The book I decided to pick from the library shelf was American Street by Ibi Zoboi. It told of a teenage girl, Fabiola, who moved to Detroit from Haiti. She experiences her mother’s detainment in the US, while trying to adjust to the new ways of life in Detroit with her aunt and cousins. Through her time, she finds love and family, forcing her to make tough decisions as opportunities arise. With these new experiences in her new home, Fabiola changes from an innocent, naive Haitian girl. I picked this book because it challenged my perspective of what other teenagers’ lives are like. Fabiola and her cousins lived in Detroit, a city much more dangerous and violent than my own. This, as a result, changed the way the teenagers lived their lives, such as keeping a gun in the house. In addition, the family in the book was a different race than I, so I noticed the racism that they faced. For example, how unfairly the police treated the people in Fabiola’s neighborhood. Also, this book broadened my cultural views. The Haitian religion Fabiola believed in, was much different than any religion I participate in or have learned about. In addition, this book challenged the family setting that I know. In the story, Fabiola’s mother was being detained because she wasn’t a U.S. citizen. I never have to worry about my family being split up or being taken away. The book meets this reading without walls guidelines because, although it is about a teenager, her life and culture is completely different than mine. The bad situations that come upon her are much worse than I can even imagine. From reading this book, I have begun to understand what it’s like living in a dangerous place. Since the story was told from Fabiola’s first-person account, I began to understand what she was feeling as she encountered danger and hardships in her life. I also took, from the book, how difficult it is for an outsider to live in a different world, as seen when Fabiola moved to Detroit from Haiti. Right from the beginning, Fabiola felt alien to her new world. “Is she[Fabiola’s mom] being detained? I stare and blink and shake my head. I search my brain for this word, trying to find the Creole word for it.” Though her life is unlike mine, after reading the book, I could still find ways to relate to Fabiola and her family. Through all of her loss, she still had the love from her cousins and aunt. Fabiola having to experience all of the danger of Detroit made me feel very sympathetic for the people who are stuck in those areas. Also, it made me realize how easy it would be to take up bad habits in order to protect family. Fabiola beginning her new life in Detroit as an innocent Haitian girl and growing to be one of the Four Bees showed me that people can change through experiences, time, and people. Finally, the “real” language that the author used really helped me see that, although their lives are different from my own, those lives still exist and need to be recognized. By Morgan
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AuthorSTenth grade students at Decorah High School share how they're reading outside of their own experiences and how it has changed them. Categories
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November 2022
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