Ralph Fletcher's 'Scuttlebutt'

What? Scuttlebutt? Wow, Ralph can’t believe it. A boy named Ralph got told that his mom is going to have a baby! But, he didn’t hear the news from his mom. The title of the story is “Scuttlebutt”. The author of the story is Ralph Fletcher. The word “Scuttlebutt” in this story means gossip. The story Scuttlebutt shows that you can’t always trust everybody. It shows this when Ralph trusts his mom when she doesn’t tell him something important, when Ralph learns that he can’t trust a classmate named Karen Aaronburg, and most of all, when Ralph’s mom tells other people about the babies, but not her kids.

Ralph trusts his mom when she doesn’t tell him something important because in the text, it said, “A girl in school told me you were going to have another baby,” I sputtered. “Is this true?” “I’m sorry.” This shows Ralph trusts his mom when she doesn’t tell him something important because when Ralph says “Is this true” he is still trusting her but he learns and knows now that he can’t trust her. He learns this even though she says she is sorry. Also, the text says, “Mom! It would be nice if I knew before every other kid in school!” This proves Ralph trusts his mom when she doesn’t tell him something important because Ralph starts to get mad at

Ralph’s mom doesn’t care how Ralph feels. Also, in the text it says, “I mentioned it to Polly Renshaw. Polly must’ve told Beth Aaronburg, (Karens mom) and Beth told Karen.” This shows Ralph’s mom tells other people about the babies, but not her kids because Ralph’s mom told someone about the news that is not even in her family. Once Ralph’s mom told Polly, Polly told other people, and that keeps going on and on. That is why Ralph’s mom tells other people about the babies, but not her