Be your self , don't worry about people's thoughts about you.

  In the book " Bad boy " by Walter Dean Myers , Walter is a boy that really cares about his education and loves to read. He feels uncomfortable bringing books home  from the library cause he feels other boys in the neighborhood would make fun of him. It's in Harlem so many people up their play basketball , and really don't like reading. They rather play ball. So Walter gets bullied about it and rather hide who he really wants to be. He also grew up in the 1950's and 1960's which was a time where racial  descragtion was in full affect. Which also made it harder on him since he gets treated bad for his skin color and also liking reading also made him "the nerd in the hood".

 In this book Walter is scared to show books around his neighborhood. He puts books from his library in a bag to prevent other seeing it and making fun of him. Walter also grew up in a poor family in Harlem , so education is big to him. He wants a great successful future ahead of him. But he's skin color just makes everything harder. He grew up in the 50's and 60's where in our country was going threw segregation all over.

  Reading this book made me feel bad for Walter. One because its a memoir which means this really happened to him. Then because Walter never really could have found his happiness as a kid. It was always a struggle. He could never feel confident to stop and read a book in public with out feeling sad and down. And also he grew up in the segregation era , which was a horrible period for our fellow African America's and black people.

  This is a great book to read for a memoir mentor text. It's a great life line story of a kid in the 50's and 60's going threw a sturggle. It's also good to see how things where before our times in our country.

Never forget your first true love.

   In the book "flipped" by Wendelin Van Draanen the Protagonist Bryce Loski goes threw a lot of noticeable change. In the beginning when he first see's Juli Baker he doesn't like her because he says she's " very annoying" and other things like that. But towards the end he Realizes after so many years of seeing her he finally realizes that he actually likes her and care about her. And this is what I mean by Bryce going through a change. Because he actually does like her. Rather then hating her. 

   In the beginning of the story it's pretty obvious Bryce doesn't like Juli that much. When him and his dad where moving in she came in there truck and started asking them if they needed help moving. I would be the same way too. Even though she is trying to be nice , you wouldn't trust a person that you just saw for the first time with your family's personal belonging. She also is bugging him at the new school he just started. Like staring at him and smelling his hair because it " smelled like fresh lemons". I would be weirded out too. He hardly knows this person , why is she bugging him so much ? All , in all these are reasons why Bryce really doesn't like juli in the beginning of these reasons. 

Towards the end of the book you can see the change in Bryce's feelings towards Juli. More towards the end. When Bryce is talking to his good friend in a library about Juli's uncle he makes a rude comment about him , because he is mentally retarded. And in his mind he is saying " I just want to knock him in the head." Which shows me he cares that Juli's uncle is retarded and the feeling she has about that. And then in the end he plants a Sycamore tree together with her. The reason they do it is because she liked to climb up on one before the school bus came every morning. But they eventually cut that tree down because some man bought the property. So by planting one together Bryce knew it would make her happy. Which means he does care about her in someway. 

   In conclusion, I think it's pretty clear the see that Bryce goes threw a change from the beginning of this book to the end of this book. In the beginning he doesn't have strong feeling for Juli . But Then towards the end it's pretty obvious that the feelings are there for her. 

Will Mackey ever make it big playing ball for JR?

      In the book "Rucker park setup" by Paul Valponi is about this kid named Mackey who is a great basketball player. And he obviously wants his profession to be a basketball player in the future. But a lot of the book also has to do with Mackey's best friend JR. JR was stabbed to death. Mackey feels awful and like a coward cause he didn't help his friend JR. Most of the book is mainly about how Mackey feels about JR and trying to make it big in the NBA one because he loves Basketball ,and also to do it for JR since they both couldn't live the moment together.

       In the beginning of this great story, Mackey tells the readers about how JR who his best friend , how they were always together playing basketball. Mainly how close they were together as best friends. But then he tells the readers that JR was stabbed to death. He feels bad because he watched the stabbing happen. He also feels bad and terrible ,because JR's dad usually was always with him playing ball and stuff and how losing him must have made him felt. I understand why Mackey feels so bad and horrible,  but he grew up in a Neighborhood where it's good just to mind your business. He grew up in projects by ruckers park which is a bad place to get involved in a problem that isn't yours because you don't want any issues or problems with something that has noting to do with you. Even do he said that was his best friend, he did the smart thing to do is mind his business because I'm sure he didn't want to get into any problems with someone by protecting and helping someone else.

        A blit later on in the book Mackey starts to play basketball , like alot and have flashbacks and memory's of times him and JR played ball. He made it clear and obvious that he wanted to be a basketball player. He says thing like " I'm gonna be the best collage basketball player of my time when I start". And a whole big chunck of this story is Mackey playing in a tourment game in rucker  park. Rucker park is very famous for where very good basketball players come and play there hardest for the fans and people watching. Mackey wished one day that him and JR would have made it there together then to college , then onto the Pro's. But for the most part there many basketball games being played and talked about. Mackey started playing ball real well because he wished that one day him and JR would make it big. But now that JR is dead he just wants to make it big for him, Mackey himself and his family.

         In conclusion the reason i asked the question : Will Mackey make it big for JR? Is because he's sad and depressed threwout the whole book about JR being stabbed to death.  Both of them where great in basketball and that was their life long goal to make it big in playing ball . And also Mackey plays alot of basketball in rucker park and has many memory's and flashbacks of times him and JR had together. If I was him I would trying to make it big. Because its what I want to do, and I'm trying to do it for the people I care and love for.  And the journey starts at Rucker park where Mackey has to peform and do well.

I am blue

        The story, am i blue, by Bruce Caville , is about a boy named Vince who's going through troubles with bullying and sexual issues. In the story he gets called names that are very hurtful and can really be messed up. He gets called a faggot , queer and other terrible names. My main point is that don't be scared to show who you really are. Also don't worry about what others say because we are all different.

     In the beginning Vince is scared to show that he is gay because others make fun of him and call him a queer or a fag. Even do I'm not gay I would not to excited to tell people I'm gay or act gay because this if this is how people act, I wouldn't want to be bullied like this. But If I was him I wouldn't be caring because everyone is different and if wants to be gay that's his decision and no one can change it. But this also shows how stupid some people are and how meassed up some people are in the world we live.

     Towards the middle and end of the story Vince gets "3" wishes from this guy the one big wish is that he wish everyone would be "blue" in the case for this story that means gay. It shows me and other readers that no matter what others say don't be scared to show off your true identity. I say this because he is more incuscure and not so happy he is gay in the beginning because he is constantly being bullied. I would too I mean being bullied isn't fun at all for anything. But in the end he noticed that it doesn't matter what others think just be your self , and that's pretty much the whole point I'm trying to prove and I also think that is the theme of this story.

   In conclusion Vince isn't to happy to show that he is gay in the beginning, cause all the bullying people do to him. But towards the end he doesn't think to much or care about what people say because be wants to show and stop hiding his true identity. And that's what I felt was the right thing to do because its your own bodie and you make your own decisions. And if it makes you happy go for it.