88 pages • 2 hours read
Jordan SonnenblickDrums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2004A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 7-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary: “Take Me!”
After Steven accepts that Jeffrey has cancer, he starts to convince himself that if he makes “the right promises to God, he would magically make Jeffrey better again” (80). He tells himself that if he avoids things like eating sweets or thinking “impure thoughts” about Renee, he will be able to keep his brother from dying (80). Since he can never keep these promises, he feels as if he is constantly failing his brother. One day, Steven leaves class to go to the bathroom and hears someone playing the piano beautifully. He guesses it is Annette, but when he looks through the door, he is surprised by how pretty she looks playing the piano. When Annette notices Steven watching, she blushes and explains that she is preparing for an audition for a program at Juilliard School of Music. She then asks Steven to accompany her on the drums. When he struggles to keep time to what she is playing, she explains that the piece, Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five,” is in 5/4 time rather than 4/4 time, meaning that he needs to count five beats in every measure instead of four. When the bell rings, Annette gives him a Dave Brubeck CD and tells him to learn the piece so they can play it together.
On the night of Steven’s first 8th-grade dance, Jeffrey is sicker than usual and even refuses to be with his big brother. As Steven is getting ready to leave for the dance, Jeffrey teases him about Renee and asks if he will dance with Annette. Steven attempts to joke about the dance but cannot conceal his nervousness. At the dance, he stands far away from the dance floor with his guy friends and watches Renee. Suddenly, the DJ announces that Steven Alper’s mother is here to pick him up. Upon hearing this announcement, Steven makes one last bargain with God: “Take me. Don’t take Jeffy. Please, Lord. Take me” (97).
Chapter 8 Summary: “Fever”
Steven’s mom explains that she has picked him up from the dance because Jeffrey has a fever and needs to be taken to the emergency room. Now that Jeffrey has cancer, even a fever constitutes an emergency. At the hospital, the E.R. staff begin treating Jeffrey immediately when they learn he has leukemia. At the doctor’s suggestion, Steven holds Jeffrey’s hand while the nurse inserts a large needle into the Port-a-Cath in Jeffrey’s chest and hooks up the IV line. Steven begins to get woozy during the procedure. After falling asleep on Jeffrey’s bed, Steven wakes up and overhears the doctor telling his mom that Jeffrey has an ear infection and will need to be hospitalized for a few days to get antibiotics through the IV. When the doctor tells her that Jeffrey will need to be transported via ambulance to Philadelphia, his mom asks how much the ambulance ride will cost and explains that the family has been having financial difficulties with all the medical costs that have accrued since Jeffrey’s diagnosis.
Steven and his mom spend the night in the hospital with Jeffrey. Around five o'clock in the morning, Steven’s dad wakes him up to take him home. At home, Steven sleeps some more and then goes to play the drums. He is interrupted by his dad, who asks him to pick out some clothes and toys for Jeffrey to take with him to Philadelphia. When they go back to the hospital to bring Jeffrey his things, Jeffrey tells Steven that he is scared that they might have to do another bone marrow test, which is painful and will reveal whether the cancer is responding to treatment. Steven tells Jeffrey he has brought him his favorite Rescue Heroes action figure, Matt Medic, to protect him. As he says goodbye to Jeffrey and his mom, Steven tells his brother to remember that Matt Medic will help him to stay brave and get better.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Trouble”
On Monday morning, Steven is called down to talk to the school counselor, Mrs. Galley. Mrs. Galley tells him that his teachers are concerned because he is no longer doing his work and is failing most of his classes. She asks him if there is any reason for this change in his behavior. He evades her questions by making jokes and asking her for the candy hearts she keeps on her desk. When the bell rings, Mrs. Galley takes him to meet with all his teachers. Steven initially tries to tell them that his grades have dropped because he has been so busy with band, but Mr. Watras tells Steven that if he does not improve his grades he will not be able to stay in the band. Mrs. Galley asks again if there is anything they should know about, and Steven begins to cry. Miss Palma says, “tell them, Steven” (122-3), which makes him realize that she already knows about Jeffrey. He finally reveals that his brother has cancer. The teachers immediately become more sympathetic and agree that he can make up his work over Christmas break.
After the meeting, Steven accuses Miss Palma of reading his journal even though he had folded over the pages. She assures him that she did not read his journal but reveals that a student told her about Jeffrey’s cancer. Steven immediately suspects Annette, but when he accuses her of telling Miss Palma, she has no idea what he is talking about and is shocked to learn that Jeffrey has leukemia. On the bus ride home, Renee tells Steven that her mom ran into his mom recently and that she is sorry to hear about his brother. Renee reveals that she was the one who told Miss Palma that Jeffrey has cancer.
Chapters 7-9 Analysis
Another emotional stage that Steven experiences in response to Jeffrey’s cancer is bargaining, a common response to learning about a potentially-fatal illness in a loved one. He tries to make deals with God in the hope that he can somehow reverse Jeffrey’s diagnosis. However, his brother’s cancer becomes a more real and irreversible situation for Steven when he accompanies his brother to the E.R. and witnesses how aggressively the doctors have to treat Jeffrey’s condition. After this experience, Steven moves past the bargaining stage but continues to struggle with anger and sadness as he realizes that there is nothing he can do about his brother’s cancer. Nonetheless, he does his best to help Jeffrey to stay optimistic. When Jeffrey tells Steven that he is scared to undergo another bone marrow test, Steven reassures him by telling him that his favorite action figure, Matt Medic, will protect him and help him to get better. From this point forward, Jeffrey treats Matt Medic as a kind of stand-in for Steven, and the action figure helps Jeffrey persevere during his treatments in Philadelphia.
Amid the changes occurring at home, Steven continues to struggle with his adolescent insecurities about girls and socializing. He is particularly nervous about his first 8th-grade dance and draws a droll comparison between dances and dodgeball for nerdy boys like him: “you go to the gym, stand in a corner far away from the action as possible, and try not to be seen” (95). The scene where Steven watches Annette playing the piano is also significant because it is the first time he sees Annette as an attractive girl and potentially more than just a friend. When she notices Steven watching, Annette becomes flustered; Steven observes, “it was like, as soon as the music disappeared, so did ‘Smooth Annette’” (83). This scene parallels the scene in Chapter Five when Steven loses his concentration playing the drums when Renee walks into the rehearsal and thus suggests that while Steven has a crush on Renee, Annette has a crush on Steven.
Steven’s failure to keep up with his schoolwork finally catches up with him when Mrs. Galley calls him down to a meeting with his teachers. Although Steven still does not want to tell anyone about Jeffrey, being forced to tell his teachers–and soon after, Annette–represents an important step in his attempts to come to terms with Jeffrey’s diagnosis. At this meeting, Steven also realizes that he needs to take responsibility for his actions at a time when his parents have so much else to worry about. As a result, he begs his teachers to let him make up the work without letting his parents know. This meeting marks not only the end of Steven’s apathy toward his schoolwork but also his ability to keep Jeffrey’s diagnosis to himself. Now that his teachers, Annette, and Renee all know about Jeffrey, Steven will not be able to keep news of his brother’s cancer from spreading.
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