Isabella Danon
804    
                                                           Romeo and Juliet

                          In the story of Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, two young people fall in love at first sight.  Their families, the Montagues (Romeo) and the Capulets (Juliet) are known all throughout the city to be rivals.  The story takes place in Verona, Italy. Over time, the plot darkens.  In the end, the two lovers take their own lives.  Although it is thought to be a romance, many people think that the characters are being naive, especially Romeo.
                      One reason why Romeo was being naive is that he got over Rosaline unsually easily.  Rosaline had been the woman that Romeo had previously been madly in love with, but she rejected him.  At first he was heartbroken, and he insisted that he wouldnt be able to function without Rosaline.  It escalated to the point where his cousin had to give him something of a pep talk as an attempt to cheer him up and lighten his spirits.  It made a very small difference.  Later on, Romeo attended a party at the house of the Capulets.  It was there that he saw Juliet, and any acknowledgement that he had for Rosaline completely vanished.  It was as if he had never loved her.  This is quite abnormal.  For the average person, it takes at least a couple of days to get over someone, especially when they love that person endlessly.  This might make the reader think that what Romeo felt for Rosaline wasn't actually love.
                         Another reason to back up the fact that Romeo was being shallow was that he fell in love with Juliet without even hearing her voice.  As said in the story repeatedly, it was "love at first sight".  Unfortunately, love at first sight is not a real thing.  To fall in love, one must know the person they are in love with.  One can't say that they're in love just by looking at someone.  It says a lot about a person if they say something as ignorant as that.
                         Overall, this is why Romeo needs to think twice about what he is doing.  Later on in the story, Romeo and Juliet end up getting married.  Keep in mind that at that point, they had only known each other for several days.  It's obsurd and a waste of time for Romeo to devote his entire life to a girl he just met.  This may have contributed to the problem that resulted at the end.




               

                                                                              Crank

       The novel "Crank" by Ellen Hopkins, tells the story of a 17 year-old girl named Kristina Georgia Snow, who started out  very well-behaved until she went to visit her father and started using drugs.  She claimed that she had a "monster" in her head, which was persuading her to make many wrong decisions.  These decisions changed her life forever.  Crank is a book that will make readers open their eyes an realize the consequences of one's actions.  It is a book filled with information that can help a person through life, as well as  intense emotion and suspense that make it worth reading.
       One of the things that Kristina handles poorly is her use of the drug methamphetamine ("crank"). Once she goes to visit her dad, she finds out that he is addicted to the drug (as well as the fact that he has been smoking marajuana since the age of 13).  While she is in her visit, she meets a boy named Buddy, who goes by the name Adam.  It is believed that this is what makes her decide to go by the name "Bree" while she is with Adam.  She and Adam soon end up having an affair, and that leads to more affairs.  Adam is the one who introduces her to crank, and she soon realized that she could not live without it.  Now, even after she has gone home from her dad's house, she continues using the drug.  Later on in the novel, she begins smoking crank instead of snorting it, and she also started using other drugs such as weed, nicotine, and ecstasy.
               The second thing that the monster leads Kristina (/Bree) to do is have an unhealthy relationship with boys.  After she goes back to live with her mom, she is separated from Adam, so their relationship is not as strong.  Adam tells her one day that he thinks it should be okay for them to see other people, although he still loves her very much.  Kristina isn't keen on this idea, but she goes along with it anyway.  She soon finds love with not one, but two other men.  The first one is named Chase.  Chase is seen as the trouble-maker of the school.  Kristina soon learns later on in their relationship that, although he is a bad influence, he is an extremely sweet boy and cares about her a great deal.  He always has her back, through thick and thin.  Brendan, however, is entirely different.  She meets him at a family party when he is lifeguarding.  They end up going to a couple parties together and she relies on him to supply her with the drugs that she needs.  She starts to fall for him, and she thinks they have a pretty strong bond.  One night, they decide to drive up to the top of a hill and smoke some of the crank that Brendan has picked up.  After that, Kristina's head is spinning.  Brendan suggests the idea of intercourse to Kristina, and she refuses, saying she doesn't think it she's ready.  However, Brendan doesn't care.  He then proceeds to do basically rape Kristina, while she protests the whole way through.  In the end, Kristina is traumatized, heartbroken, and scarred for the rest of her life, yet she agrees when Brendan (surprisingly) offers to drive her home.  After that night, she stops associating with him, which is the right choice.  A couple months later, Kristina finds out she is pregnant as a result of what happened with Brendan.  Chase is completely supportive and insists on turning down college to help her care for the baby.  Kristina tells Chase that he should go to college, and that she will be just fine on her own.  This is a lie, due to the fact that at the end of the book, she leaves her newborn son to be taken care of by her mother and stepfather.
             Overall, this book's theme is that actions have consequences.  Kristina learned this the hard way.  She ended up abandoning her son, Hunter, and living a life controlled by a drug that she promised she would quit, but found it too difficult.  This can be related to real life experiences of teenagers all around the world.  In fact, the character of Kristina is based on the daughter of Ellen Hopkins.  This book is meant to be a warning to young people, to be careful and know what to get caught up in and what not to get caught up in, because one small mistake can be drastically life changing.

The Sky Is Everywhere

Isabella Danon    
804      

                                                                The Sky is Everywhere
                     
                        The novel "The Sky is Everywhere" by Jandy Nelson, is about a 17-year-old girl named Lennie, who has just lost her sister due to a heart malfunction.  Lennie is now greiving along with her grandmother, uncle, and her sister's boyfriend.  On her first day back at school since her sister's death, Lennie meets a boy named Joe and is immediately drawn to him.  Lennie has different relationships with all of these people.  Each relationship has it's ups and downs, but through time, Lennie learns things about them that she never knew before, and never saw coming.  These realizations help her understand more, and also change her as a person and her views on life.
                          Gram is Lennie's grandmother.  Lennie often gets into arguments with Gram, usually about things related to her sister.  What Lennie doesn't understand is that Gram is in just as much pain as her, but the two of them just have different methods of coping with it.  Lennie blocks out Gram when Gram is only trying to help.   Lennie thinks this will aid her in her time of sadness, but it only makes everything worse.
                             On her first day back at school, Lennie meets a young man named Joe, with a unique charm.  She gets to know him, and the two of them soon fall in love.  Lennie realizes that she has a lot in common with Joe, and he is basically her soulmate.  At one point, Lennie makes a big mistake, and it takes a long time for Joe to forgive her, but she tries endlessly to get him back and prove to him that it will never happen again.
                               Bailey was Lennie's older sister by two years.  She was by far the most important part of Lennie's life, and a role model, since the girls' mother left them when they were very young.  She died suddenly from a heat attack, leaving Lennie overcome with grief.  As time goes by, Lennie learns secrets that Bailey had kept hidden from her for a long time, and it helps her to have sympathy for all of the people that are mourning Bailey.
                               Toby was Bailey's fiancé before she died.  Lennie starts out with a brother-and-sister-like relationship with him, but it soon escalates into something of a secret love affair when Lennie starts to get the illusion that he is the only one who understands what she's going through.  She wants to stop, because she knows that she is betraying two of the most important people in her life (Bailey and Joe), but she is unable to, until one day.
                                Joe, Bailey, Gram, and Toby are the four people that play the biggest parts in Lennie's life.  All of the individual relationships contain good and bad, but in the end, Lennie gets something out of each of them that she wouldn't trade for anything else.