Thirteen Reasons Why

     Have you ever heard a dead girl speak? Thirteen Reasons Why is about a girl named Hannah that committed suicide and then sent out tapes with reasons for her death to the people who caused it. The story follows one particular person as he listens to the tapes. Hannah's feelings in the tapes change from the beginning to the end.

     In the beginning of Hannah's tapes Hannah is optimistic about going to a new town. Soon after Hannah moved to the new town she found two other new kids and they became great friends. "…Monet's garden was our safe haven." Whenever they would have a rough or tiring day they would meet at Monet's. This made Hannah optimistic because she she wasn't alone anymore for school. She had someone to talk to, someplace to go when she felt scared.

     In the middle of the tapes Hannah feels betrayed, her friends had moved on. "The first to drop out was Alex." Shortly after that,"Jessica stopped going…" Without Alex and Jessica to talk to and a safe place to go to, Hannah felt betrayed. her only friends had ditched her. She felt inferior to them. She resented them. Then Alex made a 'Who's hot/Who's not' list. He put Hannah's name opposite Jessica's so that Jessica would get mad. Hannah felt even more betrayed.

     At the end of the book Hannah felt hopeless. She had given up. Leading up to her crucial visit with the guidance counselor she had considered suicide but never this serious. "'I need it to stop' (Hannah) ' You need what to stop?' (Mr. Porter) ' I need everything to stop. People. Everything.' (Hannah) This shows how Hannah is giving up. She is truly hopeless. 

     Hannah's feelings change tremendously throughout the tapes. In the beginning she was hopeful but toward the end she gave up. This book shows how every little thing matters and how nothing in insignificant. Little things can impact people in different ways then others.

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

The book Wonder  by R.J. Palacio is about a physically challenged kid named August who attends school for the first time. by the time August was 10 he had over 20 surgeries. His face is described as many mean and rude things throughout the course of the book. His experiences over the course of the book are explained sometimes from his point of view and sometimes his peers, friends and family. Attending a new school is hard, but its even harder if you have been homeschooled your entire life and your physically "deformed." August made some friends right away but some took longer to adjust to his special ability. August was immediately treated nicely by Summer and Jack, but some took longer to adjust to him such as Julien. His friend jack wasn't always nice to him. For example, on Halloween, they came to a rough spot in they're friendship, he overhears Jack talking to Julien and one other kid, "I don't know…Tushman [The principal] asked me to hang out with with him in the beginning of the year…"August is hurt by this and pretends to have a stomach ache so he can leave school. August then spends the next few weeks avoiding Jack and spending more and more time with Summer who has been very supportive of August for his whole time at the new school. Over Thanksgiving break, they made up and the worked on a history project together. Reading this book made me realize how unequally people treat people who are different then them. It's really sad that August is treated differently just because he was born differently then everyone else. This book has many themes that are bullying, inequality and disability.