SSR Assignments!😊

This is where all my assignments for GT ILA will be located! 

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3rd and Final Assignment 😭:

Hi! This will be the final SSR review! For my final book, I will be reading and reviewing Dear Martin by Nic Stone! We are definitely closing this out with a bang!

Dear Martin by Nic Stone centers around Justyce McAllister, a teenager trying to make it past high school and into college, as he faces racism, loses friends, and has girl problems. In the beginning of the book, Justyce passes as a normal teenager, but when he goes to help his drunk ex-girlfriend(who is white), he gets arrested and accused of hijacking the car, which helps him start to see clearly. After the event, he starts to see how racism is everywhere, from his friend's friends spitting out racial slurs, to going to a friend's house and seeing black face pictures on the walls. He started to write letters to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and he addressed the letters to 'Martin'. He is determined to get through high school and fight racism, but it's hard when your white friends say that the world has already achieved equality and you are just complaining for no reason. This book will take you through Justyce's life and will definitely make you cry.

The book does include a lot of cussing and a few sexual references(nothing explicit), so if you are uncomfortable with that, I would recommend waiting to read this book. The demographic of Dear Martin is probably 15-18, so it was a bit mature for me.

I rank this book 5 out of 5 stars. This book was absolutely amazing and I would recommend this to anyone and everyone of age. Nic Stone did an amazing job in attaching the reader to the characters, and the character arcs of the side characters, such as Manny and Jared, were heartbreaking and meaningful. It also shocked me to the reality of racism. I do support Black Lives Matter and would consider myself educated on the topic, but even all the reading in the world could not have prepared me for this. It deals with utter racism, such as people saying the n-word, which is an extremely racist slur, police brutality, and racist stereotypes. It really educated me about the hardships of being a minority, which is a big reason why I rated this book so highly. Every time something racist what said or done to the character, I felt like throwing my Kindle across my room, which I would say is what the author intended. The dialogue was very insightful as well.

One quote that I found very thought-provoking was song lyrics from the singer Deuce Diggs, who is fictional. The quote is:

"Turn on the news, another black man slain,

They say "It's okay. Save your voice, don't complain.

This isn't about race, so stop using that excuse.

Now look at this funny picture of Obama in a noose!

See how color-blind we are? You're really not black to me. 

Underneath, where it matters, we both bleed red, you see?

So put away that race card; it ain't 1962.

There's no more segregation...isn't that enough for you?"(Stone, 156)

This quote is extremely significant because it shows the main character, Justyce's, thoughts on racism through Deuce Diggs. The quote shows how many white privileged people wave away the thought that black deaths are not about race and that segregation was the only type of discrimination. It shows how privileged white people really are and how that there is still so much more to until equality is achieved.

That is it for my thoughts on Dear Martin! Someone on my last post recommended I put a video in that summarizes the book as well, so here it is!

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2nd Assignment:

Hello everyone! I'm back with another SSR Book Review! For my second book, I will be reviewing Early Departures by Justin A. Reynolds! 

Early Departures by Justin A. Reynolds centers around Jamal, who is an orphan living with his pregnant sister. We also meet Quincy, a.k.a. Q, Jamal's former best friend at a party where they reunite for the first time in years. Sadly, it isn't all fun and games when they confront each other. They end up getting into a fight and Jamal is convinced he won't talk to Q ever again. Then, the unexpected happens. Trying to be a hero, Q dies saving a girl who almost drowned. But what if...he gets a second chance? Read Early Departures to find out what happens!

*This summary does not contain spoilers! All of this information can be found in the first few pages of the book!

I rank this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars. The reason I rank this book so highly is because Justin A. Reynolds does a phenomenal job attaching the reader to the characters. Throughout the book, you get emotionally attached to both Jamal and Quincy making the book an extremely pleasant experience. The reason why I took off half a point from the score is because in certain parts of the story, I got uninterested and some chapters just felt like filler chapters that are trying to connect one point to another. This wasn't for the entire book, though. What I liked most in the book were the characters and how they were all flawed in ways that everyone is, but their flaws did not make them any less likable. What I liked the least about the book were some of the filler chapters that were a bit uninteresting if you ask me. They put me in a reading slump sometimes which is why it took me so long to finish the book. Usually, with a three hundred fifty-page book like this one, I tear through it, but I took about 3 days to finish this. Also, this is a good time to mention that this book is extremely mature, with countless cuss words and several sexual references(even if they are not explicitly stated) so make sure you keep this in mind before you read this book. 

A quote from the book that I believe will help you decide whether or not you want to read this book(if you're not already convinced) is, 

"And I suppose the story moral is:                                                                                                                      You can die and still live on.                                                                                                                          You can be alive but be consumed by death.                                                                                                    The difference between living and being alive is:                                                                                          Everything." (Reynolds, 318) 

I picked this quote because it tells you about the morals of this story. It also is quite insightful and leaves you with something to think about as I conclude this post, which is on-brand for my blog, isn't it? It is significant in the book because it shows Jamal coming to terms with the events of the book as he analyzes what happened. This was essential to the betterment of Jamal's mental health because it helped him get over the events healthily.

That's all for my review for Early Departures! Thanks for reading!

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1st Assignment:

Note: You may have seen that I had started on my summary for Percy Jackson and the Olympians, but I decided to abandon ship on that because a lot is going on in that book so it would be difficult to write a brief summary. Thanks!

Hello! This is my first SSR assignment! For my first book, I will be reviewing Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes!

Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes is about an African American boy named Jerome who is shot by a police officer in an impoverished Chicago neighborhood because he had a toy gun that was given to him by his friend, Carlos. The book switches between 2 time periods: before he was killed when he was alive, and after he was killed when he came back as a ghost. The before chapters provide in-depth explanations of things that are referenced in the ghost chapters as well as stories of how he got bullied, and his new friendship with Carlos, a poor Mexican who is new to the school they go to. As a ghost, Jerome meets Emmett Till who was also killed because of his race, and Sarah, the police officer's "white" daughter, who Jerome helps find out that his killing was rooted in racism as his case gets taken through the court.

I rank this book a 5 out of 5 stars. I ranked this book 5 out of 5 stars because it is written well in a way that keeps my interest for the entirety of the book. I also think this book is important for everyone to read so they can be educated about racism and police brutality. My favorite part, or the thing I liked the most about this book, is that it is very educational about a topic that is very important and has been for a while, police brutality, and racism. I feel it describes and states why many police brutality cases are rooted in racism. It is also very insightful about this topic. My least favorite part, or the thing I liked the least about this book, is that there is not a clear ending. Some people may like this, however, as it comes off as meaningful, but I wanted to know what happened to Jerome after the events of the book. I may have liked an epilogue, but alas, there isn't one, so the reader is left to wonder. Again, some people might like this, I just personally do not.

A quote from the book that I believe will help you decide whether or not you want to read this book is in the chapter Day of the Dead, where it says, ""At least until there aren't any more murders," answers Emmett. "Until skin color doesn't matter. Only friendship. Kindness. Understanding." "Peace." That's my wish, too."(Rhodes, Chapter 38). I picked this quote because it is meaningful and gives you something to think about as I leave you. Racism is a major issue, especially right now with the Black Lives Matter protests taking place earlier this year.

Note: My online copy of the book does not have page numbers which are why I used the chapter for the citation!

That's it for my review of Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes! Please comment to give feedback and constructive criticism! Thanks!