Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick

       Towards the end of the book Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick, the main character, thirteen year old Steven Alper, comes to realize how much he cares about his brother Jeffrey, five.
       In the beginning of Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie, Steven writes a long account of his hatred for Jeffrey in class. He talks about how annoying he is, and how all the grown ups including his parents cared about Jeffrey more.
       When Steven finds out Jeffrey has leukemia, he suddenly realizes he could lose Jeffrey at any moment, and he begins to worry about him. This is a sudden change from wishing he was an only child, and it shows the beginning of his change of feelings. Steven keeps thinking his cancer is his own fault, and that he should do something about it.
       Towards the end, Steven begins to make huge personal sacrifices for Jeffrey. He sees that he is not just an annoying older brother to Jeffrey, but that he can guide him through his sudden tragedy. Steven saves Jeffrey from getting sick by not letting his crush, Renee Albert, inside his house, skipping out on his Band Concert to go with Jeffrey to the hospital, and almost stopping his drum lessons, the most important thing in his life.
       In conclusion, Steven realizes how important Jeffrey is to his life, when he sees how easily he could lose him. This proves the saying "you don't know the worth of the water 'til the well is dry." All people should appreciate the worth of their family members, friends and others while they can.

Memoir

      I opened the door. The cold air struck me- I could feel it passing through me in the strangest way. The dark, cold sound of nighttime, the quiet drone of city lights and slowly passing cars were suddenly all around me. I could smell the rain, the streetlight flooded sidewalks, daunting and unfamiliar. Ana stepped into the doorway, tears streaming and mascara running down her face. "Hi," I said, and brought her inside.

      My house was quickly comforting again, the late night discussion of politics from my dad, the soft spices and hot soup boiling on the stove. We stepped down the hall and into my room. I could feel myself shaking uncontrollably, and I tried to stabilize myself. We sat down on my sister's bed like we had so many other times. But this time was different. My mind was racing like a flip book, with all the possibilities to why she had come over flashing by. I couldn't help but imagine the worst, and I knew I needed to help her but had no idea how to. That was probably the worst part. She smelled like strong perfume. It felt stupid, but I asked her what was wrong.

       Ana never makes any sense. Literally. It's like all the words are mixed up in her head like a kindergarten scribble and she can never say what she really wants to. She's an impulse person, always going with her gut feeling. Ana's unique in that way; since she never over thinks anything, she's the realest person I know. 

      She exploded with everything at once. Her depression. Her problems at school. Everything was happening so fast, and I had no control. She looked guilty for coming over so late with little notice, but I felt bad for worrying about my own dumb little problems. Ana had contemplating suicide. How did this happen? She wasn't one of those attention seekers either. Her life was far from perfect, and it terrified me. I thought stuff like this happened in books, or at least to people older. I kept thinking about what could've happened to her, what still could, because her life was escalating so quickly. But I had no idea. All I could do was sit there and listen. And for then, that was what she needed.

      She cried and told me how happy she was when I said she didn't have to go home, that she could stay at my house. I should be there for her more often, I realized. Maybe my friends needed me. Not just Ana.  Everyone else. Why had I been sitting back and waiting for something bad to happen? So I started paying more attention to how my friends were acting. Because everyone needs help. I just hadn't seen it yet.

Go Ask Alice

      After only the first few pages of "Go Ask Alice",  I could tell I was being sucked into something big.
      The book was published in the 70s, supposedly based on the true diary of a 15 year old girl's life at the time. Even though I've only read about the first few pages of "Go Ask Alice",  I can feel myself being dragged down into a depressing but intense and interesting look into the tragic life of a drug addicted 15-year old.
      The most exciting part about the book is that I feel like I'm there with her, and whenever I know something bad is going to happen, I'll get that terrible feeling inside like you're driving midway off a cliff and you can't do anything but watch. But nevertheless it's exciting and I'm glad I'm reading something slightly depressing because it's a life lesson, and reading it will I think, make me realize a lot about how easily things could go south in anyone's life.

Book Similarities

      So far in "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky, I am noticing a lot of similarities between the book and "The Mysterious Incident of The Dog in The Nighttime".
      For example, the main character in "The Perks of Being a Wallflower", Charlie, is an outcast from everyone he knows. He is both categorized into certain boxes and shoved off to the side, much like Christopher in "The Mysterious Incident".
      Also in "The Perks Of Being a Wallflower", Charlie loses a dear friend, Michael. In "The Mysterious Incident",  Christopher loses his mother. The books follow how the characters react to their losses, and change and develop because of them. So far I love the book and I'm really excited to read more!