Awkward

Fiction | Graphic Novel/Book | Middle Grade | Published in 2015

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Chapter 3Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 3 Summary

The day after the field trip, Peppi is still trying to figure out how to apologize to Jaime. She wants to draw a comic about their experience at the Discovery Center but is having trouble fitting it into four panels. The rest of the art club is having trouble thinking up ideas for their school life comics. They are visited by the newspaper’s editor and staff reporter, Jenny and Akilah, who give them some tips and inspiration for school-related ideas.

Meanwhile, a ruckus from outside reveals that some of the science club kids are aiming a rocket at lockers to collect velocity data. Miss Tobins scolds them for setting up “unsafe experiments” (86). The art club kids comment on the nerve to ignore orders from Miss Tobins. As Peppi and her friends walk outside, discussing the science club, Peppi sees Jaime gathering data while he and some girls fly a kite. The accompanying illustration shows him with a huge smile.

Later, in her science tutoring session, Peppi asks Jaime about the kite. The science team is doing a presentation for the regional science fair about aerodynamics, but he asked to be taken off the team because he just likes science, not competition. Jaime seems keen to leave the conversation and, after asking Peppi if she has any remaining homework questions. As they get their things, Peppi’s draft comic of trying to find the geocache with Jaime falls out of her hands. Jaime reads it silently, hands it back to her, and leaves.

The next morning, Miss Tobins congratulates Peppi on her recent test score. She wants to see how Peppi does on her own and suspends tutoring. The illustrations show Peppi wide-eyed and disappointed. In art club that day, Maribella shows off her finished comic. No one else has finished and Maribella is nervous about the deadline.

The next day, one of the art club members brings a newspaper to school. The headline is about a prank at the regional science fair: The front page shows the Berrybrook science team, who “pulled a prank and ruined the science fair this weekend” (93). In science class, Miss Tobins is furious. Peppi almost feels bad for the science club, but the art club is thrilled the science kids are in trouble.

After Maribella again confronts the principal again about their table at the school fair, he announces over the PA that while both clubs have some positive aspects, neither is contributing to the community. Over the next two months they must complete a project for the school. The rest of the school will vote on which is better, and the winner will get the table at the school fair. After the announcement, Maribella is invigorated. The science club kids taunt the art club that they won’t lose their table. Peppi sees Jaime down the hall, reading, separate from the rest of the science kids. Maribella calls an emergency editorial meeting with Peppi at her house the next day.

The next day, Maribella leads Peppi into her father’s office. When Maribella sees her father getting home early, she panics and tells Peppi to “look busy” (103). Her dad comes in and compliments their work ethic. He’s angrily snaps that he’s glad she doesn’t take after her mother and orders Maribella not to disappoint him.

On the bicycle ride home, Peppi thinks about how Maribella seems afraid of her dad. She’s also angry that Maribella’s dad called her mom a “bad word” (106). In her distraction, she is almost hit by a recklessly speeding car. She swerves and falls to the ground. A woman nearby calls to see if she’s okay. Peppi looks up to see Jaime and his mother, an artist who uses a wheelchair.

Jaime’s mother calls Peppi’s mom to come get her and invites Peppi into their home while she waits. Jaime’s mom is excited that Peppi is there because she doesn’t “often get to meet Jaime’s friends” (108). Jaime calls Peppi a talented artist, so Jaime’s mom asks Peppi about her art. When Peppi says she likes to draw her bunny, Pepper, Jaime’s mom asks Jaime to fetch the painting she just completed for a bunny portrait.

When Jaime is gone, his mother asks Peppi if she’s the girl who pushed him. Peppi is ashamed and says how sorry she is. Jaime’s mother smiles and says Peppi should tell Jaime that. When Jaime arrives with his mother’s sketchbooks, she asks him to show Peppi the geocache he’s going to hide with his dad. Excited, he leads her into his dad’s workshop. Jaime’s dad shows them the geocache and all the cool machines he’s invented. When they go back inside, Jaime’s mother shows Peppi her sketchbook. She has a bunch of professional animal drawings of rabbits and horses. Peppi is amazed by her artwork.

By the time Peppi’s mom arrives, Peppi doesn’t want to leave. Since their families live only two streets away, Jaime’s mom invites Peppi’s family over for dinner. At home, alone in her room, Peppi reflects on what Jaime’s mom said. In a burst of inspiration, she begins drawing an apology to Jaime.

Chapter 3 Analysis

Chapter 3 escalates the conflict between the art and science club and begins to resolve the conflict between Peppi and Jaime. As the tension between the two clubs rises, Peppi and Jaime find out that they are more similar than they are different.

This chapter introduces a competition between the two clubs. Formerly, their animosity was expressed via small, cruel pranks played on each other. The principal’s challenge to the clubs, which pits them against each other in a zero-sum competition for table space at the school fair: The entire school will view the projects and vote on the better one in a zero-sum contest, after which the winning club “will get the table at the school club fair” (98). The principal’s intention is to inspire school spirit by generating a friendly rivalry. He tells the art club that they’ve “been using the school resources without giving anything back,” and he tells the science club they’ve “become disruptive” (96). His solution for them is to for both to “contribute to the school community” (97) by creating something for others to enjoy—his way of underscoring The Importance of Academic Community.

On its surface, this seems like it might be a good solution to the problems the clubs are having, directing the unfocused energy of the art club and the reckless exploration of the science club into prosocial activity. However, in practice, the principal is fostering unhealthy competition that relies on a stereotypical view of The Relationship Between Art and Science: calling the art club unfocused plays into the typical perception of artists as impractical dreamers, and labeling the science club reckless invokes the mad-scientist trope. Moreover, the availability of a single table is manufactured scarcity: In Chapter 5, both clubs end up getting tables. This false scarcity produces fear in the two clubs. An illustration on page 98 shows two mirrored panels, one of each club. The students in both clubs have expressions of shock and worry.

Another reason this competition is unhealthy is because it operates on the idea of getting attention. The principal makes it so that the project that is most popular among the student body will get the table. This incentivizes both clubs not to produce something truly beneficial to the community, but something flashy. This emphasizes product rather than process or personal growth.

Both clubs now feel like they must win at all costs, even to the point of sabotaging each other. The science club kids come into the art room to say, “That table is ours, and ours it’ll stay” (99). Maribella calls back, “We’re going to mop the floor with you. I hope you’re ready” (100). Neither club truly cares about producing something for the school community: They only care besting the other club.

Meanwhile, a new understanding forms between Peppi and Jaime. Peppi is more interested in the fun and creative environment of the art club than the competition. She says it’s “amazing just to be here with other artists, trying things” (84). Peppi is interested in the healthy aspects of competition, like cooperation, exploration, teamwork, and the journey. She demonstrates empathy toward Jaime and the science team when she wonders “if that’s what the science club is like for Jaime” (85). Even though Peppi struggles with science, she realizes that it might provide a place of learning and exploration for someone else.

Illustrations on pages 87 and 100 show Peppi observing Jaime’s relationship to the science club. While some of the science kids dangerously build rockets inside and get scolded by Miss Tobins, page 87 shows Jaime having fun flying a kite outside with two other students. When some science club kids trade insults with Maribella on page 100, Peppi observes Jaime reading down the hall, far away from the fray. She observes that Jaime purposefully separates himself from the mischievous hyper-competitiveness of some of his fellow club members. Peppi doesn’t only rely on observation for her empathetic understanding of Jaime. She also probes deeper to learn more, asking Jaime about whether he’s part of the team for the regional science fair. She learns about their similar temperaments when he replies that he “asked Miss Tobins to take [him] off” the team because “I don’t really like competitions. I just want to do the science stuff” (88). Jaime thinks the competition is a distraction from the excitement and creativity of doing science.

When Peppi goes to Jaime’s house, she sees that Jaime’s mom is an artist and his dad is a scientist. Their clearly happy and balanced marriage shows a different way for The Relationship Between Art and Science to develop. Jaime shows Peppi an automated playground roundabout powered by a leaf blower and a mechanized play spaceship that his dad made. Jaime’s dad invents things just for the fun of inventing, and he inspires Jaime to do the same. Similarly, Jaime’s mom makes beautiful paintings and drawings of bunnies and horses. Peppi sees that both artists and scientists create things out of love, joy, and curiosity. Jaime’s parents inspire Peppi so much that by the time her mom arrives, she doesn’t want to leave. They provide Peppi with an alternative to the competition generated by the principal: At the end of this chapter, Peppi understands Jaime’s perspective on competition better and resolves to use her art to apologize to him.