The new school counselor: Carla Davis

Carla Davis
Counselor
Patient
Good listener
Believes in Bradley
Office second door to the right
Not the girls bathroom

Carla Davis is the new school counselor that begins to help Bradley. She is young, and a bit unorganized, but really listens to the needs of her students. She never tells a child what to do and always tries to get Bradley to think for himself and to understand why he acts the way he does. Carla believes Bradley's lies and is always polite, even if Bradley is not.

This shows that children can benefit from having thier words and opinions respected. Children are told what they can and can't do all day at school that I think its really helpful to have a place that they can go to and know that what they say will be confidential and valued.

At this time Bradley makes friends with the new boy in class, Jeff Fishkin, even though his first comment to him was, "Give me a dollar or I'll spit on you." Bradley is excited about having a friend at school but never shows Jeff, and doesn't treat him like real friend. Jeff also sees the new counselor, whom the students simply call "Carla", because he is still adjusting to his new school environment. Jeff wants to fit in but doesn't know how so he stays with his only friend Bradley.

Jeff also makes the mistake of walking into the girls bathroom thinking its the counselors office, hence the title of the book. This isn't the first or last time that this event occurs in the story. It makes me laugh because at all ages, walking into the wrong bathroom is embarrasing.

(FYI: The author, Louis Sachar, married a woman named Carla Jean Askew, an elementary school counselor, who was the inspiration for the counelor in the book.)