Look Both Ways Padlet Project by Jocelyn Pemble

Introduction

jocelynpemble — 2024-10-21 13:34:05 UTC

Look Both Ways is a book with multiple stories of children with main themes of friendship, identity, and resilience. The author, Jason Reynolds, is an young man who wants kids to see how middle school life is and how reading should be fun and not forced. Each chapter has new characters with their own problems in their young lives and ways to show solutions through friendship. Strong friendships are important for happiness.

Theme Exploration

jocelynpemble — 2024-10-21 13:34:12 UTC

Strong friendships are important for happiness. There are many times in the different short stories when friendship is shown in a positive way. Firstly, Kenzi and Simeon show friendship by their handshake. "They grab hands, shake, shake, slide, finger grip, shake, shake [...] Brothers" (Reynolds 114). This handshake is their way of showing people that they are inseparable and how even though they may not be related, they are brothers. In "The Low Cuts Strike Again", the Low Cuts show friendship by working together to get money for their families. In the story, Bit wants to make more money for his family and the group, so he will say something to old men at the pool to try to convince them to buy their candy. "Me and my friends are buying candy. Say buy or say bye" (Reynolds 35). This saying surprised his friends, but overall worked to sell their candy to make more money for their family. This shows friendship in a different way, Bit is more aggressive about it, but that is how he shows he cares for his friends.

Character Analysis

jocelynpemble — 2024-10-21 13:34:21 UTC

There are many different ways in these short stories that character analysis is shown. The first one that I thought would be notable was how TJ could always make Jasmine laugh. "See, even though TJ was ridiculous and annoying and something gross, she appreciated the fact that he always made her laugh whether she wanted to or not" (Reynolds 7). This shows how close and comfortable they are and how no matter what happens, TJ can make Jasmine feel better. Throughout the story, you can see how their friendship evolves with their comfort for each other.

Literary Devices & Structure

jocelynpemble — 2024-10-21 13:34:54 UTC

Reynolds used many literary devices including many metaphors. One metaphor he write about was that Bit's personality is a lion. He states in the story, "And even though Bit was half the size of his friends, he was the biggest when it came to confidence" (Reynolds 23). This explains that Bit may be small, but his personality is strong and outgoing. He uses his different personality to help his friends make money for their families. He is a great asset to his friend group.

Personal Reflection & Conclusion

jocelynpemble — 2024-10-21 13:35:08 UTC

This novel's relevance to today's world is how friendship can help people be happy and have mental problems. I personally reflect to this book especially from "The Low Cuts" and how they have to deal with their parents having cancer. My dad died from cancer when I was 5 years old so this story very much relates to my childhood and how I have felt growing up. My dad may not still be alive and we are doing well with money, but I know how stressful it feels knowing they could die any moment of any day.