Chapters Seven through Nine Summary and Analysis

Torey receives short notice that she's to receive another child, a young angry boy named Thomaso. He immediately begins cursing and destroying things but Torey remains near the door, seeming not to reaction to his outburst but actually figuring that being forced to chase him down the hall would be more detrimental to her chances of working with the boy. During recess, with the children under the care of an aide, Torey reads Thomaso's file which indicates that his mother had died, his father remarried, and that he'd been a witness to his stepmother shooting and killing both Thomaso's father and his older brother. He continues to berate Boo, calling him a "nigger," and Lori, saying she's a retarded baby. By the end of day, there is the beginning of a tenuous truce though Thomaso...