blog#8

I just finished my book and in the last section Kevin didnt come to work for a couple of days and Jimmy was wondering why. Kevin came to work the next day and Jimmy asked him what was goin on and he said that he failed his drug test at the juvenile facilitie. Kevin said he smoked marijuana one day with his friends. A couple days later Kevin and his friend were sitting on kevins stoop when another one of his friends came over and sold his friend Eddie some marijuana. Eddie started roling blunts and the cops pulled up and said they saw the deal happen. Eddie had given Kevin a Blunt so he got into some trouble. Kevin had to go to court and he got a year in Juvie but only six months with good behavior. Duke was really cool about it, he went to court with Kevin and his family and he went to the police barricks and called Jimmy and his mom and Cap to come down when Kevin was arrested. Before Kevin was arrested they were all working in the barbershop when a man named froggy came in to get an F shaved into the back of his head. Froggy just came from jail in Green Haven. He was arrested for shop lifting and in Dukes eyes hes just another screwed up life. All Kevin could talk about was how stupid Froggy was wich is funny because he goes to juvie right after this.

My reaction to Kevin going to Juvie is that i feel bad for the older guys at the barbershop. The older guys especially Duke have been trying to straiten Kevin out the entire time. It must be really dissapointing to Duke to have Kevin get arrested. But i also feel bad for Kevin because he is a smart kid and he gets good grades but he just got into the wrong crowd. Kevin was really in the wrong place at the wrong time. Duke knows that Kevin can lead a successful lifee as long as he starts making some good decisions.

My reaction to how caring and helpful Duke was was good. Duke really helped the family and i think he made Kevin feel a lot better by being there. Kevin wasnt sure why he did it and he regrets it. I am glad Kevin knows that what he did was wrong because i think that thats the first step in doing something right. Hopefully Kevin cleans up when he gets out of jail. He knows how to lead a successful life Duke told him all about it. Hopefully going to juvie will teach Kevin a lesson. This is my last blog and my reaction to this is happy because i dont like doing blogs. Now i wont have to blog for another year.

What do you think about how my book ended? Do you think that Kevin will learn his lesson?

blog #7

In this part of my book Jimmys moms aunt sister smith talked to Jimmy. Sister smith wanted to knoww about his progress at the barbershop. SHe wanted him to be religous but Jimmy wasnt very interested in being religous. She wanted to know what Duke and Jimmy talk about because she was friends with Duke when they were younger. Duke used tto go to dances with Sister Smith. The next day when Jimmy went to work Kevin never showed up. Cap and Duke never talked about it and it made Jimmy mad because he knew that he would be able to handle the conversation. Jimmy thinks that the old guys treat kevin and jimmy differently. Jimmy talked to Duke about a kid in his math class that doesnt try at all and has really bad grades. This kid is just waiting to drop out of school and he only goes because he has to. The teachers dont like that he doesnt try and his math teacher told him that one day he would watch him on tv being put into a cop car or on the corner of the street begging for money. The old guys were surprised that a teacher sould say that. Duke told Jimmy that the kid needs a mentor to help him get his life going in the direction he wants it too.

My reaction to this is good that sister smith is trying to help Jimmy out. I dont think she should be trying to get him to be religous because that is his own choice. But she does tell him that its his choice and she is just trying to help by seeing if he is making progress. Jimmys mom thinks that everyone should beleive in god and be at least a little bit religous. I disagree with that and i think that people should decide for themselves.

My reaction to Duke giving Jimmy advice about his friend is good. I think that its good that Duke would give Jimmy advice for his friend. Its nice of Duke to do this even when he knows that Jimmys friend bobby is not going to be successful in life unless hey changes his plan a lot. DUke knows that this kid is really lazy and most people like that wont lead a successful life. It is also good to see that Jimmy cares about this kid and wants to help him out. I Think that Jimmy is a goood kid he just gets himself in to bad situations because of his temper.

What do you think will happen next? Do you think Jimmy will help his friend bobby and he will be successful in life or do you think that Bobby will fail epically?

blog #6

In this part of my book they were in the barbershop and kevin was trying to make Jimmy mad and eventually Jimmy said some bad things to Kevin. Duke made Jimmy go home early because of it. Duke came to Jimmys house later that day to talk to him and they talked about life and about how fair it is. Duke let Jimmy come back to work the next day and everything was fine. Duke said that its not fair that Kevin can get away with things like that but its Kevins decision and decisoins like that are going to hurt him someday. The next day one of the older guys friends came into the barbershop to get a haircut. His name is Scott and he is a millionare. He started out working for a mechanic and the guy he worked for knew how to fix everything except for radiators. They always had to get the radiators shipped out to someone who could fix them. Scott bought some equipment and started fixing radiators and he eventually opened his own business that fixed radiators. He became very wealthy from this and it was just a small business. Duke talked to the boys about success and how Scott made all the right decisions. Jimmy thought scott lucked into being a millionare but hea really didnt. Duke told the boys that they could learn a lot from Scott.

My reaction to how Fair and cool Duke was about Kevin and Jimmys fight was good. It is nice that Duke is so relaxed and understanding about Jimmys situation. Duke knows that Jimmy has a bad temper and thats why he is in the barbershop. Duke accepts Jimmys bad temper but he talks to Jimmy about how he needs to control it. I think that its good that Duke is watching out for jimmy and helping him in this situation. Duke is supposed to be guiding Jimmy thats why he is there and i think he is helping Jimmy out more than Jimmy realizes. Duke really cares about Jimmys future and that is good.

My reaction to Scotts success story is good and that the boys could learn alot from it. Thats why they are at the barber shop to learn from there mistakes. The boys can learn a from a story like Scotts. Scott was just the average guy that grew up in Harlem, he wasnt any different from Jimmy or Kevin when he was growing up. Scott made some very good decisions and he has a good work ethic and thats what the boys need to learn. If you make good decisions in life you can lead a very successful life and that is what Duke is trying to get the boys to realize.

Do you want people to help you throughout your life or would you rather make your own decisions and learn from them? Do people ever guide you in life?

blog #5

In this section of my book Duke brings Jimmy to a Knicks basketball game. Jimmy didnt want to go at first because he thought it sould be lame. But they were talking about there lives on the way and JImmy reallized that he really did want to go. It was a good game and the knicks won. Duke asked kevin to go because he wants to get to no them better. Kevin didnt want to go and he didnt. The next day jimmy was kind of annoyed with Kevin because Duke is just tryin to help them. A guy came in that wanted a haircut. Duke was talking to him for a shile and the guy said that he had 3 kids from 3 different women. The older guys didnt like that and they talked about sex for a while. They tell the boys that there sexual life is there own business but what that guy did isnt the best plan. That guy also was not paying child support so the older guys really didnt like that and they talked about responsibility.

My reaction to Duke bringing Jimmy to the game is good. It is good that Duke is getting to know the boys better and really helping them with there lives. I think that Duke thinks the boys need guidance. This could be true since the only reason they are workin in the barber shop is because they got in trouble and its work at the barbershop or juvie. It is good that Duke is helping them through life because if they keep making mistakes like this they could end up failing in life. Duke realy wants them to be successful in life and i think that is a good thing.

My reaction to the guy with 3 kids from 3 different women is that that isnt right especially when he doesnt help out the mothers at all. I think it would be okay if he paid child support or did something to help out the three women. Duke doesnt like this because when he was a kid it was alot different. When he was a kid you married one woman and had kids with her only. But he does say that thats your own decision and he wasnt going to tell the boys waht to do. Duke does say that wanting to have sex is natural and that hasnt changed since he was a kid.

Do you think that it is okay to have a kid with more than one woman or when you not married?

blog #4

In this section of my book Cap got a sign from when there was slavery that said that its illegal to teach black people to read or write. So cap started askin Kevin and Jimmy if they read and what they were reading at the time. Jimmy wasnt reding anything because he said it bores him. Cap went into a big thing about how reading is important and that jimmy should be reading. He said some other stuff to annoy Jimmy and Jimmy left and didnt come back for 3 days. Duke cam to Jimmys house and they talked about it and Jimmy got to keep his job. The next day they were in the barber shop and a girl came in that clearly used drugs. When she left they talked about using drugs and why people would use drugs. The older guys talked about how bad drugs could mess up your life. Kevin could understand why people would use drugs because he has to work in the barber shop because he got caught smoking marijuana.

My reaction to Cap annoying Jimmy was why does he have to do that? If i was jimmy i probably would have left too. Even though Duke could call the juvenile facilitie and put Jimmy in jail. I dont think it would be fun to work in the barber shop because Jimmy is always annoyed with one of them. Usually they are just trying to help him in life but i can see how that would get old. The older guys just want to see Jimmy have a successfull life, they dont want him to go to jail or have a messed up life.

My reaction to the girl that did drugs was wow that can mess up your life pretty bad. Duke cut her hair and he talked to her about were she was from and she was a really nice person. Duke said it was to bad she had to ruin her life like that. Duke doesnt want Jimmy or Kevin to end up like that. I think it is good that the older guys at the barber shop are always lookin out for the young guys. It is good that they give them advice about life to try and help them out and lead them the right way.

DO you like it when older people try to give you advice? Do you think its helpful?

Handbook For Boys

In the last section of my book Jimmy helps Duke move his friend out of his old house and in to a new one. It was not alot of work they just had to move the silverwear collection that this man had been collecting all his life to make sure nothing was broken. Duke wanted jimmys help because he wanted to talk to him about his life and how he cares about him and he doesnt waant to see jimmy go wrong someday. They go to the park after and talk about how life doesnt work and that you have to make it work by making the right decisions. They talked about how kids don't make the decision to rob a bank or kill someone when there young but its a series of events and bad decisions that lead up to something really bad like that. Duke is trying to guide jimmy into the rite path so that he doesnt make bad decisions because he ares about jimmy. Duke is also trying to guide kevin because they are both in trouble and thats why they are working at the barbershop.

My reaction to this was good that he Duke is guiding them to stay out of trouble. I also think that its true that life doesnt work. You cant just sit around and expect to get what you want, you have to go out and get what you want. If you expect to get what you want by not wrking for it you most likely wont get it. Some good people can become bad if they make the wrong decisions and they need guidance from someone like duke.

Jimmy and Kevin are two people that need guidance. They are working at the barbershop as punishment for a fight and drugs. Hopefully Duke infleunces them to be good people because the way they are going right now they could be bad people. Modt likely they sould be alright without dukes guidance but it still helps.
Do you think life works? why or why not

bloggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg

I am reading a book called Handbook For Boys by Walter Dean Myers. So far my book is just about advice and how you should live your life. In the last part i read a man named fred greene comes in to the barber shop and he is facing arrest. He works at a watch and jewelery store and a man came in and offered him a 1000 dollar watch for 30dollars. It was a really nice watch so he didnt think much of it and he bought it. Not verylong after this the police came to his house and asked him what the time was and he looked at his watcha and thy said he waw under arrest because it was a stolen watch. They couldnt catch the theif so Fred has to go to court. Duke talks to kevin and jimmy about this when fred leaves and he just trys to give them some advice to keep them from making bad decisions. Duke used a story called the blind monkey walk were a tiger wanted a monkey to teach his cubs how to do the monkey walk and he sould pay the monkey two bananas a day to do the monkey dance but if the monkey did it blind folded he would get 50 bananas. The mokey wanted to do it blindfolded so the tiger put a blindfold on the mokey and he set a trap and the monkey walked right into it and he was upside down in a tree. The point of this story was to show that you should apreciate what you get.

I think this is a good book so far because it talks about mistakes and what life is really about and how you should live your life. The older guy Duke is trying to show the two kids, kevin and jimmy how they should live there life and that you should be a good person. My reaction to this is good because kids make alot of mistakes and sometimes they need guidance. It is also good because the only reason they work at the barbershop is because the got in trouble and thats how they are serving there time.

This book is also making me realize that people make alot of stupid mistakes. Fred should have realized that the watch was stolen when the guy was selling it for such a low price. My reaction to this was sympathy because i probably would have done the same thing. Things like this happen to everyone and this book makes you realize it. I like this book so far and Walter Dean Myers is a good author.

Do you think you would be interested in reading this book?