Wringer: Not All Birthdays Are Welcome by Jerry Spinelli

Wringer is a must read for anyone dealing with peer pressure and trying to learn how to be yourself.

Lead:
He did not want to be a wringer.

THis thing, this not wanting to be a wringer, did it ever knock him from his bike?  Untie his sneaker lace? Call him a name?  Stand up and fight?
No.  It did nothing.  It was simply, merely there, a whisper of featherwings, reminding him of the moment he dreaded above all others, the moment when the not wanting to be a wringer would turn to becoming one.