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Read Wolves!
Welcome to WELL REaD, the reading blog of the Niles West High School IRC. We want to hear what our students and staff have to say about books. To comment about anything you read here, click on the comment link at the bottom of the post.
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7 comments:
So far the book is really interesting as it explores how society sometimes stereotypes people. The book is a story about two High School senior students: Marcus and Eddie. Marcus is black and Eddie is white and they have been best friends for many years and great basketball players in their high school. Marcus lives with his mom and pre-school sister while Eddie lives across town with his father who is a sanitation worker and a younger sister, Rose. Both of the families have limited budget and daily life is a struggle.
They are both star players on their high school team and they both have attracted attention of NBA scouts who come and watch their game. They both saved $150 to pay senior dues, which includes a trip to Six Flags and Bear Mountain. However, Nike came out with new basketball shoes and everyone on the team was wearing them. They had a tough decision to make: spend the $150 on shoes or pay the dues. They decided to buy the shoes, as they are center of attention in every game and everyone on the team had them.
In my opinion they made a bad decision to buy the shoes as they now have only one month to save before the dues are to be paid to school. They decided working would interfere with basketball practices and school, so they decided to take Eddie’s grandfather pistol and rob people at gunpoint to collect money to pay the dues. After their first robbery they returned the gun to its place in Eddies house. I think it’s dangerous and a bad idea to rob people at gunpoint because what if the person they are robbing has a gun and pulls a trigger. Either one or both can be dead or the victim can also be shot.
Also, in my opinion once you start robbing you gain confidence and you commit more robberies that eventually can lead to trouble or death. If I were in a similar situation I would ask my parents for advice or try to take out a loan and if that doesn’t work then I won’t go to the trip. I am looking forward to reading this book further and see if Marcus and Eddie continue to rob people and what can happen if a armed robbery does not go as planned and what happens to their career goals and their future. I would recommend this book.
Ninos Y.
so far i think this book is very suspensful and grabs your attension and makes you read more. My favorite part of this book is that the author changes from marcus's point of view to eddie's. In the book marcus and eddie are both great athletes and scouts from different colleges come to watch there games. I think if basketball was so important to marcus and eddie they shouldnt of done sticks up because their basketball careers are in danger because of one mistake. They put there basketball careers in danger just so they have the same things everybody else has. Another thing i like about this book is marcus and eddie's friendship. There more then just friends, they like brothers. Thats why they got the nicknames "black and white". In the book eddies mom tells another teacher that marcus is her other son. That also shows how close the two are.
questions:
1. if you were eddie would you of taken the scholarship?
2. if you were marcus how would you feel in his postion?
3.if you were marcus would you tell the police that eddie was the shooter?
Reading this book so far, I have found it to be very interesting and exciting.I like that the author switches the main charecter from chapter to chapter. This is good because you can get to know the main charecters better. I also found it interesting how the two main charecters Eddie and Marcus deal with getting the money to pay for dues. But I do not understand why Eddie can't ask his parents for money.His family is not poor like Marcus's. I also do not understand why Marcus and Eddie cannot think of another way of getting money instead of threatening people at gunpoint. If I was them I would first try to sell what I had and then think of something else. This book reminds me of a movie in which there is a family of 4 brothers. These brothers help each other out when one of them gets into trouble. Even though Eddie and Marcus are not brothers they act like it. Both of there mothers treat them like part of the family. i believe that this book shows how people will do the hashes thing to one another to get what they want, evan if they think its the wrong thing to do. I have read fifty pages of" Black & White" so far and I cant wait to read on.
Well so far the book is very intense. So far in the book we know that Marcus and Eddie are doing stick ups to gain money to pay their senior dues. In my opinion it’s a bad decision to pull stickups on people because if they get caught they will get into a lot of trouble with the law and their careers as a basketball players could be finished. As I was reading a lot of tension builds up. During one the sick ups Marcus and Eddie made one of the biggest mistakes of their lives. That incident was so big that during a game the police took Marcus away. No one knew why, but Eddie is the only person who knows. I liked how the author alternates chapters between Eddie and Marcus lives. It’s really unique because you don’t often see this in other books. After that game (when Marcus was arrested) Eddie accepted a scholarship from St. Johns. Eddie was still worried about Marcus because he knew that the police would find him too. The police still didn’t catch Eddie. I’m at the part where Marcus has to go through the court legal system after his arrest and he was sentenced to serve jail time. Marcus states that life in the prison is horrible and there is no such thing as privacy. For example, if you use the washroom everyone can see you. Since Marcus was arrested when he was playing basketball and he was wearing his new basketball shoes the inmates in prison will try to steal it. He lost his appetite for eating and he his starving. If I were in Marcus’s shoes I would be really depressed and give up all hope of ever living a normal life. But Marcus has not lost hope and he is struggling to understand many things and the remarkable thing is that he is young.
I found that reading “Black and White” gets you more and more interested as you read on. The situation in which Marcus and Eddie get them self’s in is basically in my words crazy. As we know Marcus and Eddie are doing stick ups to get money to pay for some dues and for some of there luxuries. In there case I would think twice about threatening other people at gun point for money, because someone could pull out a gun at you or you might kill someone by accident. After a couple of stickups both Eddie and Marcus feel confident that nothing could stop them , when during one stick something tragic happens that effects not only both of the boys reputations, but there futures. If this happened to me I would feel depressed I wouldn’t know what to do. This problem then accurse in the police coming in on a basketball game and taking Marcus into jail. After reading that scene I was very shocked how quickly the police found out about the incident. I was also amazed how the victim could even tell one of them apart. I found it disrespectful that right after Marcus was taken away my the cops that Eddie accepted a scholarship from Saint Johns collage because they both told each other that they would both do it together. So far I have read 110 pages of this book so far and I cant wait to read on.
I just finished the book and it made a good reading. The ending was positive but confusing. After reading the book I was surprised by the ending. I had hoped the ending would have more action. Overall, it was a really an intense and interesting book. Toward the ending their were a lot twists and surprising events (that I cannot state as it will ruin the ending) that made the book a lot more interesting. This book can relate to many events in young teenagers lives. The book deals with racism issues and it portrays how it affects people lives. I would definitely recommend this book to everyone.
To me this book was a perfect example of how friends stick together through thick and thin. This book shows how a stupid mistake can effect not only you but everyone around you. I have enjoyed reading this book a lot. The alternation of main characters by chapters really helped me understand what was going on and helped me get to know the two main characters. The ending wasn't what i had imagined it to be but now thinking about it. I think it fit the story. I am done reading this book and I would read the book again. This was a great read for me because the book talked about life situations that happen. Despite that fact I would recommend this book to anyone.
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