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!

Opinion about Genocides

In my opinion, I think genocides happen because some people want everyone to be the same or they dislike others when other people want their freedom, their freedom to be in whatever religion they want. For example, people don't like other people because of their culture or their religion. It's not fair and its not fair how people die because of that. Sadly, I don't think there's a way of stopping this. I wish there was but even history showed it. Even though people had fought for their rights and freedom, people are still getting judged and killed for what they believe. People who kill others for what they believe or for fighting for what they want make me sick and I'm truly sad that the people who fought for their rights died and may all of them rest in peace.

Alice in Lace

In the book "Alice in Lace by Phylis Rynolds Naylor", there's a class who was assigned to do a project. The project was to pretend to be an adult and do what every adult does. The message from this project was for students to learn that being an adult is not easy and that younger kids shouldn't be rushing to the adult life. Alice, who's an eighth grader, "became pregnant". She planned a wedding and tried to buy a car. Alice and her partner were always arguing, there was always this awkwardness between them two because they didn't know how they were suppose to do things. Alice and her partner had to sleep together! but one thing they didn't do was sexual things. A conflict that I thought that was funny is when Alice tried to buy a car with her partner. They actually went to a car shop and asked for a not that expensive car. The sale man questioned himself if he should actually do this since they looked very young, but he went for it and went with Alice and her partner for a car drive. While the sales man, Alice, and her partner were going for a car drive, Alice was nervous that they were going to get caught because this other kid who recognized them was asking Alice what she was doing there in a car with a stranger. The sales man was very confused and started to assume that these "adults" were actually kids. Alice and her partner got caught and went home, they were disappointed because they thought they've failed the project. "And a little mascara? Maybe Rasberry Creme lip gloss?" Like I said, Alice was very smooth. She put on all this makeup to look older so the salesman can let them buy a car but at the end of the day, Alice and her partner got caught and didn't end up buying anything.

Words of the Wiser

In the book "A World Away by Nancy Grossman", Eliza is ready to leave and adventure the outside of her circle. Her mom doesn't believe she should leave but Eliza is old enough to take some responsibilities. Eliza's mom wants her to know the world but she's scared that Eliza might go on the wrong path. She's scared that she might fall in love with a boy and get her heart broken, she's scared that Eliza might take drugs, drink alcohol, etc. Eliza finally leaves to Chicago during summer to be a nanny. Before Eliza leaves, her mom gives her advice. Mom says that she shouldn't leave because it's going to be hard out there in the "other world". She doesn't want Eliza to grow up anymore but then Eliza says some wise words. Her wise words were that she knew that her mom didn't want her daughter to grow up and adventure the world, she knew that her mom was scared about what she'll do once she was out there. But Eliza was grown enough to take some responsibilities of her own actions, Eliza was scared too. She was more adventurous on what was out there than scared. I can relate to this. What this means is that sometimes people have to let go people in order to take that fear away from them and for the other person to take responsibilities and know what the real life looks like and feels like.

Anne's Adveristies & My Adversities

Anne went through a lot of adversities. She was Jewish so was her family. Anne had to hide for years from the green police and others in order to survive and not get sent to a concentration camp. She had problems with her mom too, not physical fights but verbally fights. Like arguements. Anne had to hide in a small place with mor than 5 people, it was really crowded and not enough food because of the amount of people. Anne couldn't go outside to get some fresh hair or look at the sun because she could of got caught and die. I've had some adversities on my own and with my family too, like Anne. Anne would always argue with her mom like me. Me and mom would argue for the little things though. We will always argue when she wouldn't let me go out but I'll get over it in minutes. I had some adversities with school too. I'm always worried how my grades are because I'm always trying to make my mom proud and tell her "I made it" at the end of the day. My goal in life is to tell my mom that she doesn't have to work anymore or worry about paying bills because that's when I'll finish school and have a good job, a good job that will make me say that to my mom.