1. This summer I've read :
- The Giver
- Lord of the Kill
- Warriors Dont Cry
The Giver was about Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. When Jonas turns 12 he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.
Lord of the Kill was about a sixteen-year-old Ben Jepson is in charge of Los Coyotes Preserve, a refuge for big cats near Los Angeles. While his parents were in India they left him in charge , when two powerful groups try to shut it down by intimidation, murder, and kidnapping the largest tiger in captivity.
2A . Major Ideas :
Warriors Don't Cry shows Melba's experiences as a fifteen year old African-American girl who has integrated to Central High , an all white school , along with 8 other African-American students whos gotten selected , as well as Melba. They are on a journey of terror , overcoming many obstacles and live through an everyday schedule of getting taunted and threatened. It also is about how Melba changes from the beginning of her high school year at Central High to the end , from a normal teenage girl to a strong warrior. . That was also the year she became a warrior on the front lines of a civil rights firestorm. Following the landmark 1954 Supreme Court ruling, Brown v. Board Education, she was one of nine teenagers chosen to integrate Little Rock's Central High School. This is her remarkable story.
2B . Characters :
Melba Patillo Beals - The main character and narrator of Warriors Don't Cry. Melba is one of the Little Rock Nine (i.e., the first black students in the United States to attend a previously all-white high school). She fights racism in its many forms throughout her life.
Grandma India - Melba's grandmother. Grandma India is one of the most influential figures in Melba's life. She is a deeply religious woman who provides Melba with a deep sense of purpose. It is Grandma India who tells Melba that warriors don't cry, thus providing her with the title of her memoir.
Link - A white student who befriends Melba. Link has a close relationship with his Nanny, who is black, which leads him to empathize with Melba. Though Link helps Melba in her fight against the segregationists, he never publicly declares his friendship with her.
Conrad Patillo - Melba's younger brother. As an adult, Conrad becomes the first and only black captain of the Arkansas State Troopers.
Lois Patillo - Melba's mother, also called Mother Lois. Lois teaches English at a Little Rock high school, and, at the time of the book's events, is separated from Melba's father, Will.
Will Patillo - Also called "Papa Will." Will is Melba's father. He leaves the family before the events of the book unfold. Will objects to the integration effort.
Kelli Beals - Melba's daughter.
Virgil Blossom - The superintendent of Little Rock's schools. He supports the plan for integration, but he does little to enforce it or protect the students.
Minnijean Brown - One of the Little Rock Nine. Minnijean is Melba's closest friend in the group. She is eventually expelled from Central for "fighting" and is sent to New York to attend school. Minnijean eventually becomes a Canadian citizen and lives on a farm as a writer and a mother.
Nana Healey - Link's nanny from childhood. Nana Healey is black, and Link has a very close relationship with her.
Mrs. Higgenbottom - Grandma India's shotgun.
