You Cant There from Her by Todd Strasseris about a group of homeless teenagers in Manhattan who struggle to survive a harsh winters. Maybe (the main character) has to deal with the death of many of her friends during the winter. She lives with a tribe of homeless teens-runaways and throwaways, kids who have no place to go , and no family . They struggle against the cold, hunger, and constant danger. In January come a new girl: Tears, a twelve-year-old whose mother loves her but does not believe Tears when Tears tells her that her stepfather has been sexually abusing her. It becomes  Maybe's mission to get tears off the streets. This book does not use the perspective of the family's of the run always, which I thought would  be a good addition 

             It would be a completely different story if they showed the perspective of the parents or even the siblings.It would give a inside look of how hurt or maybe not hurt there family's  were about there departure.Or what caused the runaways to run away per say. There would be a insight on there old lives.

             If there  was a perspective on the familys it would sure make the plot deeper and more emotional . it would also give more time to give each character more back story , and especially more depth.It could show how traumatized the familys were when there children or sibilings left, it could add more meaningful characters into the mix.   

Many years ago in a time where people still used VCRs and didn't have any concept of what HD was ,my favorite movie was The Nightmare Before Christmas. Every since I was little I always liked creepy and dark things. Maybe my first movie being The Nightmare Before Christmas effected my taste in movies. There was something about that movie I really loved maybe it was the colorful characters or dialogue or even the story but all I no is, that was my first and favorite movie .

            Over  200,00 child soldiers are serving  around the world. over 100,000 child soldiers are serving in Africa. Around 10,000 children were used in the Sierra Leone civil war. Ishmael Beah was one of them. "Long way Gone" by Ishmael Beah is his story of  his time fighting for the  Sierra Leone  Armed Forces  as child solider. This book is very controversial with acts of violence cursing and drugs use sprinkled throughout the book. Which caused many  parents and teachers to call to arms and tried to ban this book  from school libraries . while I do agree that at some points it could be graphic but overall I don't agree that this book should be banned

 

            This book teaches us about redemption. Ishmael was a bright happy boy but as he grew in a world of violence and death he changed dramatically especially when he was recruited in the SLAF. To be frank he was a killing machine Many times  glorify death  and killing . When he was saved by UNICEF and transported to a refugee camp, even though it took work he was able to change and was able to achieve redemption.

 

            Ishmael was able to stay grounded in his time being a child solider   by keeping lessons h learned from his parents and grandparents . even though his mind was lost in a haze of cocaine ,brown brown , weed and violence. another example  him having perseverance is how he walked for weeks at a time to find his family. even  when he was at his lowest and nearly crazy  due to loneliness

 

            Many people may say that these  examples of violence would influence children to commit  other acts of violence . while this may be true if this book was in a different context ,but actually this book is preaching against violence . it shows how violence corrupted Ishmael and eventually at a point  he couldn't even tell it was him due to the acts he had committed 

               

                While many people may say books influence kids to commits acts of violence. but many times people  read these things out of context . Like long way gone is actually about a book of redemption and seconded chances rather than the glorification of violence . I believe Ishmael is trying teach us a lesson of peace rather then violence 

            Over  200,00 child soldiers are serving  around the world. over 100,000 child soldiers are

serving in Africa. Around 10,000 children were used in the Sierra Leone civil war. Ishmael Beah

was one of them. "Long way Gone" by Ishmael Beah is his story of  his time fighting for the 

Sierra Leone  Armed Forces  as child solider. This book is very constiavational with acts of

violence cursing and drugs use sprinkled throughout the book. Which caused many  parents

and teachers to call to arms and tried to ban this book  from school libraries . while i do agree

that at some points it could be graphic but overall I don't agree that this book should be banned

 

            This book teaches us about redemption. Ishmael was a bright happy boy but as he grew

in a world of violence and death he changed dramatically especially when he was recruited in

the SLAF. To be frank he was a killing machine Many times  glorify death  and killing . When he

was saved by UNICEF and transported to a refugee camp, even though it took work he was able

to change and was able to achieve redemption.

 

            Ishmael was able to stay grounded in his time being a child solider   by keeping lessons h

learned from his parents and grandparents . even though his mind was lost in a haze of cocaine

,brown brown , weed and violence. another example  him having perserveence is how he walkd

for weeks at a time to find his family. even  when he was at his lowesstes and nearly crazy  due

to lonelysist

 

            Many people may say that these  examples of violence would influence children to

commit  other acts of violence . while this may be true if this book was in a different context ,

but actually this book is preaching against violence . it shows how violence corrupted Ishmael

and eventually at a point  he couldn't even tell it was him due to the acts he had committed 

                While many people may say books influence kids to commits acts of violence. but many times people  read these things out of context . Like long way gone is acutaly about a book of redeption and seconded chances rather than the glorifaticon of violence . i believe Ismael is tryin teach us a lesson of peace rather then violance 

The Mahdi by rap duo The Underachievers may be there most popular song so far.Made up by Issa Dash and Ak. This duo has rocketed to the top of the semi under ground rap scene with there album  Indigoism and there mix-tape Lords of Flatbush.  Many people associate the underachievers with pot smoking and ,well underachieving. But there goals and beliefs shows the exact opposite, and proves the people with misconceived judgments wrong.  
         For example a lyric in the song Mahdi, "We be that Elevated Mafia".  In many of there songs they state that they are are elevated . That they are on almost a higher plane of thinking. This may be do to the narcotics they use but its whatever. "But I'm guided by the light, no shine. Soldier of the Father but I ain't no Christian,"This sentences show that they believe in a higher power and god  but not really through conventional ways , in other songs they actually bash Organised religion.
           Underachievers, make believers out of heathens. This shows that there goal is to show the haters that they aren't just some thugs from the hood . But people who are trying to change the world hence the fact that they refer to themselves as indigo children. (The heathens are the haters by the way) there name is a sarcastic remark to the remarks the heathens say bout them

One major theme that plays through out Cormac McCarthy's novel "the road" is death.
The man and the boy  struggle to survive, death is the obvious theme because there is a constant threat of murder and running out of food . The landscape is covered in ash and soot . Most living things were killed . Civilization has been completely destroyed by the big mysterious event . For example, cows are extinct, and the boy has never before seen birds or fish. "On the hillsides old crops dead and flattened. The barren ridgeline trees raw and black in the rain".

Eventually  the reader become aware that the man is dying. "In the night he woke in the cold dark coughing and he coughed till his chest was raw.... He knelt there wheezing softly, his hands on his knees. I am going to die, he said. Tell me how I am to do that" . His death is approaching , his worsening cough and the increasing amounts of blood he spits out, are evidence of that .

The color of the scenery and landscape thoroughly represents death. the overall tone is black and grey . the ash ,the water, the rain , the burnt trees. Bleak landscape  in general gives and ambience of death and depression. The interesting about this book is that death is expected and even accepted by the characters. When the man shot a bandit that was trying to get the boy. he didn't  give a seconded thought about shooting him. He just accepted the bandits death and didn't think twice about it. 

In the story Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch,is a story about a boy named Jaffy brown. Who along with his best friend Tim go on a hunt for a mythical dragon in the Dutch east indies for there boss. Along the way Jaffy grows from a boy to a man in a literally sense and emotionally as well. His actions along with his friends and shipmates help him grow through out the story.           In the beginning of the story, Jaffy was just a little kid . Dreaming of sailing on the deep blue sea. Believing when he gets older he would go on many adventures. He was so naïve ,that he patted a tiger on the nose . Without even thinking about the consequences. It took him many years to become street smart and to truly become aware of his surrounding . He learned the meaning of responsibility  and   how to be responsible  from working in Jamrachs menagerie. And he learned how to love from Tim's sister  and how to be a true friend from Tim.          While on the sea adventuring to the east indies he learned how hard life can be. which made him mature ten fold and  a man. His life experiences made him stronger. This book followed Jaffy through out his whole life  through his ups and downs and I discovered how those ups and downs made  him into a man

            During the summer I read the novel "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R

Martin.  In a world were seasons last years at time, the Stark family (the wardens

of the north) battles to keep their family together as politics and darker things try

to rip them apart. The author of this book did a great job to give every character,

great and small  such great  depth. No one character is wholly evil, or good . This

book actually reflects  the real world  maybe not a good light but a true light .

Each character has a motive , whether it be out of honor or revenge. Characters

also have rich histories, explained mostly through dialogue  between characters.

Even details like dialogue and inner thought  are so well done that it seems that

these characters are living breathing  people .          This book had such a big

impression on me that it had me truly think about people and their  actions. Like I

said before, no one is all evil or all good. There's this saying , "Hitler loved dogs ".

If you think deeply it's trying to say even though he committed atrocities he had a

softer side like everybody else . Know I won't judge people by first impression .      

            What I learned from this book is to not judge a book  by its cover whether it

looks  good or bad . I would recommend this book to anyone that loves fantasy

books or novels that have great and memorial characters.