How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
When my mother's gone, my dad says, "So, son, why don't you ask Juli?"
"Dad!"
"It's just a little question, Bryce. No harm, no foul."
"But it'll get me a half-hour answer!"
He studies me for a minute, then says, "No boy should be this afraid of a girl."
"I'm not afraid of her…!"
"I think you are." (5.68-74)
When Bryce is nervous to ask Juli about her eggs, his dad has a theory: he's afraid of a girl. In fact, Mr. Loski gets pretty upset at the idea that his son is a scaredy-cat when it comes to talking to a young lady. Why do you think this bothers Mr. Loski so much? What does this tell us about his character? And what assumptions does he make about boys and girls here?
Quote #5
"But… how can I tell if one of them's a rooster or not?"
"Rooster are… I don't know… bigger. And they have more feathers."
"Feathers? Like I've got to go and count feathers?"
"No, stupid! My mom says that the male's always brighter." Then he laughs and says, "Although in your case I'm not so sure." (5.84-87)
In this book gender isn't just about guys and girls—it's about roosters and hens, too. Garrett and Bryce are trying to figure out whether any of Juli's chickens might be a rooster, so Garrett says they need to look for physical clues, like feathers. But even with these pointers, they still have some trouble figuring out who is who and what is what. In fact, solving the mystery of the chickens becomes about a lot more than hens versus roosters—it's also about figuring out why Bryce has to go spying on this girl and her chicks in the first place.
Quote #6
He sat there like granite for a minute, then leaned across the table toward me and said, "Why do you suppose that upset your mother so much?"
"I… I don't know." I gave a halfhearted grin and said, "Because she's female?"
He smiled, but just barely. "No. She's upset because she knows that she could very well be standing in Mr. Baker's shoes right now." (7.103-105)
When Mrs. Loski learns that Mr. B's brother was born with his umbilical cord around his neck, she gets seriously upset. At first Bryce doesn't know why, so he makes a little joke about her crying because she is a woman (which is a stereotype about women).