Can't Get There From Here   

             Kids always need someone to lean on. They always say they don't but, they all do. That's why when the person kids thought were their rock starts to crumble, it hits them hard. In the book Can't Get There From Here by Todd Strasser, the main character Maybe has a hard time trusting people because her mother had hurt her.
             Maybe wants to help every single person that she is on the street with. They all have gone through things that many people couldn't imagine. For example the first one up is Tears. Tears is the youngest in the group. She sticks to Maybe like a fly sticks to honey because she's scared of getting hurt. Tears step-dad had abused her and touched her. Tears had a hard time trusting OG, another kid on the street, because he wasn't welcoming and was violent towards people, it reminded her of her father. Ever since then she wouldn't go near OG without Maybe right behind her.
             Next up is  Rainbow. Rainbow has been pretty her entire life, but living on the street it didn't do her any good. She is constantly looked at, touched, and even sold into prostitution for a short period. Rainbow has a hard time trusting guys, and even girls. But of course the only person she does trust is Maybe.
            Finally there is Maybe herself. Maybe's mother had told her to get out after she pressed a hot iron to her back. Maybe always wanted to take care of everyone but she never quite trusted anyone. For example when a social worker finds maybe and her friends in a building their conversation goes like this.
"We want to give you a warm meal and a place to sleep."
"What do you want in return?"
"For what?"
"Giving us food and a place to sleep?"
"Nothing!"
As you can see, Maybe and her friends have a hard time trusting people because they're scared they might get hurt.
             Maybe and her friends have gone through a lot. They learned how to trust each other, but because they all had to work for that trust. When Maybe decided to leave, she knew that her mother was not trustworthy, and for a kid, your mother is who you look up to. Do you think you would have an easy time trusting people if one of your parents abused you? Think about it.

Summer Reading

Divergent

             A popular topic nowadays is a dystopia of the way our government controls our lives. All the stories make the types of worlds that the author made up look like our world, earth, is heavenly. The thing about Divergent that separates its self from the rest of the book world, is that the world in the book does not actually start out as corrupt.
              For Example the book Divergent is about a society that splits people up based on what characteristic people think make a person weakest. The are five groups called factions; the five factions are, Abnegation : the selfless, Amity: the peaceful, Condor: the honest, Erudite: the intelligent and Dauntless: the brave. Each of these factions have a job because of the characteristic they honor. No one is hungry and the cities are well protected, I think it's fair to say it seems like a pretty good world.
               Another way that the world in Divergent does not start out corrupt is the fact that people get to choice what faction they're placed into and get to decide what life they want to lead.  Unlike in the book Matched where you are paired with the person you have to be with for your entire life, in Divergent you get to choice a faction depending on what characteristic you value. I think this makes the world in Divergent not a dystopia.
               In conclusion, i think that Divergent really captures a new way of looking at things and an effective way of splitting up the government. I think that fact that so many authors are choosing to write about this topic, makes the better books stand out.