“Seventh Grade,” by Gary Soto tells a story about how Victor, a young boy who wishes to make Teresa his girl, tries to impress her. He is encouraged when he finds that he and Teresa share several classes including English and French. In French class, he decides to pretend that he knows how to speak the language, trying to impress Teresa. While he does not fool the teacher, Teresa was impressed and approaches him after class asking that he tutor her. The teacher, Mr. Bueller, wisely remembers his own youthful foolishness and does not give away Victor’s secret. Because of the teacher’s kindness, Victor decides to go to the library and check out extra books on learning to speak French.
One possible reason the author wrote this story was to bring adults nostalgia. As everyone these days are stressed about work and taxes, this story helps show them what their school lives were like, and compare it to their own. Victor always made a fool of himself trying to impress Teresa, probably what a lot of people have also done. If they had put themselves in Victor’s shoes, would they have done the same thing? Mr. Bueller also had a moment of nostalgia when thinking about his old girlfriend, and how he had impressed her by pretending to be rich. Overall, the story was a pretty interesting one.