American Born Chinese, a graphic novel that frankly was a fun switch up to read. When I was younger I used to read a couple comic books every once in a while, and occasionally a graphic novel but not one like American Born Chinese. American Born Chinese was literally like a comic book in a novel. The subject on racism is very touching, the message I got from the book is be yourself and don't try to fit into something you're not or be someone you're not. Now with this being a graphic novel in almost a comic book form it made me question, who is the intended audience for this book? The subject of racism is a touch subject for some people, but was this book made for kids in their adolescent stages as an example of who they should become or was it made for a more mature audience to broaden their perspective on the issue of racism. No matter what age the audience is, I think anyone would enjoy American Born Chinese.

http://www.shmoop.com/american-born-chinese/
http://geneyang.com/american-born-chinese
http://cbldf.org/2013/07/using-graphic-novels-in-education-american-born-chinese/

Overall Brown Girl Dreaming wasn't the most interesting book I've ever read but it was a nice change. I enjoyed the change because this is based off of a true story, not some made up fiction love or high school story we've been reading. The end of the book talks about how Jacqueline becomes a writer through experiences with her family and other organizations in her life such as the Black Panthers. There really is not a brilliant climax in the story mostly because it is a true life story about her whole life and one major climax in someones life is unlikely. It was the build up of all the experiences she faced that created the suspense and climax for the story. Jacqueline seems to be able to tie her experiences she had to the way she wrote her book. For example when her uncle got thrown in prison she would write poetry about what he was experiencing. I thought this was a creative way to connect the verse novel setting with a real life experience.
https://www.britannica.com/event/American-civil-rights-movement
http://exhibitions.nypl.org/africanaage/essay-civil-rights.html
http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2014_ypl_woodson.html#.WKxpr7GZO9Y

The book Brown Girl Dreaming is set up differently then any other read I've had. The book is set up as poetry style, so every chaperone and page is like a bunch of poems that fit together as a story. It was claimed that it's not hard to understand but for this being the first time seeing something like this, it was a little challenging for me to put it all together. It still is a story, but it sounds like a poem and is in a poem format.
So far the book starts off with an african american girl named Jacqueline who was born in Columbus Ohio. The story goes on talking about the life she lives in Ohio and her family that lives down south. Jacqueline's parents get a divorce and her and her mother move down south to South Caroline where extensive detail continues about the hardship of the life an african american has to live during this time period. This book opens up the eyes to readers who can live in the moment of an african american in the 1960's and experience the difficulties and realities faced everyday. For me, not so many questions are thought of while reading this, I kinda just continued to move page to page in disbelief for this time period. There is one part in the book that talks about an african american man working at the printing press with many other white people working by his side, and at the end of the day, all the mens hands are so black from the ink that if you only looked at their palms you wouldn't know who's white and who's black. This just amplifies the fact that we are all human no matter what skin color we are, we all have the same bones. So why are people treated differently?
http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement
http://www.jacquelinewoodson.com/category/books-ive-written/middle-grade-titles/
http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/304851/brown-girl-dreaming-by-jacqueline-woodson/9780147515827/

      Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass was an interesting book on the perspective of bullying. Personally I can't say I relate to it but I think it depends on the environment you grow up in. The bullying seen in YDWTKYA would be more typically seen in low income areas and run down schools, at least what I think. I went to a regular old school in a regular old suburb and never saw any bullying as extensive as what Piddy had to go through. The bullying Piddy went through was downright horrific and could be pressed with some serious charges, but what exactly could a minor get charged with? I find it interesting that the all the bullying ended with the video of the fight. I personally think there could have been some action taken prior to the fight where the bullying could be brought to a halt. All in all it was good to see Piddy return to her old school where she could really settle in as the girl she used to be.
https://www.buffalolib.org/vufind/Record/1885945/Reviews
http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/224953/yaqui-delgado-wants-to-kick-your-ass-by-meg-medina/9780763671648/
https://www.stopbullying.gov/kids/facts/

      While applying the youth lens to the book Eleanor and Park, you can see how both of the characters grew up to be who they are. Starting with Eleanor, she was raised in a poor and partly abusive environment. Growing up in poverty would cause Eleanor to mature faster than others. She never had all the resources others were privileged with, causing her to find solutions to her needs on her own. For some families in poverty the adolescents would have to help provide around the house or even work to contribute to the support of the family although Eleanor didn't necessarily need to work to help provide for her family. Eleanor's step father was rather abusive, causing her to isolate herself from her family. The isolation from her family translates out of her house to school and other environments. We could see that Eleanor liked to keep to herself and was very shy due to the house she was raised in.
     Park on the other hand was raised in a much different house. Parks family was very family orientated and not necessarily in poverty. Park had a family to care for him, he didn't need to mature as fast at Eleanor since she had to care for herself. An inviting home environment didn't make Park feel like he needed to keep to himself. There was no horrific punishment for actions he made, making it safe for him to communicate with his parents and others around him. Parks house was not as demanding as Eleanor's, there was never the constant stress of keeping the house and family afloat, creating a more relaxing environment. When it comes to the development of adolescents, the environment one grows up in can transform the adolescent into the person they become.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1086296X15568926
http://scholarworks.montana.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1/9322/Petrone_JLR_2015_02_A1b.pdf?sequence=1
http://www.rainbowrowell.com/eleanor-park/

      So far Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass is like no other book we have read, which is enjoyable for me at least. This book is not a high school love story, but a high school social story. Piddy Sanchez (the main character) just switched school and unexpectedly receives a note on the first day saying "Yaqui Delgado wants to kick your ass". The school seems very divided with race and social class. Piddy is a latino, but she does not hangout with the latino group at school, which is the group Yaqui Delgado is in. I have to say the name Yaqui Delgado did not make me think latino. Anyway Piddy has fit herself into the "nerdy" group of people, where bullying seems to be a problem, and she works on finding more about Yaqui Delgado.
      The common trend between all of the books we have read is poverty. It is easy to see that poverty is a problem in the book. Piddy lives in a small worn out inner city apartment. While so far the subject of poverty hasn't been stressed it will play an important role in this book.
http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/224953/yaqui-delgado-wants-to-kick-your-ass-by-meg-medina/9780763671648/
https://megmedina.com/booksandreviews/yaqui-delgado-wants-to-kick-your-ass/
https://www.stopbullying.gov/media/facts/index.html

Jell-O is a fun food! So was Bill Cosby. At the time this advertisement was made, Bill Cosby was a great comedian and kids loved him. Jell-O is mostly eaten by young kids so why not have a man who makes kids laugh advertise for Jell-O, it sounds like a great idea, attracting a young audience with an iconic man.

Well as most people know, Bill Cosby got wrapped up into a date rape case. While this meme may be comedic it does stand out to the kids who grew up with Bill Cosby as an iconic comedian. The message portrayed is that Bill Cosby was never the man people thought he was, especially for the kids who saw this  commercial on TV. Essentially Bill Cosby was a false idol to millions of children.

      Adolescent years are different for everyone depending on the environment you were brought up in. For many middle class adolescents, they don't face many difficulties and are free to do as they please. For those in the lower class, the adolescent age requires someone to be more mature so they can help provide provide for the family, or they just don't have the income to do as the please. Vice versa the same for someone in a third world country at an adolescent age, the adolescent age for most americans would be non existent due to a teenager having kids and working at a young age, requiring them to be more mature than someone of a different status.
      The literature that we are reading tries to perceive adolescents in different ways. So far we have seen the effect of adolescents on poverty and middle class scale. The literature wants to put the reader in the shoes of the adolescent in the story and perceive the life that is lived, giving multiple views on adolescents. When multiple views are shown it is easy to see that adolescents almost has little to do with age, but environment and they stage of life where one can roam freely with little to no responsibilities.
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/adolescent
https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/v29n2/pdf/hamilton.pdf
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40017127?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents