Looking At Our Books Through a Lens of Justice and Fairness. "The Bravest Girl in the World". Tanzim Ahmed

          The article “The Bravest Girl in the World” was the story of a brave girl named Malala who spoke out against the Taliban’s banning for girl’s education. The Taliban came over from Afghanistan and took control, in 2007, over the Swat Valley where Malala lived. They banned most personal freedom’s and closed schools for girls. Malala and her father spoke out for girl’s education and they became targets for the Taliban. One day when Malala was going to school on the bus. She was shot in the head by a member of the Taliban but managed to survive. After she recovered she didn't stop fighting, she spoke in front of the U.N, won the International Children’s Peace Prize, and became nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. After reading her story I was amazed but asked myself, whose perspective is missing in this text? What would it be like if we put it back?

          After great inquiry, I found the missing peace. The Taliban’s point of view is missing here. The article touched on why they shot her but they never went in depth. Maybe if they would've interviewed a member of the Taliban and asked them why they did what they did, it would help the reader understand more in-depth on why they attempted to kill her.          

Looking At Our Books Through a Lens of Justice and Fairness. Crash By:Jerry Spinelli. Tanzim Ahmed

          After reading thirty-four pages of Jerry Spinelli’s CRASH, I asked myself “who has power” in this text? How does that power get shown?” I found that answer not too far from the start. John Coogan, a boy that everyone calls “Crash” has become a “friend” of Penn Webb, a Quaker from North Dakota. Penn is very nice but also very gullible. He likes to play with his toy wagon and his turtle. Penn is very good, but so good that he’ll listen to anything that Crash tells him to-do. Crash realizes this and takes advantages of this. He keeps changing his name every time Penn asks him. First, his name is “Megatroid”, and then it’s, “Humphries”. Crash abuses his power that he has over Penn and uses it against him. A few years later when Crash goes to 2^nd grade, he makes a new friend named Mike. Mike and Penn have many similarities and become best friends almost instantly. On the first day of school Mike and Crash go and meet Penn. Mike does a crazy hand with him and pretends to be his friends. They both make fun of his clothes in away where Penn won’t notice. This is an example of abuse of power because it shows how one person takes advantage of another person’s inability to have the same humor as another person.      

Looking At Our Books Through a Lens of Injustice and Fairness. American Son By: Brian Ascalon Roley. Tanzim Ahmed 811

          The question that I asked after reading American Son by: Brian Ascalon Roley was, “how does money figure in this text?” This book deals with many of the real issues that teens face today. The book features two boys named Tomas and Gabe who live with their single mother. For a living, Tomas trains and sells guard dogs to celebrities who pay a high price for them. One day when Tomas took his brother to a client’s house to sell a dog, they brought the mother of the dog that they were going to sell. Unfortunately, only the son of the dog was being put up for sale. The client wanted both dogs and offered up to a total of 25,000 dollars for them. Tomas really loves the mother dog and refuses to sell her. Finally the client agrees to buy only the boy but says that if Tomas ever changes his mind, he will buy her from him. Gabe hears this idea and makes a decision to sell the mother because he knows that they need the money.

          A few days later when Gabe is sure that Tomas is sleeping, he takes the mother and Tomas’s car and runs away. He sells the dog and plans to drive all the way from Los Angeles to San Francisco faearing the thought of his angry brother. But when his car runs into some mechanical issues, he is forced to call a tow truck and tow his car to a garage. When the tow truck guy arrives, he is suspicious that Gabe is a runaway and calls his mom from the credit card that Gabe used to pay for the tow. His mother comes and brings him back home to a furious Tomas. Fortunately, Tomas did not beat Gabe senseless. He said that Gabe can pay him back by doing small duties such as going with him to steal from homes.

          Money is basically what drives Gabe to do what he did. Maybe if they had money, Gabe wouldn’t have to run away and Tomas wouldn’t have to steal. The author in this book is showing us how good and bad money can be. Money can help us and bring us the things we need. But it can also persuade us into doing things that are wrong and inhumane. The author uses money as a symbol and builds a story or part of a story out of it.