Month: January 2023

I have recently finished the book called The Crossover by Kwame Alexander and I loved it. The Crossover is told in first person perspective of a kid named Josh Bell. Josh and his twin JB are the best of friends until JB got a girlfriend. This led to them separating and not talking to each other. Especially since Josh got mad at JB for not talking to him as much. Eventually, Josh learns that he shouldn’t have to do things himself and that sometimes things change and he needs to deal with it. Something I loved about this book is how entertaining it is and how it always keeps you interested. There is also some nice foreshadowing and character development so I know exactly what will happen next.

My favorite character in this book is JB because he is a skilled basketball player but still emotional. A quote that proves that JB is emotional is on page 215 when Josh describes him as “He’s no longer listening to music, but his tears are loud enough to dance to.” This proves that JB is emotional because unlike his twin brother, he is crying and sad, but Josh is firm and quiet. If JB hadn’t been emotional, he would’ve been just like Josh.

My favorite quote is when Josh says to JB “‘We Da Man.’” This is my favorite quote because it means that Josh and JB are now friends again and that Josh had finally learned to be flexible. Before, Josh wanted everything to go his way and work out for him instead of everyone.

The person that I look up to is my dad. I look up to my dad because he is very helpful, smart, and funny. My dad is helpful because he always helps me when I ask him even if he’s tired. Last week, I needed help making dinner and he was nice and chopped up vegetables and other things to put in the dinner. He also helps me when I don’t know why my tech is malfunctioning. My dad is also smart. Sometimes he watches Jeopardy and he tries to get the questions right when I have no idea what the question even is about. He also knows a lot about tech and how the things work which he uses to help me and other people. Finally, my dad is funny. Sometimes he makes a funny pun or joke when I’m doing things or watching something with him. I sigh, but I laugh on the inside. So in conclusion, I look up to my dad because he is helpful, smart, and funny.

My word that I’m focusing on this year is listen. I chose listen because listening can be much more important and effective than talking. And it usually leads to other good things like kindness. Another reason I chose listen is because I sometimes get caught up with my own stuff and I forget to listen to others. Focusing on listen would make me less caught up. Finally, I chose listen because a good listener is much more difficult to find than a good talker. Almost everyone is a good talker and can be focused on themselves but forgetting to think that everyone else.

Today, I finished the book New Kid by Jerry Craft and I really enjoyed it. New Kid is about fitting in with other people. The main character Jordan Banks is a kid who goes to a new private school after going to a public school with his friends. He isn’t very excited about this and he gets brought to school by a kid Liam who’s going to be his school guide. They eventually become friends and Jordan Learns to be more open about himself and not to be thinking about what others think.
Something I loved about the book is that it has good spots of humor and it really develops the characters so you could know what was going to happen before they said or did it. My favorite character is Liam because he is humble. A quote that shows that he is humble is when Jordan came over to his house. Before Jordan came to his house, Liam said “‘…try not to, you know, judge. Okay?’” His house ended up to be a huge mansion. This proves that he is humble because someone prideful would want someone to judge him to be rich and awesome because he has a bunch of money but instead Liam was quiet about it.

My favorite quote was when Jordan made a simile and called a metaphor with his friends from his old school but his friends made fun of him and said “‘Actually, Jordan, that’s a simile.’ ‘Yeah, c’mon, ‘private school,” everybody knows that!’”. I liked this quote because it was a good spot of humor just as the book ended.