Bang!

Book Project - Bang!

A World Away & Positive

In the book "A World Away", there's a girl who's Amish and left to another different town. She was different from the others physically but not emotionally. Eliza never went to parties, dances, drinked, etc. so when she moved there with a stranger, she was judged and looked different. She had her first boyfriend there, so everything they were going through was her first. Her "friends" made joked about her and blamed her for things that weren't her fault. She was mocked also. In the book "Positive", Paige is bullied for being HIV positive, she gets teased like Eliza did and mocked also. Paige finds a guy that she likes. The guy knows she's HIV positive but he doesn't care since he likes he for who she is from the inside and outside. The only difference about these two books is that Eliza goes back to her small town because she knows that she doesn't belong there with her boyfriend and Paige ignores all the mean comments, mocking, etc, she becomes famous by doing interviews and becomes a model. 

Bang!

                                              

In the book "Bang!" by Sharon G. Flake there's many conflicts. First of all, this book is about a boy named Mann who's young brother died for no reason. Mann lives in a city where people get shot everyday, doesn't matter if they're good or bad. Mann saw his little brother get shot in front of their porch. Ever since, Mann doesn't step on that porch, he goes to the back door instead. Mann's dad took him and his close friend (Kee-lee) to a far away place so they can both learn how to be brave and protect themselves because Mann's dad didn't want any of them to die soon. Dad left both of them there for about a week or so with just a gun and a small amount of food. Kee-lee and Mann were furious because Mann's dad never came for them. They kept calling but he never picked them up. So what they did was to walk miles and miles until they reached a restaurant or something. After a while, they saw a resturant. They both went inside with hunger but all they wanted was to call Mann's father. Mann called him and right away when he said he wanted to go home, Mann's dad hung up. Everyone from the restaurant was staring at them. A small group of workers who were eating asked them if they were hungry and obviously they both said yes. 

The guy told them to order whatever they wanted so they did, but the thing was that th orders were actually in the trash. The boys were so angry and wanted to shoot all of them since Kee-lee still had the gun. The group of workers started to mistreat them and keep in mind that this occurred when blacks were being segregated. Mann and Kee-lee were forced to eat trash and dirt, they were beaten up. The next day, they try again and finally this nice woman stopped her car and took them home. Mann's dad was glad he was okay but Mann was furious that he did that to him and Kee-lee. Mann forgave him but then again, Mann's dad told Mann that he needed to leave again so he can be brave. Mann didn't want to do it but he had no choice. So he took all of his money and took Kee-lee too since he was kicked out of his house also. Both of them went to Kee-lee's aunts house. Kee-lee's aunt house is different from the others. She has people going in and out, drinking, smoking, etc. If they want to stay they have to pay, so Mann gave her all of his money. 

Weeks later, Kee-lee's aunt sends both of them to a house so she can get her money. Kee-lee's aunt told both of them not to come back high but they didn't. Both of them smoked weed and got high and then again, they got jumped by some others dudes. Kee-lee's aunt told them they if they were going to live with her, they couldn't get beaten, they had to do something to prevent it. They both went to the house to get the money, the lady didn't had the money and Kee-lee was furious because his aunt didn't want them home unless they had her money. So Kee-lee jumped her and started to choke her while Mann was looking for the money. The point of this was that there's a lot of conflicts going on. Mann's dad sending his kid and his kid close friends somewhere far away just so they can be brave? In my opinion, I think that there's so many other different ways to teach people how not be soft and be brave. If the problem was where they were living, couldn't they just move somewhere far way?

A World Away

        In the book "A World Away by Nancy Grossman", an Amish girl named Eliza goes out of town for her first time. It all happened when a woman named Rachel asked her if she wanted a job, a simple and nice job. All Eliza had to do was babysit Rachel's kids while she worked on her project. The obstacle was that Rachel's town was far away from where Eliza lived. Eliza had to live in Rachel's house for the summer. It was hard to convince Eliza's parents but at the end, they let her leave. Eliza had a hard time adjusting herself into the "new world". She had to adjust herself in the new English clothes she had bought.
       While taking care of Rachel's kids, she also had free time to explore this new world for her and by exploring, she met a guy. A guy who made her forget she was an Amish girl, who accepted her for who she was behind those English clothes. Josh was always there for Eliza's first picture, party, homecoming, etc. Eliza liked the way Josh made her feel so she stayed in the city until November. Eliza's mom didn't want Eliza to go away from her because she knew that Elkza was going to do bad things like drugs, drink alcohol, and what other things you can think of but Sliza promised her mom that she wouldn't do that like the others. Soon, she broke that promise... It was homecoming night and after that, Josh, Eliza, and their friends were going to throw a party/sleepover at Valerie's house. Keep in my mind that this is Eliza's first party with alcohol. She didn't want to drink but she had to live the time of her life because she knew that this would be her last time coming to this city and doing things she have never done before. Eliza went for it, she drinked cup after cup. Josh tried stopping her but she didn't want to, she liked the feeling she felt. Until later that night, she felt sick and threw up.
       Mostly everyone was sleeping expect the people who went to the bathroom to throw up. Eliza wanted to go home, so she woke up Josh. Josh knew it wasn't a good idea to take her home in the middle of the night especially because he was feeling a little bit hangover too. Eliza didn't understand that, she always wanted her way. Josh took Eliza home in his parents car. While driving, Eliza felt like she wanted to throw up and obviously Josh didn't want any throw up in his parents car, so he started to speed up. They finally arrived to Eliza's house but yet, Eliza didn't know that they crashed while going there since she was so numb by the alcohol. Josh was very mad because if it wasn't for Eliza wanted her way, none of this would of happened but Josh wanted Eliza to be okay since he cares for his girlfriend. In the end, Eliza moves back to her place because she found out that Rachel was doing a project on Amish people. Eliza thought that Rachel only wanted her to stay at her house so she can examine her but in reality, Rachel has been working on her project for a long time, before she even met Eliza. At the end of the book, Eliza goes back to her home, back to the Amish girl she was and leaves Josh behind with no problems, just peace.
       I personally recommend this book. It has a lot of conflicts and exciting moments. This book can show you so many things. Josh didn't care if Eliza was Amish or different from the other girls he dated before. Josh loved Eliza for who she was, he was loyal too. Every time someone tried making fun of Eliza, Josh would defend her. I didn't like how Eliza left Josh at the end of the book. I also didn't like how the book ended but overall, this book can be so amazing and exciting!