A Raisin in the Sun

I read this play in my 10th grade english class. We had to write several essays including this text and the controlling idea for this was almost always dreams. This story is about a family called the Youngers living on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950s. The family isnt rich or poor but they are in between with enough to survive on. Everyone in the house has their own seperate dream that doesnt include the well being of the rest of the family except fot Lena Younger the head of the household and her son Walter Younger. Lena has recieved an insurance check for which she wishes to put a down payment on ahouse with so that the family can mov e out of their apartment. Walter wants to use the money to start his business as a liquor store owner. His wife just wants a better life for their son while his sister wishes to go to medical school.

Walter's drive to carry out his dream is stronger than the rest of the family because he is the man of his household but cannot provide adequately for his family. He works for rich people and sees the way in which they conduct business and aspires to be like them. Becaus eof where he lives and how he grew up he probably didnt get the same opportunities as them in life, which would explain his inability to land a high paying job. He believes that if he can provide for his family he will truly be a man.

His wife Ruth was about to make a tremendous sacrfice for the sake of the family. She was pregnant but decided that she couldnt have the baby because it would be placing a huge burden on the existing family. She was willing to terminate her unborn child because the family didnt have the finances to support another body in the house.

People make tremendous sacrifices for the sake of their dreams. Walter was given the money by his mother because she wanted him to rise up and take responsibility as the man of the house. She told him to specificalluy make a payment on the house and put away $2000 for his sisters schooling. The temptation to fufill his dream was overwhelming on Walter. He disobeyed his mother and used the money for the business which turned out to be a scam so he lost it. This was a tremendous loss for the family everyone gave up hope and the family almost fell apart because of his stupidity. In the end he family came together and everyone agreed to do tings like pick up extra jobs in order to pay for the house.

This is a great book and I would encourage everyone to read it because it shows the strength of a family and how even through desperate times they stick together.

Manchild in the Promised Land

This is probably the best book i've ever read so far. It is 500 pages of author Claude Brown's life which is extremely eventful. Any kid who grew up in the inner city can somewhat relate to this book especially if your from Harlem, which is where the story takes place.

It talks about his childhood which was great. He used to be a problem child doing poorly in school and playing hooky, stealing, and fighting. He began playing hookiy at about 7 years old. He found school so boring and would rather be out in the street reaking havoc. I can relate to how he's feeling because like most kids I know I hate school. I didnt always however. It seems that I hated school according to what level I was in but when I left that school and moved on to the next level I always wanted to go back to that place I disliked so much. I hated elemetary school until I went to junior high where I wished I could go back. In junior high I always complained that I hated school until I reached the eighth grade and dreaded leaving. Presently im in high school and wish I was in junior high, but this will never go away seeing that I dislike my current school with a passion. There is nothing I can do but tough it out, however this was not the case with Claude Brown. When feelings for disliking school arose to hime he just didn't go. He hung out with his nieghborhood friends all day everyday until he was forced by his parents to go whenever they caught on to his absent streak. He and his friends got into all sorts of what I consider fun. I read that to get money they did things like rob stores, but not using weapons. They had a scheme where one of them entered the store and knocked something over, when the propitier came to investigate the other ran behing the counter and emptied the register. They did this to get mooey to go to the movies and buy things they wanted. They also stole sheets off clothelines and sold them. Brown was extremely unlucky one day and ended up getting shot by a man who thought he was a crackhead.

Drugs played a mojor role in this book. Around the time Brown was growing up drugs ran rampant on harlem streets. Browns first encounter with drugs was a terrible one where he used a heavy derivative of cocaine and ended up almost dying. Many of his friends in childhood became junkies in the future which is terribly sad and his mother was attacked by a junkie when he got older. His younger brother also began experimenting with drugs and became hooked. The use of drugs is a terrible thing and it can be understood why the police are always trying to crack down on users and especially dealers. They are the cause of many crimes including homicide and robbery. In the book fiends were always breaking into someones house or robbing someone to get money for their habits. These habits are so strong that the fiend will do anything to support it. in the book Brown had a childhood girlfriend who became addicted to heroin. She didnt have money to get the drug so an unbearable pain came over her an she was in the street writhing in oain clutching her stomach. the only thing to help situations like that is to get the addict the drugs because when you become hooked the drugs sort of become part of your survival. Its terrible when people profit off of addictions that people can't help that;s whyu I think ciggarettes should go into category with addictive substances.

Due to his enviroment Brown was kind of forced to do certain things like fight and sell drugs. He was raised by certain codes of the street. One of them is to never let someone disrespect your name. In the book he got in many confrontations because of this alone. In inner city enviroments the rules of the street are all the same. The rule of honoring one's name is extremely important because if you dont defend what's being said to disrespect you people will take it as what they're saying is true and that you are weak. Brown wasn't actually forced to sell drugs but he kind of was. He attended school at one point in his life where the kids were all dressed nice and had the newest clothes and accesories. Brown always looked bad since he grew up poor and his family didnt have money to but him the things he wanted. To get the money he began hustling. He sold weed to his classmates and on the street. He made a lot of money and was one of the best dealers on the street. When poeple live in places like where Brown grew up getting a job seems so distant from reality and its so much easier to sell drugs. The life of a drug dealer is so much more appealing than the life of a man who works 9 hours a day for table scraps. When selling drugs you make your own hours and basically work for yourself.

Even though Brown had a wild chidhood he still became successful in life. These are the type of stories I like to read about because I like to see the types of things that someone that I could aspire to be like, got into as a child and how they changed their ways to become to success they are today. Through all of the fights, arrests, stealing, drug dealing and all other conflicts Brown went through he still fixed up his life, went to college and became an author of a great book. These stories can be inspiration to all kids because they can see that people like them make it in life.

Me as an author

I always speak aboout books i've read but I will now like to tell my readers what type of masterpeices I would create as an author. If I ever wrote a book I would like it to be about my life experiences because I find these types of books interesting. I thyink things iv'e been through in life would be interesting to read about. Probably not as many hardships as Richard Writght had growing up in "Black Boy", but still interesting. I would talk about things that people like me like to know about a person like fights they've been in, fun things they've done and also horrible things they've done. I would also write about problems i've faced in life and how I overcame them and how they may have shaped my future. Finally I would talk about all of my accomplishments in life. The only problem with trying to write an autobiography or a memoir is that my memory is not too good and certain aspects that I would like to include in my book that people might like to know may have been forgotten.

I would also write an action novel like that of the CHERUB series. These are my favorite types of books and I would like to give readers the same page turning addiction that I recieve when I read these types of books. It would most likely be about a child on a mission as a secret agent similar to that of CHERUB since they are better than hearing about grown agents to me anyway. My character would be a gun toting, fast car driving, computer hacking and girl getting eennager that goes on various missions around the world as a spy. Sort of like the boy who plays Max Keeble in the secret agent movie with Hillary Duff , but more realistic.

Another type of book that I might write is a mystery. I would like to put the suspense filled spine tingling terror in my readers like Edgar Allan Poe did so it would most likely be a horror story as well about a detective hunting down some axe murderer in the city who cannot be caught by police because he is so cunning or something like that.

CHERUB: Maximum Security

Yes, yet another chapter in the CHERUB series. The previous ones were about drugs and extremists, but this one takes you on a trip into the home of America's Most Wanted, the teenage addition.

This chapter probably has the most violence out of the other two. James the main character is sent on a mission along with an agent of high standing named Dave. These two must pose as teenage criminals to get inside of Arizona Max a highly infamous prison compound that houses some of the countries most dangerous criminals. It has a cell block for teens, females, males and a supermax block for the worst of the worst. James and Dave are to go in and help and inmate by the name of Curtis Oxford escape in hopes of him leading the agents to his mother, Jane Oxford, a an arms dealer who is number two on the FBI's most wanted list.

Even though the characters and situations in this book are fictional the crimes that some of the inmates at Arizona Max are horrifying. Two brothers whose last names are Duff were commited of kidnapping and murdering an 8 year old girl. This even appalled James who was put to the test by Stanley Duff upon entering the jail and took out his angry by nearly breaking the sick boys jaw. The target Curtis Oxford was commited to have killing 3 people, a liquor store owner and a man and his girl friend. Its terrible that yound people actually go on rampages like Curtis and end up harming more than 3 people. For example the Columbine incident which shocked the entire countryalond with the Virginia Tech shootings. These incident puzzle me and the worse thing about them is that the crimes were carried out for issues dealing with problems most teenagers go through witih everyday. For example a kid gets bullied at school, goes homes, comes back to to school the next day with an ak 47 and decides to kill 13 people. These types of things anger me because people should learn to deal with their problems in better ways. In elementary and all throughout junior high I was never really picked on because I usually ended up fighting who ever tried to agitate me in the form of bullying. Why can't these psychos do the same. The worse thing about it is these kids harm people who had absolutely nothing to do with their life being a living hell. They destroy peoples lives and leave families child less and then usually kill themselves so that they dont have to deal with the reprucussions of their actions. To me they are cowards for letting people bully them all their lives and for escaping their punishments by killing themselves.

Jane Oxford Curtis' mother was an expert in her field. She stole a mass of military weapons from right under the governments nose for years before they even knew they were being robbed. She always stayed ahead of the FBI or whover was trying to hunt her down by always switching cell phones, never making direct contact with er associate among other tactics. Its sad that her motives behind her actions were because of psycholoical problems which caused her to be a deranged thrill seeker. Too bad people like this dont become bmx riders or bungee jumpers. For someone with these traits to become an arms dealer is extremely terrible because they most likely do not value human life and will stop at no cost to have their "fun".



I think of the movie Lord of War when I think of this book because its about Nicholas Cage who becomes a succesful arms dealer. He succesfully evaded the police and overran his competition in the business. He almost makes the life of an arms dealer look appealing to me even though I would never become one, but the price in which he sells his inventory for can never amount to the loss of human life that his business is the center of. Like Jane Oxford he sold guns to drug kartels, terrorists, oppresive dictators and crazed genocide leaders.

Their were about two scenes in the movie in which Nicholas Cage and his brother in the movie were present when their weapopns were put to use. Once they were in the Midde East it seems like they sold guns to one group engaged in a religous conflict. They lined up two teenage boys on a wall and shot them for no reason other than their religous difference. His brother wanted to help them but cage told him that it wasnt their fight. Another time was in Africa when tey were selling guns to genocide leaders who immediately went into a small town and began murdering men, women and children. This time the brother acted. He picked up a grenade and killed a couple of the aggressors and was shot shortly after. His brother did nothing about this except for assuring himself that it wasnt his fight.

People like Jane Oxford are heartless and greedy. Its like they put a price on human life knowing the cost but continue to do it. Its a terrible thing and thousands of peoplr suffer because of it.

Why do I read?

I am often times asked, "why do you read?" This question usually annoys me and I usually answer with because I want to or because I like to. I guess people forget that reading is a hobby and it doesn't always have to be done for educational purpose but also for recreation. I guess kids my age only consider things that deal with dribbling, throwing or catching a ball as hobbies. I also enjoy these things but, reading can be in a way better than any sport at times.

Reading to me is like opening a new world of some sort. It's like being in a dream while awake and you can actually have control over it based on what you decide to read about. Not one person can say that they've never read a book that they didn't enjoy. This is because it's not possible for there to be a person who cannot find a book that they can really get into. There are books to fit the type of person anyone is. Like movies books can be found in genres like action, fantasy, horror, etc.

One thing I really enjoy about reading is the use of imagination which is probably the greatest thing reading has to offer. It's great to picture myself in the plot of the story. In my previous post I wrote about a book titled "The Dealer." While reading this it was great to picture myself as one of the agents on a mission. The more vivid the readers imagination the better the read will be for them.

Reading also has many benefits to the reader. They can build vocabulary and grammar skills by reading the works of professional authors. I for one learn many higher level words for reading which also helps me in school. I use these words in my writing in class and get points for having a good vocabulary, but I still need to work on my possesional nouns. From reading the work of proffesionals it can also help to assist the reader on developing a wrinting style based on what they like. I like the style of writing that Richard Wright has. He incorporates a lot of detail in what he's trying to describe. In '' Native Son '' the way he described how Bigger decapitated and threw Mary into the furnace made a realistic picture of what was going on in the text. Also the way Robert Muchamore describes the adventures and missions the CHERUBs undertake keeps me flipping the page when I read a book in the series.

I would like to encourage everyone one to read whatever material they can get that interests them. It doesn't have to be something informative and boring or even serious. They can read books like " Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse" which is a hilarious book that my ninth and current tenth grade english teacher let me read. I would juss like people to let their imaginations get exersize or let themselves be exposed to new things and ideas.

In reading a Richard Wright novel titled " Black Boy " the topic of communism came up. Now I had the notion that communism dealt with Chinese, Russian or Cuban leaders who oppressed their peoples. I never even new that their were communist parties in the United States. Did you? Even though most of its supporters who became leaders of countries were tyrants I always looked at communism as a potentially good thing if the leaders who advocated it were totally for the people as a whole and had no desires of self gain whatsover and were aware of their own mortality. I believe that its system of everyone being treated the same could make the would a better and nicer place, but growing up in a world of capitalism I can see the huge fuss a movie star or entertainer making the same wages as a street sweeper would cause. The point is reading can teach people a lot of things they didn't know before or express feelings in a way that can make people appreciate the authors ideas, while entertaining them.

To whoever reads this post I encourage you to read more and broaden your mind on many different topics. What are you scared of? The fact that you might like it?

CHERUB: The Dealer

Another chapter to the CHERUB series in which the agents go undercover to undermind the biggest drug organization in all of Britain KMG or Keith Moore's Gang. This book is interesting to me because it gets a look inside the life of kids who sell drugs. This in retrospect is a terrible thing but it is real. I myself can see the benefits to this. Kids want many things in life that they can't have for several reasons like they can't afford it or their parents wont get it for them. By selling drugs they earn a mass of money in which they can use for whatever they want.

There are several important things mentioned in this book that surround the idea of kids selling drugs. For one, dealers who supply kids are smart. For one law enforcement are less likely to suspect a child of selling drugs than an adult. Who would thing that a 12 year old with a backpack on is transporting drugs instead of carrying school books? In this book kids are supplied with cocaine and are delivery boys who deliver drugs to buyers homes on bikes. The kids get half of whatever they make so the money is good, which is why drug dealing is appealing in the first place. The book touches on another reason why kids do favors for drug dealers which is to look cool. To me the kids who do that are dumb since they are getting nothing for their service which could potentially earn them a lot of money. Another reason why dealers supply kids in the book is because the law tends to give kids lighter punishments than adults who are caught. Finally, a kid who sells drugs feom the time they are about 12 will gain a lot of customers by the time they reach 20 which will earn their supplier more money.

My favorite part of the book is when the main character James and his friend and fellow agent Kerry get robbed. The robbery is planned by Keith the head of the organization. He puts every kid who works with him through this test to see what they would do if they were to actually get robbed on the job like if they would run to the police because they are scared. James and Kerry were given 14 kilos of flour which they thought was cocaine and sent to deliver it at a bar. Upon arriving they were met by two young skin heads armed with knives. Using their martial arts training they disarmed the thugs but were met by a man with a sawn off shotgun who accompanied the thugs. They gang left with the agents "drugs" and the agents believing that they would jepoadize the mission by losing the drugs hunted the thief down and retrieved their package. This got them huge recognition from their boss and other dealers.

In the book it's believed that the missions CHERUBs go on are too risky and are intensely monitered by the British government. Their missions are reviewed by an ethics comitee where they are deemed ok or not ok. If bad guys like dealers actually use kids to sell drugs it would also be smart for law enforcement to actually use kids to bring down criminals for the same reason. No bad guy would think that a child is actually an undercover agent. This book explores the possibility of that and shows results. Even though it is fictional it could become a reality and help in many ways.

For example, cops have problems with gangs. The tougher gangs where each member is disciplined strictly are harder to penetrate by cops trying to take them down. If cops got kids to join them as undercover agents they could get more info than they ever could doing they ineffective things they currently do.

CHERUB: The Recruit

Have you ever wondered about how life would be if you were a secret agent? Imagine being James Bond or even Sean Connery playing James Bond, going on missions, scaling buildings, stealing classified information and even rescuing the beautiful girl from the evil geniuses volcano lair. This would be a fun and interesting life for anyone who enjoys thrill seeking and danger. But how much more fun would it be to live the life of an MI6 or MI5 operative as a twelve year old kid?

The Mission is an action filled book more on the young kid teenage reading level. I enjoyed reading it because reading it was like watching a movie in my head. The details and writing style placed vivid images in my mind to make it seem like I was actually on the mission.

CHERUB is a training facility that houses and trains young kids to 18 year olds on espionage tactics, weapons training, self defense, language and survival training while also giving them basic education. It was created by the British government for the simple fact that no criminal mastermind would suspect a 13 year old of spying on them. This is extremely clever and brings in results. Most CHERUB operatives are orphans with no living relatives. They are drafted and must undergo an 100 day training period and after that they begin going on missions all over the world trying to take down criminal masterminds and organizations.

James Choke is the main character of the story. His mother died and he was sent to an orphanage where he was recruited by Kyle an undercover CHERUB. I like the recruitment process that CHERUBS must go through. It's a test of morality, basic education, fighting skills and judgement. James for his first test had to spar with his future friend Bruce. James under estimated Bruce because of his size. Little did he know Bruce was a black belt in martial arts as are most CHERUBs. He dislocated James' thumb and threatened to break his arm. Afterward he took a test of basic literacy and mathematics skills then waqs asked to kill a chicken. I found the chicken test interesting because the head of the camp Mac said that James failed because he was hesitant to kill it. If he either refused to do it or did it when asked he would have passed because it showed that he had a mind of his own. James was indecisive, but eventually killed the chicken after much hesitancy. For his final test he was asked to jump into a pool. This was a test of judement since James couldn't swim. He passed since he refused to do it. If he would have jumped in and had to be rescued he would have failed for using poor judgement.

James' first official mission was to infiltrate a community of enviromentalists called Fort Harmony. The governmnet believed that a few residents living their were terrorists and wanted James and another agent to get close to kids their and gather information. In the end James and the other agent got enough information to uncover a plot to kill oil comany representatives from different nations using anthrax in the air conditioning system.

I would enjoy being a CHERUB to live an exciting and action filled life. It's way better than being in a regular school that i dislike being in. All schools should be kind of like this pertaining to the type of career kids want to persue in life. Here kids learn all they need to become efficient spies and also recieve enough education to be able to go to college and excell if they so choose.