomes more aware of others, she realizes that there is more to people than meets the eye.
These chapters continue to show the complex nature of friendship among children. For Summer, Ximena, and Charlotte, their dance group brings them together. Charlotte and Summer’s connection over Gordy Johnson, the accordion man, is the “big bang” of their own friendship together. On the other hand, Charlotte has been Maya’s friend by default. Ximena, Charlotte, and Summer do not spend time with each other at school—after their sleepover together, they resume “business as usual” (263). Ximena admits that had she not been protecting her ankle for their dance performance, she would be skiing with popular kids rather than spending time with Summer and Charlotte. Friendships are important to the children, but an unspoken social order governs them.
While the friendships might appear fickle, unspoken rules influence them. Childhood friendships are more than just fun and games. The moments of connection that Charlotte has with Ximena and Summer are deeply meaningful. During their giggly sleepover, their topics of discussion range from crushes on boys to Summer sharing about losing her father. Ximena kindly tells Charlotte, “you do care too much about what people think of you” (253), further prompting her character development. Auggie & Me shows that a children’s feelings are authentic, and their friendships are meaningful.
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By R. J. Palacio
