The Runaway Twin

During the darkest of times in your life, you may think that all hope is lost. In the novel, Out of the Dust, by Karen Hesse, Billie Jo is introduced, a young girl who lives in Oklahoma during the dust bowl. During her life, Billie Jo faces many hardships and problems, but learns to never lose sight of hope. Hesse develops many themes throughout the novel, hope being one of them. Even in the darkest of times in life, the darkness will turn to light.

Two little girls with matching pink dresses, light up shoes, backpacks double their size skip off to the bus for their very first day of school. To a five year old, kindergarten was a big deal. The first time away from their parents, a new environment, and very intimidating older kids. I knew I was lucky, I got to take on this new experience with my built-in best friend and somehow, knowing that made all the difference.

Life is a journey where you stumble and fall. In the novel, Mosquitoland by David Arnold is about a girl named Mim Malone. She is from Cleveland, Ohio. Her dad and stepmom move out to the boonies of Mississippi. Once she makes it out to the “wastelands” of Mississippi, she finds out that her birth mother is sick in Cleveland, Ohio. She only heard a snippet of the conversation between her dad, stepmom, and principal. She decides to steal money from her stepmom Kathy, and head to Cleveland on the Greyhound bus. Mim carries her medicine, her journal, and her cell phone. Mim encounters three different events on her thousand mile trip. A highway crash, a night in a cheap motel, and a harrowing experience in a diner bathroom with one of her fellow travelers Through the experiences of a 16-year-old Mim Malone experience three different events. A highway crash, a night in a cheap motel, and a harrowing experience in a diner bathroom with one of her fellow travelers.

The characters in the book that we should follow and in some ways strive to be are Molly and Vivian. Courageous, compassionate, and hardworking are a few words to describe these characters. An adequate example of courageousness is Vivian when she went around Minnesota from house to house with bad foster parents after bad foster parents. As a person I hope that if I am in a situation like this, I will be fearless like Vivian and know that in the end it will get better. This furthers my statement on being mentally prepared because being forced out of your home and not knowing anyone would be a very difficult situation to go through. That is why you need to have a positive mentality so you can make it through without getting depressed or obtaining a

My book, Gabi A Girl in Pieces, followed the story of Gabi Hernandez, who struggles to find her place in the world. Gabi lives with a unique Mexican-American family, including a religious fat-shaming mother, a very undisciplined brother, and a deadbeat dad. Along with her aunt with commitment issues, Gabi fights to finish her senior year with her hectic life. The only thing that keeps her going is poetry, her love for food, and her

It is inevitable for someone to go through life and not ever have to feel the unfortunate feeling of grief. Eden Robinson provides a heart wrenching novel that gives readers the feeling of hope and doubt all at once. When a tragedy strikes it is in those moments that people show their true character. Although, when some people experience tragic situations they are never able to recover. Monkey Beach tells a story of a teenage girl named Lisa, who just so happens to face death, discrimination, and the spiritual world all at once. For Lisa she discovers who she is, ironically through the losses of others. Even though Lisa has to face many struggles in the novel, not only does it bring her closer with her culture, it lets her connect with people who have been disconnected.

The novel Hope Was Here is a perfect representation of mine and many other peoples lives. I have lost someone important in my life, had to meet new people once or twice and especially had to work hard for the things that I want. The main characters especially Braverman and Addie, have struggles in their life that are very difficult to overcome.

Having now acquired the ball playing equipment, the Hero Twin brothers, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, played ball in the very same court above Xibalba as had their father and uncle had played in long before them.

The Haunting of the Sunshine Girl is a thrilling book by Paige Mckenzie. It explores the theme that nothing has to be done alone. Everything started on Sunshine Griffith’s sixteenth birthday, throughout the year Sunshine has been faced with a series of tests followed with her new powers. Every since she was young, Sunshine knew she was adopted, but who has she inherited these powers from? While Sunshine’s life changes forever, the people she loves change affecting everything. The whole story is described in detail affecting the imagery, characters and the two point of views.

Have you ever heard of the dust bowl? The Dust Bowl is a tragic eight years of endless drought and dust storms that never end. The book Out of the Dust captures the Dust Bowl tragedies very accurately, but is still a fictional book. Out of the Dust is a story of a young girl named Billie Jo. Billie Jo is an 11 year old when the Dust Bowl starts. The Dust Bowl by Jan Meyer is about the affects the Dust Bowl took on people, especially the farmers like Billie Jo’s Dad and Joe De La Flor. Out of the Dust is historically accurate because the author, Karen Hesse, includes details about the terrible dust storms and extreme loss of livestock.

The Courage to Change Ultimately the book, The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, is about having courage and strength to better your life. Throughout the book, Taylor has taken many steps of courage to hopefully change her life for the better. Taylor left Pittman County to start a new beginning, she had the courage to take in a child like it was her own almost immediately after leaving Pittman County, and she risked her life to take Estevan and Esperanza with her to Oklahoma. “Courage doesn’t mean you don’t get afraid. Courage means you don’t let fear stop you.”

Nieve the main character of the book shares her everyday struggles, starting off when she was a child. Nieve loves her mom and she’s too young to understand the struggles of separation. In Everyone leaves, Wendy Guerra reveals that people have to make hard decisions no matter if those decisions are going to improve or worsen their position in certain situations. Furthermore into her childhood Nieve had so many options regarding her living conditions.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand is a story about Louie Zamperini and his journey throughout World War II. Zamperini went through being stuck on a raft for forty-seven days and two years in Japanese POW camps, where he survived beatings, starvation, and dehydration. One of the themes of this book is hope. While Louie was on the raft, in order to stay alive he had to have hope. If he did not, he could have easily given up and died.

Family is such a central aspect of all of our lives that it affects us in both negative and positive ways, as is seen with the characters in Jandy Nelson’s novel, I’ll Give You the Sun. In this novel, two twins are the focus, but all the characters are intertwined within each other as they have all crossed paths at one point, not realizing it until the end of the story. Before diving into the relationships among them though, it is important to note that this story is told in a unique way in that it is told from different periods of time from the two twins -- so that neither character knows the full story of their lives until the end.

if it is in fact without the consent of Mary, even though she is a