The Outsiders

     I just finished reading my coming of age novel called "The Outsiders". I think that this story is powerful and speaks of a group of boys friendship that is so strong they would go to all kinds of lengths to protect each other. 
     The main character (Ponyboy Curtis) is a boy who loves his family and tries to please them in whatever way he can. But at the same time Ponyboy tries to be the guy that the gang admires. I think that Ponyboy just needs to be himself. I think that being who people want you to be isn't healthy for you because soon you will really start to become a person that isn't you.You'll start to do things that the real you wouldn't do. You just wont be you. If you aren't yourself (unless you're a bad person) life will always lead you the wrong way.
     Sodapop is the supportive guy of the story. He is the kid that will always be there for you when you need him most. He is the kid that you can count on all of the time, the kid that you can talk to and not a word gets out. I think that being supportive is always a good trait because people can count on you. Just the fact that you are able to help a friend through a hard time is enough. I feel that even though Dally is the oldest, Soda is the glue that keeps the three boys together. Keeps them sane.
     Two-Bit is like the fun loving, laid back guy in the book. He is always so chill about everything. He likes to joke around alot even if you are not in the mood for his antics (vocabulary word, extra creditttt!!!!). Two-Bit can make a joke out of anything and that right there is a talent all by itself because if you can find anything and make people laugh at it and have a good time over it. You could cheer up the whole group.        
     Darry is a guy who just wants to protect his family. Ponyboy sees it as hate but Darry is only looking out for Ponyboy. Darry is the serious guy in the book. He is always straight forward about everything and he won't try to butter it up to make you feel better. Darry will give you the cold hard facts no matter how they hurt. I feel that Darry loves the things around him but just doesn't know how to show it. I feel he expresses his feelings through anger and people take it the wrong way.

     Johnny is just a scared boy that is trying to get through life as he knows it. He doesn't want to have to put up with the fact that the "Socs" jumped him. He doesn't want to have to put up with all this "Soc" and "Greaser" business. He wants to have a normal life where everybody is the same no matter how much money they have or how they look. Johnny doesn't want to have to deal with his parents that fight all of the time.Johnny wants a normal life. A life that is carefree. 

     Dally is the bad boy of the group. He is the one that does the time in jail, has friends on the down low. Dally is all brawn and no brain. The only weakness that Dally seemed to have was Johnny. It was like he was a big brother to Johnny. He cared about him and he protected him as much as he could. You could tell that Dally had a soft spot for Johnny because when Johnny died Dally went, robbed a store, then pulled a gun on the Police just to get what he knew was coming after.... death.

     I don't really know about Steve like that. All I know is that he is Sodapop's best friend. I think that the author just put him there to put him there. But then again everybody in that story has a purpose so I have yet to figure out what Steve's purpose was.    

Romeo & Juliet

        Everybody in the movie and book "Romeo and Juliet" have problems or problems that they have to deal with. They each go about these problems how they think is best and it all leads up to the shocking ending of Romeo and Juliet's deaths. Here is what I think.
        Romeo is always going through girl problems. At the beginning of the book where Romeo had first come into the movie/book he was moping and sulking around over this girl named Rosaline. He was sad because Rosaline had rejected him and went to the Capulet party looking for Rosaline. That was where he met Juliet.
        Benvolio always was trying to keep the peace and because he had saw Romeo sad he went to cheer him up. When Benvolio learned that Romeo was sad over a girl he told him "The best way to get over a woman is to find another one." So when Romeo first saw Juliet he thought about what Benvolio had said and went after Juliet leading to their brief relationship.
        Juliet's parents forced Juliet to marry Paris so she chose to deal with it by going to Friar Lawrence and threatening to kill herself if he did not see her out of the situation that she was in. This is when Friar Lawrence gave Juliet the potion to pretend that she was dead.
        Tibolt provoked everything by killing Mercutio and forcing Mercutio to cast a plague upon both of their houses [the Montague and Capulet's houses]. Leading to the ending of Romeo and Juliet. As you can see Everybody played a role in the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. And everybody had their problems.
             

8th Grade SuperZero

      I just finished reading my book 8th Grade Super Zero and I think that the main character Reginald [aka  Reggie] has overcome many things in his life and come to realizations. Some of the things that Reggie has overcome is fear, his lack of friends, holding his past against himself, and envying other people. He came to the realization that some of the things you really want and need can be right in front of you the whole time.
      At the beginning of the book Reggie was a scared little boy that wanted nothing to do with attention. He wanted to be invisible at school. He wouldn't answer back if he was being cut on, he would best try to ignore the  whispers in the hall, and worst of all, he couldn't talk to the girl he had liked for so long [Mialonie]. He was a "LAME". At the end of the book Reggie was getting up on stages to give speeches, he was running for school president and he had no fear of talking to Mialonie [he even almost kissed her] but he blew that chance and never got another one. When the book started Reggie could count all of his friends on one hand. He only stayed inside his friend box. He didn't try to go out and explore. Reggie's buildup of friends all started with a little boy named Charlie. Charlie was new to the school and just needed someone to talk to. The Principal [Principal Blaylock paired both of the loners up to be a big buddy little buddy thing. Charlie was a mess when Reggie first saw him but Reggie dealt with that pretty quickly. Anyway Reggie found out that Charlie lived in a shelter and made friends with almost the whole shelter especially George [ like his mentor]. Anyway the shelter pushed Reggie to get in the presidential race and when he did that was his first step to more respect. Reggie also always held himself for throwing up on the stage when he was singing a song. you can't rally blame him though because after that everybody cave him this nickname and started calling him pukey.
        Reggie came to the realization that some of the things you really want and need can be right in front of you the whole time. For example, Reggie always liked Mialonie but never really got close to her. When he started running for president she started helping him with what he was doing and he realized that she was actually a nice girl. Whenn he finally got close to he this kid in his class named Hector told him something. He said  "You don't know what you missed out on". He was talking about Ruthie. Eventually Reggie broke it off with Mialonie and Went after Ruthie. The friend that had always been right next to him. 

     

                      This is my picture and I chose it because it reminded me that we [the city kids] have all of our
natural resources while these kids in Kenya have to look for what they need in he garbage. Sometimes even
food. I think that people need to actually try and survive everything these Kenyan kids are surviving right now. Right as I write this response. Kenyan kids need to feel what it is like to have everything they need placed right in front of them. And as the Kenyans go through all of that we here in New York still complain about not having enough. Not having name brand clothing, not having the latest video game.
                   Kids these days can't get enough of what they got and they always want more. We have three square meals a day not including snacks and drinks. The kids in Kenya have to go through the garbage looking for food and after all that we still complain more than they do. This picture showed me how good we have life and how we should just settle for what we have. We have it good and we should not complain.

          In my book "8th grade super zero" the main character [ a boy named Reginald] goes through some serious bullying. I can tell this because the kids in school treat him really bad. They call him "Pukey" all of the time because on the first day of school he puked all over the auditorium stage. The teasing has gotten to a point as to where he feels like he s a nobody in his school. Like he's...nothing in school.. He  feels like the only place that he isn't a joke is in his bible class which his biggest crush attends.
          Reginald is a young Jamaican boy who needs help and the only sort of help he can get are from his two best friends Ruthie. I think that because Reginald is a shy kid he gets picked on alot. I think he should man up and grow some uhhhhhhhhhhhhh "manly parts". I mean I know that some people are just like that but you can't really be shy if you want to be popular. Reginald is a kid that gets talked down on alot.I don't think that Reginald should have to take that from anyone especially the E.D kids [Enhanced Dunce] like Hector. Reginald needs to stand up to all the kids that bully him [with the stupidest taunts] and maybe he'll get some respect.And then there's Donovan.
       Donovan is the most popular kid in Reginald's school. He's also one of the kids who torture Reginald in school.Donovan is the second worst for Reginald [Hector being the first] because Donovan is always on Reginald's case. Reggie can't really do anything about it though because as I mentioned before, Donovan is the most popular kid in the school. MS.ROBBINS DO NOT AND I REPEAT DO NOT READ THE BLUE Honestly I think that Reggie should just waltz up to Donovan, mad chill, and simply deck Donovan in his grill. I mean that's what I would do. I think that Donovan should just shut up and mind his own business because how are you going to penalize a kid just because he threw up. Anywayyy, Reggie also has some girl problems.
      Mialonie Davis. That is the name of Reggie's crush. Reggie shouldn't even have girl problems with her because she obviously likes him. I mean, how could just up and appear out of nowhere just to say hi? How do you ALWAYS notice him? I mean if I like a girl and they pass me in the hall I won't always notice them. This shows that Mialonie be scoping the hallways for Reggie. This also shows that this kid Reggie has noooo game. All in all though I think that Reggie needs to grow up and stop acting like this scared 2nd grader.                

WES MOORE (the less fortunate one)

        The things you do as a child affects your life O.D. I can prove this because in my book "The Other Wes Moore". Wes (one of the main characters)  is being pressured into being a drug dealer all of the time. I think that Wes was a good kid that just made some bad choices out of desperation.
Wes started off bad when he was influenced by his brother Tony who was another drug dealers to go into the drug business. Wes wanted more money to do what he wanted, and I would have felt the exact same way if my brother came through with his loads of cash. Honestly though i don't feel bad for Wes though because he did what he thought he had to do and now he's paying the price for it.
        Wes tried to shape up his life by going back to school and I applaud him for that. But when he got back into the real world all he did meant nothing so long as he had 4 kids, two baby mama's,  and a mom that he needed to help out. It also did not help him at all that he had a record already. Wes started in the drug business when he was only seven years old. I have no idea why a kid that young would want to join in drug dealing businesses. He doesn't need to support anybody, he doesn't need to pay rent. All he needs to do is go to school, and he doesn't even do that.
        I believe that if Wes did not make bad choices when he was younger, he would have done better when he got older. Every bad thing that happens to him in this book springs from the choices he made as a young kid. Wes's choices got better as he got older but now that he already scarred his life with bad things, it turned into a task in life that got way too out of hand for him to handle. Wes Moore could have been a good man in this world, but because of his choices from when he was a little kid, he landed himself a cell in jail. This shows that the things you do as a child affects your life O.D  

Ice

     
      Gregory, the main character in the book is going through a time where he has to help his friend Ice. Ice is like a brother to him and if he doesn't find out what to do with Ice quick, Ice is going to end up as just another brother bleeding out on the streets of the hood.
   
       Mtisha [Greg's girlfriend] is worried about Ice. She thinks that Ice is dealing drugs. She has the proof to back it up to, for example. Ice is suddenly showing up with more expensive clothing. He's pulling twenty's out of the blue. And he's cruising the streets with a Benz.
     
      I think that eventually Greg will bring Ice up on this and Ice will not come clean. Then Greg will always feel uncomfortable around Ice because he will always know the truth. Also I think that Greg will soon leave Ice and become very comfortable hanging with Ducky. But that's a topic for a different blog post.