Flying Lessons & Other Stories

Monk Oliver, the narrator and protagonist in “Seventy-Six Dollars and Forty-Nine Cents,” is a seventh grader who tells his story through a series of poems. The first poem reveals that Monk has been tasked with writing a memoir, and he is supposed to make it interesting. In the second poem, Monk wonders just how much of it must be true. What follows is his memoir.

He begins by talking about his name, noting that other kids tease him by changing “Monk” to “Monkey” or “Funk.” He blames his mother, who gave him the name because she was listening to a recording by the jazz musician Thelonious Monk when she went into labor with him. He jokes that at least she wasn’t reading Moby-Dick.

After explaining his name, Monk claims that, in the past, he was not the cool kid. Back then, he enjoyed reading about Star Wars and quoting the movies with his friend Hervé. He also had a crush on a girl named Angel Carter, but never actually had a girlfriend, unless the time a sixth grader asked to copy his homework counts. Monk emphasizes that this was before a miracle that made him cool.