Brother's in Arms

I just finished a book called “brothers in arms” made by the bluford series. In this book a boy named Martin Luna has lost his little brother. A bunch of teenage boys where driving in a black car. As they past martin’s brother one of them pulled out a gun a shot him straight into the chest. Martin watched his brother go down.  Martin wants revenge. His mom is trying everything to stop him. She even transferred him to another school. But that didn’t stop him from hanging out with his friends that smoke and carry around guns. Martin and his friends were looking for the guy who shot his brother for months. When they finally found the guy, Martin’s mom found out. He got kicked out of his house. He moved in with his friends and bought a gun.

                I think the reason why he is wants to get revenge because of the friends he hangs out with. Also I think it can be the parents. I don’t think the guy shot the boy for no reason I think he thought it was another person.  Or maybe the little brother did something but on the other hand he is only 8 years old. Martin’s brother died for no reason. I also think that its Martins fault for not letting him hang out with him. If the mom transferred him earlier I don’t think that his brother wouldn’t of have gotten shot.

                In real life little kids lose their lives when there exposed to bad environments. All in all children get killed because of their friends and parents.

                

The Gun

I’m reading a book called “The Gun” by the Buford series. In this book so far a young freshman was picked by a bully named Tyron. Tyron pushed and shoved Darnell. He would tell him to meet him after school every day so Darnel will give him money so he wouldn’t bully him in school. Finally Darnell got sick of Tyron and decided to go to wrestling program at his school. One day Tyron tried picking a fight with darnel because he didn’t pay him. Darnell through Tyron down and Tyron got a broken wrist. Everyone lost respect for Tyron and everyday he will be laughed at because of the incident. Tyron got sick of it and starting saving up. He then fell in love with a girl and then went behind her back and asked her for money. He told her he wanted to by his mom a necklace for her birthday but instead decided to buy a small silver revolver. Later on she found out he won’t be paying her back. One night he hid behind the bushes to take down Darrell and end it all.

Tyron had lots of troubles with his family. His dad ran away with a waitress and his mom is addicted to all kind of drugs. He has no money. I think it’s the parent’s fault that Tyron turned into a bully and stealing people’s money. Or maybe he just wanted to be a cool kid and do drugs and rob people. I think his dad made him like this mostly because the dad showed that it’s alright to run away with another woman when he was a wife.  Tyron must have felt embarrassed that everyone looks at him as a wimp. But at the same time it doesn’t mean he needs to buy a gun. It’s not going to solve anything. He wants to show that he is a tuff guy and a kid he bullied won’t get away with beating him up.

In real life people get bullied and the bully will get a taste f its own medicine. Also in real life there are people that are willing to buy a gun just to prove a point or to show that s/he is the tuff guy.

All in all Tyron shouldn’t have bought a gun to show people that he is a tuff guy. 

Money Hungry

I just finished a book called Money Hungry. This book was about I girl who used to live in the projects and then moved into a nice little neighborhood. She was poor and money was all she had. She will always save up and never spend it because she is used to the life in the projects were she had no money. Know she is selling erasers, pencils and other school supplies. She usually rips people off but she makes lots of money. She will always say if you spent money then it will be gone. She is obsessed with money. Every penny she has will go straight into her piggy bank. She will always try to get a little job with her friends like cleaning people’s houses of mowing there lawns.  Her friends will sometimes not go with her to clean houses because they will think it’s pathetic. She chose money over friends so she will always ditch them for a low paid job. All in all at the end she sees that she is losing her friends so she starts hanging out with them more instead of chasing around pathetic and low paid jobs.

                In my opinion I think 13 year old girls shouldn't worry about money as much. They should try to get a good education and have fun. I understand that she used to live in the projects and she used to always worry about money because her father left them and her mom had a very low paid job. So on the other hand she might be thinking that she doesn’t want to turn out like her mom. No job, no husband and living in the projects. But on the other hand maybe she is used to being so poor that she has to save up money. But I still do think that kids shouldn’t worry about money that much. Maybe she just wants to seem more grown up. I think it’s pathetic that a little 13 year old is obsessed with money. I also noticed throughout the book she is losing her education. Her grades are going down and her friends are starting to lose interest in her. The sad thing is she doesn’t even realize that she’s losing everything for just a few bucks. It’s also sad that all that hard work, cleaning houses, mowing lawns and selling useless things is not going to support you when you grow up.

                I think that it’s the parent’s fault that she is obsessed with money. I think that because her parents made there see that it’s going to be hard to support children and herself. She got all worked up that she thinks that she is going to be homeless because she won’t have any money. Or maybe she is sad that her dad left her and by saving money it makes her feel better by knowing that she doesn’t need a husband when she can support herself. All in all her childhood should have been better and her parents ruined it.

                In real life little kids live in the streets and can’t be supported. Like her she lived in the project with almost no support. A lot of kids live in the project because of their parents.

Am I Blue By Bruce Coville

I’m read a short story called “am I blue” by Bruce Coville. This short story is about a boy named Vince he was bullied by a boy named Butch Carrigan. He pushed him into puddles and beated him senseless. “You little fruit” he would say. Then came along his gay fairy god father. He guided him through of what Vince is gay or straight. The godfather told him he has three wishes. After a while Vince was convinced that he really is a fairy godfather. Vanishing stains, and changing regular coffee into Swiss double mocha. His fairy godfather granted him three wishes. His fairy godfather talked to him about how he was like him, getting bullied and being curious. After a while the godfather took him to a tour showing peoples true colors by turning them blue if there gay. Some people had shades of blue others were dark blue. Vince realized that some people are gay and some people have a hint of it without even noticing. All in all Vince finally found out his true colors.

Vince went through a lot. Getting bullied for something he doesn't even now is right. He didn’t know if he was gay but people still bullied him because of what they thought.

“You little fruit” he snarled. “I’ll teach you to look at me!” a moment or two later he had given me my lesson.

In that little phrase it shows that Vince is being called gay and getting bullied for it. Vince doesn't knows if he’s gay but people still bully him. I think that maybe the bully is gay and puts it out on Vince because he is smaller than him. Or maybe butch isn’t gay he is just homophobic. I think that butch is a little gay but didn’t realize it. I noticed that Vince is not defending himself by saying that he’s not gay. Also I noticed that he said he had given me my lesson. I think that when he is saying that he could be saying that butch taught him his lesson for being gay. But when the fairy godfather came he said that he didn’t know if he was gay or not. In the text it clearly states “he had dark hair, a neat mustache, and a sweater slung over his shoulders. He was kind of handsome almost pretty.” In those two sentences it states that Vince thought that the godfather is handsome and pretty, that kind of shows he was feelings for men.

Vince either grew up being gay or maybe something happened to him in his early childhood that made him confused. They didn’t mention anything about the parents in the passage so maybe Vince has gay parents or something affected him because of his parents.

In real life lots of kids don’t know who they are. They are curious and are confused. Some kids already know if they are straight, gay or bi, but others still don’t know. A lot of kids can relate to Vince in real life.

All in all Vince doesn't know what he is and his fairy godfather is trying to guide him through it.

The Drummer Boy of Shiloh By Ray Bradbury

We are reading a book is called “The Drummer Boy of Shiloh” by Ray Bradbury.  A 14 year old boy named Joby ran away from his family and went to war. He only had a drum and 2 sticks. He cried and sobbed because he was afraid to go to war. The general then came along and spotted him crying. “Why it’s the drummer boy, isn’t it” he said. The general thought he was just a boy who ran away, until they started to talk. “You want to cry some more, go on ahead. I did the same last night” he would say. Joby thought he is useless that he didn’t matter as much. The general will tell him you are the heart of the army, if he beat slow the heart of the men will beat slowly. If he beat fast the soldier’s legs will stand up straight. The general even admitted that war is wrong. The general convinced Joby that he is not just part of the army he’s the heart of the army.

Joby is really brave to go to war at only 14 years old. In my opinion I understand why he was so afraid and thought that he was meaningless. All he does is play the drums. The general proved to him that he is the heart of the battle. I think Joby thought he was meaningless and useless to the army because he didn’t fight like all the other soldiers did. Also I think joby thought that all he does is beat a drum with sticks. For example in the short story it clearly states “me, I’m the one, I’m the one of all the rest who won’t die. I’ll live through it. I’ll go home”.  That clearly states that he will not die like the soldiers because the soldiers actually fight in war and get shot at. He feels useless for not actually fighting in war. But on the other hand Joby does describe how he has a better chance of dying because he only has a drum and two sticks and no shield. Everyone has a shield accept the drummer boys. I think that Joby is starting to think about his family and how much he loves them. He doesn’t want to die and never see his parents again, or maybe he doesn’t care as much because he did run away from his family. But in the text it stated “the boy felt his family moves yet farther off in the dark, as if one of those great trains had chanted them away”. All, in all Joby is afraid and thinks that he is useless in the battle. In real life people go to war and have to leave there family’s like Joby did.

My Favorite Book Entry

One of my favorite book is “The Child Called It”. In this book there was a mom that loved all of her children. She took them to the Water Park and lakes. She treated each son equally. One day she just snapped at one of the boys, the youngest one. She didn’t let him talk to his brothers and every morning he had to do chores for his mom. She forced him to sleep in the basement and eat left over cereal from his brother’s bowl.  At one point she starved him so much he started to steal food from his classmates. When the mom found out she flipped. She punched and slapped him. He started to steal food from the store and steal raw meat from the cafeteria. When he came home the mom will stick her fingers into his mouth until he vomited. She then forced him to eat the vomit. The only food she gave him was poop from his younger brother’s diaper. This book is really sad and depressing. The mom has rights to discipline her children if they did something bad, but starving them, beating them senseless, and even stabbing them is going too far. The saddest part about it is that the dad new but didn’t do anything about it. He just left her and his family. It’s sad knowing that this really happened. I think the mom beats her child because of something that happened in her childhood, or maybe she just decided that it will be fun to get drunk every morning and abuse her child. I’m guessing the dad left because he didn’t want to be part of it, but at least take his child with him and away from his abusive mom. He just left without telling anyone. Maybe he was afraid of his wife. The little boy still thought his mom loved him after the mom harassed him. Its sad knowing that in real life a lot of little kids get harassed by their parents.