That Was Then, This Was Now By S. E. Hinton: Analysis

This novel was set during the post war period, this was a time when independence and rebelling against parents and law was more important than doing the right thing, during these times of independence, and teenagers needed friendship more than anything else.

People who enjoy realistic-fiction novels that include sibling rivalry, sports, making life changes, and the tension of a dysfunctional family environment will be interested in reading this journal writing from the first person perspective of Paul Fisher. This novel includes characteristics of middle school encounters ; therefor, ages 10 and up will appreciate this

The Crossover, a verse novel by Kwame Alexander, is the story of twelve-year old Josh Bell and his life’s occurrences, including learning of his brother, Jordan (JB’s), girlfriend, Alexis, throwing a basketball at JB’s nose so hard that it bled, and hearing of his father’s death that happened during the basketball tournament he won towards the end of the book. In this book, many important lessons are learned such as, the most noteworthy: strong family bonds bring happiness and benefit to the entire family, the importance of listening to people who matter to you, and how meaningful and necessary it is to understand the feelings and actions of others.

However, they also have strong differences. Bryon is a big hustler. He tries to get money by playing pool at bars. Mark, on the other hand, is a thief. He sneaks around picking pockets and stealing money from people. Even though both boys have fun fighting and stealing, Bryon starts to see that fighting people for no reason is wrong. Mark still thinks stealing is enjoyable and amusing. Mark is very conceded and only care about himself and his feelings. Unlike Mark, Bryon cares about other people's emotions and thinks before he acts. For example, when Mike Chambers, a boy in the hospital, told his story of how he got beat up, Mark said he would hate that person for the rest of his life. Bryon understood why the person might have done such a terrible

Later, on page 69, he remarked, “that was then, and this is now”. This clearly shows that Bryon is a dynamic character because he changes from a kid always messing around and possibly doing illegal things, to a more mature kid who isn’t like that youngster he used to be. Furthermore, Bryon also remarks, on page 107, “ ‘I got a job in the supermarket and I did a pretty good job changing my attitude’ ”. This shows that Bryon is a dynamic character, not only because he changed his attitude, which he clearly states in the quote, but also because he moved on from hustling to make money, after the texan’s incident, to getting a job and working to earn money This shows a huge change on his part because in the beginning of the novel he would always earn money dishonestly; he and Mark would usually hustle pool at their friend Charlie’s bar. Additionally, in the first few chapters of the novel, Byron calls himself a lady killer, but on page 125, he states, “I was getting more and more serious about

He links M&M condition with Mark selling drugs, which also explains where he has been getting all the money. Bryon ends up calling the cops. When Mark gets home he try’s defend what he’s done, Bryon then realizes that Mark has no sense of right or wrong what so ever. The cops come and take Mark away while he’s asking Bryon why he’s doing this. The next morning Bryon in not sure if what he did was right. He realizes he no longer loves Cathy and grows away from her. Later he testifies against Mark in court. In which his dumbness gets him five years in the state reformatory. Bryon ends up devoting himself to work where he gets a promotion from sack boy to clerk. At the end of the summer Bryon decides to go and see Mark. There he tries to apologize and talks about the good times they had but Mark rejects it saying “that was then, this is now.” Later mark gets sent up the river to the state prison. Bryon says he has lost his ability to care anymore he thinks about the events of the previous year trying to figure out what happened to make these things happen. He wishes he was a kid again when he had all the answers.

Many people think that it is easy to let go of the past, to move on, to let it all go, apologize to those you hurt, and forgive the people who have hurt you. But in reality, others would agree that it is definitely easier said than actually done. The book, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, is about a boy, Gene Forrester, who is attending an all boy boarding school in New England during the beginning of World War 2. He battles to find his inner self while also battling with the hardships of having a best friend, Finny, who everyone adores and who is good at everything he does. This book is chalked full of events, dramatic as well as calm, between these two boys that happen during a particular summer. They not only find their inner selves and make a stronger bond, but they stretch the limits of their relationship and they lose the innocence of their world. Coming of age is a necessary, but often challenging stage of life which involves seeing oneself and the world as they truly are. Coming of age is the main theme of this book because the boys need to be able to grow and mature into the young adults that they need to become.

The book That was Then, This Is Now is about to really good friends Bryon and Mark starting to go their separate ways. Bryon was a 16 year old hustler who lived in a hood. His mother was poor and she had adopted his best friend Mark. Mark was an illegitimate who was adopted by new parents that got in a drunken fight and killed each other. Mark was a thief, and he always got away with everything that he possibly could do. Teen kids in there element who thought they could rule the world, everything was theirs and that nothing could possibly go wrong. They did everything bad together smoke, drink, jump kids for their money, steal, skip school, take drugs and get into gang brawls.

Nate Brodie, is in 8th grade and he is the quarterback for his school team. In this book,

The difference of bullying and being a bully, isn 't as simple as it appears to be. S.E. Hinton’s second novel titled, That was Then this is Now is a mature disciplined novel sharing the “Voice of the Youth” according to the New York Times and other raving reviews. The story follows Bryon and his friend Mark whom are “as close as brothers.” Things change in the two characters lives, Bryon is growing up and spending a lot of time with girls, thinking about seriously, who he want to be. Mark, on the other hand, has always lived for the thrill of life’s moments. The two start to divert from each other, while still holding onto the brotherly like love they still have—until Bryon finds

“The Other Wes Moore” is a true story, written by Wes Moore regarding how he, and another boy with the same name ended up with two extremely different fates. Both Wes`s lived in the same area, grew up without fathers, had a difficult childhood, and became involved with drugs and other illegal activity. This book shows if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, then terrible things happen. When Wes (the author) found out of the other Wes, he began to visit him. Wes Moore wrote this book, because he was intrigued how similar their lives were, and realized that their fortunes could have been reversed.

The theme of the book started with two kids in a small town in the middle of the night they were about to go into a house that was being constructed they invited other kids from their school the time setting of this story is around the 90’s throughout the story they visit other places like swindles house the constructed house and also ben's house when they were in the constructed house they have found a babe ruth card in one of the floor cabinets it was worth a lot of money when they were gonna sell it for the money they met a man who said it was a fake card or just a copy of the real card and said it wasn't worth as near as much money as the real card when they found out that it was actually the real card they tried to talk into getting it

“The Other Wes Moore” by Wes Moore is about two boys with the same name. They both grow up in the same neighborhood and with the same family situation. One Wes Moore’s father died and the other Wes Moore’s father left when he was a young boy. Both boys had mothers who had multiple jobs to support the family. One Wes Moore got into drugs while the other went to military school.

In The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander is about a shocking statistic. That more African American men are in correctional facilities or on probation than were enslaved in the mid 1800s before the Civil war started. She offers her perspective on the mass incarceration of African American men in the US. Taking shots at all she holds responsible for the issues. She explores the social and systematic influence of racial stereotypes and policies that support incarceration of minorities. She explains that minorities are discriminated against legally for their whole  lives. By being denied employment, housing, education, and public benefits. Unable to overcome said obstacles most will

Modern Times by Paul Johnson gives an overview of the history from the nineteen twenties until the nineteen nineties. He bases his book on the presuppositions of the Judeo-Christian worldview. Johnson is very clear in his belief in the Judeo-Christian worldview as he states it explicitly multiple times throughout his lengthy book. The presuppositions of the Judeo-Christian worldview are: “the Kingdom of God is spiritual, man is prophet, priest, and king under a sovereign God and that there is no institutional interposition between God and man.” This worldview causes him to affirm limited government, free market economics, the rule of law and self-government.