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My takeaway from this book is that it is a story about a boy and his mother, and how they both share their own struggle and how they still overcome it. From the mom's perspective she grew up in a strict Jewish house and was sexually abused by her dad. James grew up in a low income area and was hanging with the wrong crowd, doing drugs and stealing. One very important thing I will remember from this book, is that no matter what your situation is you should never give up and always believe in God. The reason why I believe this is because I am also a person of God and believe that things can get better if you stay positive and put faith in yourself. The book has somewhat of a reflection on me, because James hung out with bad crowds and was doing drugs.

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1. How do your values alter your perceptions of the text?

When reading the Brother and Sisters chapter, I think its funny when the author describes the kids being scared of the dog enough to let the poop get all dried up in the corner. I thought this was funny because I wouldn't think this happen in my house.

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When Jame's mom and peter were talking about what they will do, and when James mom said to run off to the country and get married, peter said "If white folks find out you're pregnant by me, I will surely hang" pg:114.

i chose this quote because its a example of how bad racism was back then.

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The social issue in this book is race/ethnicity. it was an issue because James's mom was pregnant, peter was worried for his life because if people in their town were the father they would hang him if they found out.

social class

race/ethnicity

religion

education

culture

health

political landscape

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one thing that was similar to what i have experienced is that when Jame's mom told him to go to the store and return the spoiled milk and he just listened and did it, I could relate because I would've also done the same. I did not reflect on anything else but i did learn that James stepdad drove behind buses to avoid tickets.

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prompt 3- a significant event that the writer included in the book was when his mother was sexually abused when she was younger by her dad because it made her want to covert herself out of orthodox Judaism. prompt 8- different tones i notice is the story telling from the mom's and son's perspective. prompt 2- the writer's choice when he was describing the individuals in the news paper was different then what they were actually saying.

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Find a quote in this chunk that stood out to you. Please also include a picture or GIF to further describe this quote. quote- "what color is God's spirit?"

James was asking questions to his mom and he was asking about god and whether he liked a group of color better or not. James asked what color is God's spirit.

Why did this quote stand out to you? this quote stood out to me because, the mom answered the question with god is the color of water. the answer said in this made me think what she meant by that.

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Choose at least one of the following social issues that were present in this reading chunk. Discuss how this social force was present in a character's life.

the social issue that was presented in the book was social class. this was an issue that James couldn't control because he was born into it. him and his family had to live in the red hooks project which was a housing facility for people living in poverty. the area that James was living in had low level education because the area he was in was filled with people of color.

Social Class

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In what ways was this chunk a window or a mirror? Use the following questions to guide your response, but really we want to hear your personal thoughts and reactions to this chunk!

family being chaotic.

my family is similar because it can be chaotic in my house at times, and it is different because we didn't grow up in poverty.

the chaos of just being in new York is different from being in San Diego.