She's So Dead To Us

(CONTAINS SPOILERS!!!)

I have recently finished reading a book called She’s so dead to us by Kieran Scott. It’s about how a girl named Ally Ryan, who has been away from her home in Orchid Hill for years, has finally come back. Ally used to be one of the popular kids, also known “Cresties”, but that had changed when she had left her home years ago, because her father had made a financial mistake for many families, and in shame, had left Orchard Hill. But, Ally won’t let her past affect her future and present, but her former friends-who now hate her for not saying goodbye or anything when she was forced to leave-won’t let her forget. A bigger problem is, Jake Graydon, a new Crestie that had moved when Ally left so knows nothing about her, loves Ally, and Ally likes him back. Why is this a problem? Because, Ally’s a Norm-people who aren’t popular Cresties, just ‘normal’ people-and according to the Cresties, a norm and a Crestie cannot be together-ever.  

Ally may be fighting things external, but she also has internal problems. For one, is she really gonna let go of her past with her loving friends, family, and awesome life because of one little thing? Sure, her family made things really complicated finically, he lost a lot of families’ money, made some lose their homes, cars, and other belongings, but, before all that, Ally had awesome friends, went to dinners with them with them, hung out with them all the time, and basically everything she wanted. Is she really ready to give that up? Ally wants to go back to that time, she wants to have a life where her friends love her, not hate her for something her dad did. But, on the other hand, Ally doesn’t want to go back to her old life, she rather be with her ‘norm’ friends, Annie Johnson and David Drake, then her former now-sour friends, Shannon, Todd and Trevor, Hammond, Chloe, and Faith,  (Mostly Shannon and Faith though) who blame her for almost everything, Faith’s new ‘dark side’ showing more, the loss of money for all of them except Chloe, Trevor and Todd needing to move in with their grandparents, and basically everything else that goes wrong with their lives-which is sorta messed up. Ally’s father may have caused some problems with the Cresties, but that doesn’t really mean they can take it out on Ally, which is basically why Ally can’t decide who to be friends with.  

Another internal problem Ally has is, weather to be with Jake or not.  Ally’s a norm. Jake’s a Crestie. A huge difference in Orchard Hill. Cresties date Cresties; Norms date a norm, which is how it’s been for them, like forever.  But, according to other people, Ally can change that, why? Because “somehow that girl always gets what she wants.” Ally may like Jake, but she can’t really be with him. His best friends are the people who hate her, and with no offense to Jake, but people really think he wants to be with Ally…for other reasons.  “It’s Jake Graydon. Pretty soon he’s going to have worked his way through the entire school and he’ll have to make a second round.” They think he’s basically a player, and some people think Ally is too good, though she may not seem like it, what some people say about her, sometimes to get Ally. But, Ally is strong in some ways, she can stand up to snobby Cresties, stand up to people who make fun of her, and some rumors, there’s a possibility she could go out with Jake, despite everything. 

Love. Rumors. Fights with former friends. Ally has a lot on her plate to fix and deal with now that she’s back home. Personally, I think Ally is sorta handling this right. She goes on head on with the fights; she won’t easily back down from a fight. And she won’t give up no matter how much the Cresties want her down. Some people would run from a fight with the most popular people, some people would back down, knowing that they can’t win, but Ally doesn’t see that, she knows she can ‘win’ a fight even if she tries. Little does she know things are gonna get more complicated when Shannon, her former best friend steps up to fight her…at a party and using one thing that Ally fears the most, her father.

 

Her father was the one thing that most people knew that broke Ally. Why? Because Ally loved her father, he was close to her. He built her a basketball court for her. He made other people feel jealous, for her father had been there the most for her, while others had not been. That was till he had changed her life. He thought he could win more money and ‘gambled’ it, but lost it. Then forced his family to leave, in shame and without a word to their friends. Then, later in her life, he left her and Ally’s mother, alone to take care of themselves with very little money. He’d vanished…that was until Shannon had found him. she had video him working in a little deli, trying to earn money, and then at her party she had played it…in front of Ally, to show that she knew how to break her down, to show her that she was still playing the revenge card, and she will not give up till she’s down in the ground, possibly even lower…

Poor Ally finds out things, for one thing, her worst enemies know where her invisible father is, and another, Jake, who she was dating knew, and didn’t bother to tell her. Trust broken. Hearts broken. Wills broken. Everything shattered for her and her mother.

 

It’s sad, but Ally teaches us some things. Like, not everything is what they seem. She thought Jake would be honest to her, that he wasn’t like the others Cresties, like he was an actual human with feelings, but knowing where her father had been…that shattered everything, she saw the ‘truth’ that not everything is what they seem. But, other things are just exactly what they seem. Ally knew Shannon, who may not be mentioned a lot, but is still one of the main problems for Ally. Ally knew Shannon would do almost everything she could to bring her down…maybe Ally shouldn’t have come back to Orchard Hill. Maybe she should have stayed hidden in her little home in Maryland…home, for Ally, is where the hate is…where everything is revealed on how her friends feel about her leaving…how even your former best friends can hurt you. 

Lies

Lies by Michael Grant

In the book, Lies by Michael Grant, people 15 and older have been gone for months.  Some people have turned into ‘freaks’-or people who have special powers, others have turned human, either way, they all starve and fight to survive. It’s especially hard because humans like Zil and his friends are beginning to feel that the FAYZ-the Fallout Ally Youth Zone, which is a nickname for it-should only belong to the humans only. Sam, being the leader of the FAYZ, is beginning to feel under a lot of pressure, as food, water, and all those basic needs of life runs out, kids begin to demand, complain, and harass the council. What’s even worse?  One of Sam’s worse enemies, Drake, who died in a mining accident, is back. And he wants revenge on everyone, especially Sam.  And these are just the basic outline of the problems with the FAYZ; people are desperate to try anything to get out, even if it means dying.  

The FAYZ demands a leader, and they have one. Sam Temple.  But there are things stopping him, saying he should things for them, not the FAYZ altogether. Even Sam’s friends are demanding him what to do. 

For example, Sam’s so-called girlfriend, Astrid. People describe Astrid as ‘manipulative, selfish, and bossy.’ That’s how Sam describes her when they’re fighting over the council and the FAYZ again, and how Sam blames Astrid for putting him under this pressure of everything.  ‘You will use anyone to get what you want. Say anything to get your way. Why was I ever even in charge? Because of you! Because you manipulated me into doing it. Why? So I would protect you and Little Pete. That’s all you cared about. You know it’s the truth. And now you don’t bother to manipulating me, you can just give me orders. Embarrass me. Undercut me. But as soon as some problem hits, guess what? It’ll be, oh, please, Sam, save us.’ Astrid used to seem nice to Sam, she looked hot and out of his league, but as they got to know each other, he begin to feel like she was just using him, they’re relationship has changed since the FAYZ began. Before, Sam looked up to Astrid, respected her, would basically do anything for her, but now? Well. Now he wasn’t sure if she was really caring for him or just herself. 

The effect that Sam’s finding out about Astrid isn’t good. Why? Because, it just doesn’t affect him but the FAYZ too. Sam, well, he’s hot tempered, strong willed, defiant, his relationship with Astrid is just making him angrier. He just wants to get out, forget the FAYZ, and forget everything, which is bad, since the FAYZ is at the midpoint crisis here-especially with Drake here.  Sam doesn’t want to take of anyone, just himself, he’s beginning to not care if the others die, he’s just like: Yeah, I don’t really care anymore, we’re gonna die, Astrid and the others can take of them, why? Cause, Astrid’s so smart and the others have power. Who needs a guy like me who just kills when he gets angry?
 

But on the other hand, this sorta has a positive effect on Sam too. He’s more willing to fight the bad guys here; he’s more willing to fire at anyone who wants to hurt the FAYZ. The kids there don’t have time anymore; they need every second of their lives if they wanna live.  With Sam being impatient with people he’ll just kill the guys who wanna hurt and then they won’t need to deal with it anymore.  Astrid is sorta pushing Sam into fighting more, since before he didn’t want to, he hesitated-I mean who wouldn’t? Why would you wanna kill people just like you? Where’s the good in that? But here, it doesn’t matter if the enemy is your own friend, your best friend even, if they wanna hurt the kids, if they wanna hurt everyone; Sam needs to take them down. So Astrid is having a good and bad effect on Sam, she’s his protagonist and helper too.

Another problem bringing Sam down is the way everyone feels. It’s just how Sam tells Astrid, one minute they’re all like Sam, we need you! Help us fight off the bad guy! Other times they’re like: Jeez, Sam, let go, you were the hero, yay! Now let it go, we can take care of ourselves thank you very much. Sam doesn’t really know what to do, what’s he supposed to do? Just come out when needed? Like a toy for a kid? Kid only take it out when they wanna play with the toy, then put it back when they’re bored or don’t want to play with it anymore? Sam’s not the kinda guy to be like that, he feels he’s either needed at all times, or just not needed so he can go and rest. He decides to not to help for a few, and the town hates on him why weren’t you there to help Sam?! It’s your JOB! But when he helps as much as possible, they get annoyed. This is misleading Sam, especially with his anger problems, so it’s not having a good effect on him. there is no good effect, he feels like he’s just a toy, and that’s what’s bringing him down, that’s what he wants to stop, or he’s just gonna end up leaving

It’s just like how some people feel. How used people feel. They’re just a pawn for the bigger things, people just bring them out to get what they want, not caring what the ‘pawn’ feels. Not caring if the pawn wants to leave or wants it to stop. As long as the pawn does what they need to do, everything is okay. But, what people don’t think is that there are consequences with using. The FAYZ and Astrid are good examples of this, they use Sam to fight until they think it’s safe and that’s it. They don’t really care if he hates it. They don’t think of the main consequences. What if Sam leaves? What if Sam goes and never comes back? What if he gets sick, or dies, of this? Then who will fight for the FAYZ? Sure, there are people who can help, but they’re not as strong as Sam, they don’t know how to lead, they don’t know how to anything but just watch Sam fight…if that happens, where is this gonna lead the FAYZ too? What is gonna happen to everyone? Who will die for this? Who will die for no reason? What will happen overall?

Maximum Ride

Maximum Ride 5 by James Patterson

Maximum Ride by James Patterson is about 6 bird kids, Max (Maximum), Fang, Iggy, Nudge, Gasman, and Angel. Throughout the story-which is told from Max’s point of view-the ‘bird’ kids are trying to run from a place called the School and figure themselves out, like about their past and parents.  Who are they? Were the really Test Tube babies like they think? And, is Max really supposed to ‘save the world’ like the scientists say? Though, Max wants to find out more about the school, their past, and the whole saving the world thing, the other members of the Flock, just want to settle down, find a home, relax and let the world be destroyed-just as long as they survive. But of course, the School has other ‘plans’ kidnapping the Flock-again-the School tells them that they’re gonna be ‘retired’-basically gonna die. People have other plans, things that’ll help them only, so how is Max gonna be able to save the world? 

Throughout the story, Max learns that maybe not everyone is what they seem be-especially in her own Flock.  Fang, who is like, Max’s right-winged man, is becoming more like the kids, all he wants to do is settle down and live on their own, even when he knows Max’s supposed to save the world, and that’s one of the main things she wants to do. ‘Let them Blow up the World and Global-warm it, and pollute it. You and me and the others will be holed up somewhere, safe. We’ll come back out when they’re all gone. Don’t playing their games of world domination.’ Though, Fang usually supports Max and is like Max’s antagonist, Fang really wants to lie back, and just let the scientists do what they wanna do to world-but like Max says, how are they gonna if they could get destroyed in the process as well?

I personally think Fang’s idea is having this negative effect on Max’s plan. Max needs to be able to save the world from whatever the scientists plan to do-with or without her Flock. She always with her Flock, so, she wants to fight the bad guys with her Flock supporting her all the way. But with Fang being all like let them do what they wanna do to the world, as long as we’re safe, that’s the important thing right? And with the others supporting Fang, how is Max gonna be able to have her Flock support her when they don’t really care? What is gonna happen to the world if Max does what the Flock wants her to? It won’t be nice for them will it? How will they survive if the world they know it will be different from after it’s destroyed or fixed?

Fang may be one of the main things bothering Max about the world, but he’s not the only one for sure. There’s also Angel. Little, sweet, 6 year old Angel who has been like Fang-supporting Max through things, and thanks to her mind-reading powers, helping her solve major things. But ever since Angel has been exposed to ‘cruel’ things that the School gave/told her, Max has noticed something about Angel-she’s different from the ‘sweet little frail girl’ Max knows. She’s more…power-hungry to Max. She’s more likely gonna betray Max to guarantee power for herself, like she does in the book. When the Flock is kidnapped Angel joins over to the School side, and when she and Max talk she says, ‘Max-you know I had to do what was right. You weren’t making the best decisions anymore. I have lots of special powers. I deserve to be leader. I deserve to be saved. I’m much more special than you and Fang.’ And this really isn’t the first time Angel’s been power-hungry and thinking she’s more special. But, really, is Angel ready to become leader? She’s the youngest one, she doesn’t know things, not like Max, she hasn’t been through the world, and she doesn’t know how the School operates-even if she thinks she does. 

Like Fang, Angel being like this isn’t helping Max with her mission. Max adores Angel, she thinks that Angel’s like her little girl. Even though she knows Angel’s changed, Max still wants to protect Angel, protect her from the ‘dangers’ of the school and the world. Though Angel tends to be like Max’s little girl, Angel wants power more, she wants to be leader, she wants to run things her way, she wants to be the one people listen to, look up to, not look down at. I know what it’s really like in Angel’s case, I’m not saying I’m hungry for power (where am I gonna get power anyway?) but I don’t want to be looked down at, I want people to look up at me, I know I’m not the only one. Many others hate being looked down at, they want to be looked up or equal to others, personally, I think, who wants to be looked down at? I know I don’t. But, Angel betraying Max and the Flock by going to the school side, I don’t think that’s the way to get power. Personally, I think Angel can get power by her own things, not by going to the side she thinks is gonna ‘win’ or has the more power. I think she should be able to get through her goals through friends-what’s the point of having power if your friends and others don’t like and just…ignore you?

Fang and Angel are just mere examples of things blocking Max’s main mission. There are others who want her to do this than that and things for them. Out of Max’s problems, I can learn that there are things that can stop you from your goals or missions, it’s not just your enemies, and your friends can stop you too. But the main thing is how are you gonna react to it? Are you gonna let them influence you? Are you gonna define them and do what you wanna do? Max’s reaction was obviously defined them-she’s stubborn to want to be able to save the world-but what if she wasn’t? What if she gave into her friends’ will? What if she’s influenced into doing what others want without thinking about the results of it? Then where would she be? What would happen to the Flock? Would Angel be leader? Would they be relaxing at a home like Fang said? Max needs to be able to decide, is she gonna let others tell her what to do? Or keep the main mission as her most important mission? How is she gonna react to the others wants?

Am I Blue?

Am I blue? By Bruce Coville

“Am I blue?” by Bruce Coville is a short story about a high-school boy named Vince. Throughout the story Vince basically has many problems that link back to one major question-is he gay? Vince meets his ‘fairy Godfather’ Melvin after a bully named Butch Carrigan beats him, who helps him figuring out if Vince is gay or straight-something he has been trying to figure out for a year now. By helping him Melvin lets Vince make 3 wishes, tells him about being gay in the world, and shows him that Melvin isn’t afraid of being whom his is-being himself gay-and if the other gays in the world were like that, no one would get beat up for it. ‘I walk and talk the way I do because I’m not going to let anyone define me’ he says. Melvin is basically one of the few gays who aren’t afraid to show who they like, and he’s basically trying to teach Vince that throughout the story.

           

I feel like, though Melvin is not the main character of the story the author uses him to pass on a message to the readers-especially those who are gay. It’s okay to be gay; it’s okay to be ‘different.’ You just have to be brave enough to show it to the rest of the world. In the story, Melvin says to Vince, ‘“If gay people hadn’t been forced to hide for so long, if we could just openly identify ourselves, there would be plenty of people you knew that you could ask for advice. Everybody knows gay people; they just think they don’t.”’ If people just stopped being bad to each other when they realize a person they know is gay, then not many people are hurt. The author is trying to say this threw Melvin, letting him be like yeah, I’m gay, I talk and act like this-so what? The author is trying to say through Melvin, that people who are gay shouldn’t be like, I’m not gay! Don’t hurt me! But instead be like, yeah, I’m gay and proud of it-you have a problem with that?

And although Melvin is trying to help Vince, Vince can’t help but be worried, he’s been through a lot already trying to figure out if he’s gay or not, he doesn’t really need to be seen with the people that others think are wrong. When they meet Vince is like ‘”Are you making fun of me?” I asked. After Butch’s last attack I had about enough of people calling me a fruit.’ But Melvin is like: ‘”Listen, Honey, I have nothing but sympathy for you. I had to deal with my share of troglodytes when I was your age, and know it’s not fun. I’m here to help.”’ The author is showing through Melvin that people go through the same thing, weather they believe or not, all may not be the same, some are.  If people would just not be afraid to show who they are, what they’ve been through, and what they think then maybe, just maybe, others they know going through the same experience can help them. For Vince it would help if people who think they’re gay or felt like that before would just come out of their shell, stop being afraid of what people say, they could help them like Melvin said: ‘”You may be, you may not they point is, you’re getting picked on because people think you are.”’ All people have to do is think if they wanna hide from the world or be out there. ‘”If you live in a world that keeps trying to grind you down, you either start thumbing your nose at it or end up very, very short.”’ Melvin says this to Vince, trying to see if he’ll stand up to the people hurting him, or just let them hurt him.

Sure, people, react to things differently, like some people may be all delighted about a band-One Direction let’s say, and then others are just gonna be like, no! I hate One Direction! In this case, like Melvin says, ‘”If a guy asks a girl out for a date, about the worst that can happen is that she laughs at him. If he asks another guy, he might get his face pounded in.”’ Due to people’s reaction on things, others are afraid to say what they like. Like, in the One Direction case, a person likes One Direction, but their friends are like no! I hate them! If you like them…I swear…that’ll obviously make the person feel like they should hate along with them, though they like One Direction. It’s depending on how people react to if a person is gay, will the person go out-the author is using Melvin for this. If people just stop hating gay people and let them like what they like then people won’t be so afraid to let out what they like.

Melvin helps Vince see this by giving the ability of the gaydar. It would allow Vince to see people in shades of blue, and depending on if they’re gay, kinda gay, or straight they’re shade of blue will vary. If a person is a dark shade of blue, then they’re gay or very close to it, but if one person is a light shade of blue then they’re not really gay, they could be, but not like the ones with dark shading. It’s basically depending on how much experience they’ve had with it. Why would someone like something they don’t really know about? Vince, as he sees, many people are some shade of blue, some dark, some light, so he can easily see who’s gay and who’s not it-much. When Vince gets home, he sees in a mirror that he’s a light shade of blue-so basically somewhat gay, not completely committed but some. And because of that he feels very scared about it, he thinks if Butch finds out then he’ll certainly get a beating.  Seeing this, Vince gets an idea, a wish basically, to let others being able to have the gaydar in the vision. It happens and soon people are on about what they see-what shade people are and what it means. Because of this, Vince calls Melvin for his 3^rd wish-to make Butch blue so he won’t be able to hurt others again, since he’s gay himself. But to this utter shock, Vince finds out that Butch is already blue, so in the end, Vince wraps up the story saying he’s gonna save the wish, waiting till he meets the person of his dreams, and when he really needs it.

The story “Am I blue?” has really taught me a lot. It taught that people shouldn’t be afraid of what they do for a living, they should be proud of it-like Melvin-they shouldn’t be afraid of being hurt because they never know if the person hurting them is like them-just hiding too. Vince may have not used his last wish, but he did learn a lot of things, people are necessarily what they seem, like Butch, and some people are exactly what they seem. People shouldn’t be afraid of what they like, if they’re gay, then so be it. If they love One Direction secretly they should show it, not be afraid, if they’re friends still hung out with that person then they’re the true friends, and, hey, you never know, one of your friends may be exactly what like you, hiding and not sure if they should show it or not.