Book Club Response

     How does society put pressure on the characters in our books?  Pressure put on the characters in our books caused them to have trouble with finding where they belong.  It causes them to make decisions that are not great, or make decisions they don't want to make.  The lesson that can be extracted from this question and statement is that you need to make decisions for yourself, for your needs, and these decisions can't be affected by the people around you.  There are many paths a person can take, and that is why there are books.  Books show you through real and fictional examples how you will be affected by your choices, and help us decide what to do.

     The book I read was Wonder, a book about a boy named August.  August's face is deformed, and has trouble with people accepting him because of how he looks.  He had been home-schooled all of his life and 5th grade is his first year in "real" school with other kids.  Jack is one out of two friends he is able to make in the beginning of the year, but on Halloween, he hears something different.  Jack says to Julian, a popular boy, that he isn't really friends with August.  He actually does want to be friends with August because he is so nice and fun, but he is scared that he will not have any other friends.  Pressure was put on him by popularity, and he broke under the weight.

     There are many other people in this book that are socially affected by August's appearance.  His sister, Via or Olivia, depending on who you are to her, is one of those people.  She has carried the "sister of a deformed kid" for so long, and this is her first year in highschool, and a chance to have a fresh slate.  Olivia doesn't tell anyone about her brother for a while because she wants to be known for herself, and have real friends, not just people who feel sorry for her.  Through out this book, I wondered what Auggie's parents were thinking, wondering if they thought he was normal, that they weren't emotionally affected by it.  The only person that you got to truly see and read about that doesn't care what August look like is Summer.  She first sits with him because she feels bad for him, but it blossoms into true friendship.  Honestly, I would have trouble with maintaining a friendship with Auggie, and in a way, I'm amazed that she can do it.

Juvenile Offenders Prosecuted as Adults

     Should juvenile offenders be prosecuted as adults?  This is a very serious matter affecting many minors' lives.  There are many people voicing their opinions on this situation.  These opinions have helped me build what I think.  I believe that juvenile offenders shouldn't be charged as adults unless they have committed first degree murder or rape, what I think of as the worst crimes.
     Juvenile offenders should be given a second chance.  They are under aged, and if they are under eighteen, they are not adults and shouldn't be accounted for as one.  Adolescents have a greater chance of rehabilitation, or getting mentally better than adults have.  The article states that ninety percent of teen offenders do not become adult criminals, and this is a large cut.  That is only a tenth away from being one hundred percent.  The article also says that scientists have proved that the part of the brain that provides impulse control isn't yet fully developed in teenagers.  Looking at what a young teenager did doesn't secure what he will do in the future.
     For serious crimes like first degree murder and rape, it is largely unfair to the victims for that person to not be punished.  If your sibling, child, or relative was killed by a person meaning to do so, it would hurt all the more, wondering why in the world someone would hate them like that.  You would want to seek revenge, and I believe that you could do something horrible in the process.  When a person is raped, it puts a large mental scar in you.  It could be very hard to feel comfortable again with anybody.

People should be punished fairly to what they have done.

How to Salsa in a Sari Character Change

     How To Dance In a Sari is by Dona Sarkar.  The book is about a sixteen year old girl named Issa who is not accepted in the social circuit at school because as most people would say, she's a nerd.  Issa is living happily as a wallflower with perfect grades and three great friends, one of them being her mother, Alisha.     The one thing she isn't happy with is the future with twists and turns she has no idea about.
     It all begins when her boyfriend Adam dumps her for popular Cuban beauty, Cat Morena, her arch enemy.  Issa's insides twist into a not she thinks will never untie.  It then hits her quite hard when Alisha tells her that she is engaged to Cat's father, Diego.  All she wants is to break them up and ruin Cat's life in the process.  Cat pretends not to care that she has to share everything with her soon to be sister, including her dad, which is the most important thing to her.  Issa uses this and all the money Diego has to her advantage.  She becomes a new Cat, complete with designer bags, a posy, and a voice used specifically bringing people down.  When she finally and completely switches places with Cat and s badmouthing her in front of many people, her friends see her as the person she has become and leaves her.  After these incidents, she realizes how  bad she has gotten and how good Cat is, especially with her mom, Alisha.  Issa misses the people she loves and must work herself hard to return to the nice, straight A person she was, and must find a relationship with Cat.
     I have seen this particular kind of character change in many different books and movies.  I have noticed that most people in these books and movies do switch around their lives in anger and resentment.  This book was slightly repetitive for me, but was no humdrum.  I have come to realize that there is a major lesson in them.  Sometimes, the most horrible people need love to become better, not hate, and in the end, loving is the same amount of work.