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No Easy Answers: Short Stories About Teenagers Making Tough Choices

by Donald R. Gallo

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Jaden said: "
Do certain teens have different mindsets than other kids? When reading No Easy Answers one should expect to read about kids making dumb decisions, kids from bad backgrounds, and kids not knowing from good or bad. This book is like reading from a tee
Do certain teens have different mindsets than other kids? When reading No Easy Answers one should expect to read about kids making dumb decisions, kids from bad backgrounds, and kids not knowing from good or bad. This book is like reading from a teens perspective and how a kid from a poor, dangerous, neighborhood would handle things differently than a kid from a white suburban neighborhood. X-15’s is a gang from a dangerous neighborhood in New York that states to have their member’s back. In the story a kid from a good, wealthy neighborhood wants to join the gang only because he thinks the idea of having someone's back when they have his is cool. Soon after he realizes that means that he would have to kill for them as well which he does not take well, It is shown in the story when during the initiation he has to kill his own cat which he can’t bring himself to do.
The main topic of this book is about moral standards and the strengths of character in a teenager when they find themselves in a tough situation. Especially when finding out how to deal with the consequences of their actions and what it means to do the right thing. In the short story The Photograph a boy finds out about a teacher skinny dipping so him and another student decides to go to her house and take pictures of her. Then after when trying to hide the photo it gets leaked and he doesn’t know what to do and how to fix what he did. “I just hoped that… things worked out for her. I mean, wherever she went.” (21). Some of the characters I think of as the type of people who want to fit in and not be an outcast. Which are both shown in both stories when in X-15 he tries to join the gang because he thinks it’ll be a chance to make friends and having each other's backs when it’s something more serious and in The Photograph he takes to the picture to try to prove to all the athletes that what he saw was true. Some things I do have questions about are, how did he come up with these scenarios? Did they actually happen? Did he experience them? An important message I feel that what he’s trying to explain in the short stories is that you should always try to have a good character and face your consequences head on instead of being afraid of them.
The author uses certain words to explain the story, such examples are when the author says in The Photograph “Lance muttered, peeling away his sweaty football jersey over his head, it was humid September afternoon in the locker room”. He uses humid to describe what the day felt like, and sweaty to describe the football jersey. In the beginning of the story he catches the reader's attention by saying “Naked?” “Yes.” “Ms. Jenson? Our beloved phys ed teacher and girls’ track coach?”. The author also uses specific words in other stories such as in X-15 he describes the outfit the gang wears “ Black pointy-toed shoes, Beige Levi’s, and a black V-neck T-shirt.”. The book has a unique way of telling the stories. It’s different stories in chapters, the chapters are the main point and the stories in the chapters explain the main point.
In conclusion he is a very good writer and knows what words to use and when to use them in a sentence. ...more "

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(page 336 of 336)
— Nov 15, 2019 09:51AM

Oct 21, 2019 10:12AM · see review