After Ever After

In the book, After Ever After By Jordan Sonnenblick, Jeffrey, the main character, has a best friend who is in remission, because the cancer he use to have comes back, but he doesn't tell Jeffrey until way after he knows he has it back. Jeffrey and him make a pack to do beautiful gestures towards others that they can call a " beau geste." That is the one thing that they both decide to do for eachother.

"From now on I'm going to be nice to everybody-that's my beau geste. And if people around me keep acting like total snapperheads anyway, I'm going to harden my heart and be bitter until the day I die." (131)

This was Tad's beau geste at the beginning of the book. He was so mean and bitter that he thought if he was nice it would be a grand gesture. If I were him I know it would be hard but I would try my best to be nice because being mean and cruel doesn't get you anywhere in life except hell.

"Impressing Brianna isn't my biggest beau geste... You're my biggest beau geste. Getting you onto that stage is way more important to me than strolling across it." (204)

Here, around the end is where Tad starts to notice his bad friendship skills and is willing to sacrifice something to help his friend graduate and get his diploma. I think that if Tad didn't help Jeffery he wouldn't be passing grade in the first place. Jeffery's dad gave up on him when he refused to continue to help him with homework. Atleast he had Tad, his best friend to thank for his passing grade. Sadly, shorty after having his surgery, Tad's liver failed and he died in the hospital, but he never really left the hearts of the people who truly cared about him.

In all, the beau geste thing that Jeffrey and Tad was great because it just brought them closer as friends and made them feel even more like if the were to be family.

Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie, but mostly the DRUMS

In the book, Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie By Jordan Sonnenblick, Steven, the main character, has a younger brother with cancer. Throughout Jeffery's suffering, Steven suffers alot. The one thing that keeps him alive are the drums he plays. They are his life and his daily breathe and the reason why he can handle the situation he is in now. The drums are his escape from the harshness of reality.

"...drumming feels great- physically great-while you're doing it..." (283)

This shows that he loves to play the drums. I think that if I were him I would probably run away from home because I'm not exactly the type of person that handles diseases too well. I think that this shows that the experience helped him mature more and grow up more as a young man.

"The only times when I've truly felt all right were the times when I was playing the drums." (53)

I think that this shows that he finds the drums to be a way of keeping himself safe and well. The drums are the one things that are always their for him. Not for his little brother with cancer, but only for him.

I think that thanks to the passion of playing drums that Steven had. He survived his brothers time of suffering. I think that without the drums he would've been lost.

Be My Own Leader

In the book, The Dead and The Gone By Susan Beth Pfeffer, the main character, Alex, and his two sisters, Julie and Briana, were in a state of hunger and were willing to do anything to get the food they needed to survive. Throughout the whole story, Alex had to mature just so that his two sisters could survive. He had to sacrifice alot just so that his sister could have food and could stay safe. This all made him a better person.

One thing that helped Alex mature was the fact that both his parent weren't home to be the leaders of the family. So, Alex was willing to step up to the plate and do whatever he had to do so that they could all survive.

"I am responsible for the both of you, atleast until Papi or Mami come back." (94)

I think that this shows that Alex feels alot of responsibility for his sisters and wants the best for them. Here, he had to send Briana off to a farm in the countryside, so that she would have enough food and they could all survive. He felt that making this decision was best for the family he now had to keep safe and alive without his parents. I think this situation and this decision he had to make made him prove to himself that he was a better person could do anything.

Another thing that helped Alex mature was that he felt he had to act like his father so that the house would stay peaceful, but at times he took things too far and yet still felt what he did was what his own father would do.

"'Who died and made you boss?' Julie said. Without even thinking, Alex slapped her hard across the face." (69)

After, he talks of how his father would've done the same thing, but unlike his father, Alex had a kind heart and knew what he had done was wrong. At first, he had felt that she got what she disserved because she had to respect him and that was that, but then he noticed that just because his father did that it didn't make it right. He noticed that alot of the things that his father did weren't right. He had to be his own person his own leader of the family. This was a lesson that he learned and that made him a better person.

I think that all the trouble Alex and his family went through was worth it becasue in the end everyone became a better person and matured. I think that this book taught me that when the time comes I may have to step up and be a leader, but I can't follow the bad things that people before me have done, I have to be my own person, be my own leader.

The Story For Those Who Can't Speak For Themselves

Judy Blume tells the story of the girl with no say in life. Willmadeene, Deenie, is diagnosed with scoliosis, which is a condition where the spine is not straight but is curved at a certain place. This causes alot of problems in the family because this makes everyone change there attitude toward Deenie making her feel uncomfortable. This causes her and Helen, her older sister, to become closer than ever.

Deenie's mom has high expectations of her daughter and this has always bothered Helen because her mom's focus is always on Deenie and her being a model this is Helen's breaking point.

"Oh Ma...you're impossible! Ma didn't give me a special brain. You made that up. And you almost convinced me, Ma...you almost did.... I used to tell myself it didn't matter if I wasn't pretty like Deenie because I have a special brain and Deenie's is just ordinary....but that didn't help Ma....it didn't help at all....because it's not true!"(131)

Helen doesn't feel the love she disserves to get. Helen never talked to Deenie, but as the story progressed I saw that Helen finally started to understand the difference between the love her mom had for Deenie and the "love" that her mom had for her. It brought them closer together because Deenie never knew that Helen felt that way, nobody did. Helen finally opened up about her feelings to her family.

Deenie's mom manipulates Helen and Deenie in the same ways, but they all include her lying to them so that she gets whatever she wants.

I started crying too. Helen doesn't hate me, I thought. She should, but she doesn't. We both cried so hard our noses ran but neither one of us let go of the other to get a tissue. And right through it all, Ma kept talking. "I wanted better for you," she said. "Better than what I had myself. That's what I've always planned for my girls...is that so wrong?"(132)

I think this just goes to show how selfish her mom really is. She doesn't even apoligize after her daughters have told her the pain they go through everday, instead she makes an excuse for her actions to try to justify what she does. She tries to live her dreams through her kids because she feels that she never had a chance to do what she wanted, she makes Deenie be a model because I bet all she wanted to be when she grew up was a model. This brings them together because it shows how the physically come together to cry and share they pain they've both faced together.

I think that this is an issue in many households all over the world that must be stopped because the hurt that this brings is huge. At times the person responsible won't be willing to take responsibility for their actions, like Deenie's mom in the book. There is no need to do this to a child specially in the tough times that Deenie was already going through with her scoliosis problem. I hope that this helped you understand how Deenie felt to know and truly understand the hurt her sister had held so long in her heart.