The Pursuit of a Dream
The Pursuit of a Dream
Thara Belony
On The Come Up
Angie Thomas
How far have you gone to make your dreams a reality? Is it something that you hope to pursue, or is it a matter of survival?
Brianna (Bri) Jackson is a girl who is just trying to make it. Her only dream is to become a rapper. As the daughter of a legendary underground rapper who died just before his career took off, she has big shoes to fill. She lives with her mother (Jay) and her older brother Lawrence--mostly referred to as Trey--in Garden Heights. Life for Bri and her family begins to spirit downwards when her mom suddenly loses her job. In a matter of weeks, the fridge is almost empty, and the threat of being evicted is becoming ever more real. All of this anger and frustration in Bri comes out by way of a song that ends up going viral for the wrong reasons. People from her father's past also begin to play a role in Bri’s life. Bri finds herself after having been through the terrible storm that all these weeks have been for her. Bri learns of the power that she possesses with her words.
I believe that this book is needed and, sadly, necessary in this time here in the world. In the past couple of years, a prominent growth spurt of hate has begun to rise. It’s impossible to follow the news without seeing some issue related to hate being shown to you. We are also given an insight into the lives and daily struggles that people on the bottom face along with discrimination. Bri goes to a very competitive art school. This school has only agreed to take in black and Latinx students because they are given grants when they do so. This school also has security at the front entrance, and each kid must go through a metal detector before entering; students are also subject to random backpack and locker searches, but it becomes apparent that some students are targeted when it comes to these checks. Bri gets physically assaulted by one of the school security guards and is thrown to the ground. After having been thrown on the ground, she is called a “li’l hoodlum”(60) by the other security guard. This name bothers Bri a lot throughout many chapters of the book. She feels hurt and angry, yet she is unable to do anything and properly stick up for herself because when she speaks up she is called aggressive. Her mother says, “I need you to act as if you don’t have any [power]. Once you’re safely out of the situation, then we’ll handle it" (69); children of color all across the United States are being told the same exact thing Bri’s mom is telling her. When situations like Bri’s happen, kids, are being told not to stand up for themselves because it may be perceived as being violent by the other side. We all should have the right to speak our mind and our truth, but when this truth is taken in the wrong way it becomes a matter of survival--a matter of life and death.
Assumptions and jumping to conclusions play a large role in this book. This has reminded me that I must always stay open-minded and not be too quick to judge because as Bri says there is only so much a person can take when being described as somebody that they are not. When Bri’s first debuted song becomes controversial, she is described as being “ghetto, ratchet, [and] a hood rat with no home training”(217) by people who don’t even know her and her story. At one point one of her best friends accused her of writing that song because she wanted money, but that was right before he remembered that she was waking up in a house without heat or food. People not only missed the meaning of her song, but they also took her words, twisted them and gave them a meaning that was not at all what she meant. No one seems to understand that her song speaks of the stereotypes that are placed on black people. Instead, they only see a black teenage girl rapping about guns and violence. Bri makes a lot of choices in this book that can really be frustrating: lying to her mom, sneaking around, hanging with the wrong crowd, and being quick to react when someone says something that she doesn’t like. There are times when I am happy that she speaks up, but there are also times when I feel like she doesn’t speak up enough. I connected with this book on many levels; I know what it is like to struggle the way that Bri and her family did, and how it feels to not know what is going to happen next. Bri’s mom is also like my mom in the sense that she cares and looks after Bri and her brother. She sacrifices a lot just to put food on the table for her kids to eat; this is something my mom has done time and time again.
I am wholeheartedly recommending this book. Angie Thomas has created another authentically beautiful work of art. She is young, but don’t let that fool you. Her ability to enable her readers the chance to not only read but also live the story of the characters at the same time is amazing. However, due to the strong language used in this book, I would recommend this to young adult readers and above. The level of maturity, knowledge, and understanding that is required to read this book is another reason why I would not recommend it to a younger audience. This recommendation also goes out to all those people dreaming about their dreams instead of working to turn them into a reality. This book will inspire in you the determination needed to pursue your dreams no matter what they are or how impossible they seem.
Thara Belony
On The Come Up
Angie Thomas
How far have you gone to make your dreams a reality? Is it something that you hope to pursue, or is it a matter of survival?
Brianna (Bri) Jackson is a girl who is just trying to make it. Her only dream is to become a rapper. As the daughter of a legendary underground rapper who died just before his career took off, she has big shoes to fill. She lives with her mother (Jay) and her older brother Lawrence--mostly referred to as Trey--in Garden Heights. Life for Bri and her family begins to spirit downwards when her mom suddenly loses her job. In a matter of weeks, the fridge is almost empty, and the threat of being evicted is becoming ever more real. All of this anger and frustration in Bri comes out by way of a song that ends up going viral for the wrong reasons. People from her father's past also begin to play a role in Bri’s life. Bri finds herself after having been through the terrible storm that all these weeks have been for her. Bri learns of the power that she possesses with her words.
I believe that this book is needed and, sadly, necessary in this time here in the world. In the past couple of years, a prominent growth spurt of hate has begun to rise. It’s impossible to follow the news without seeing some issue related to hate being shown to you. We are also given an insight into the lives and daily struggles that people on the bottom face along with discrimination. Bri goes to a very competitive art school. This school has only agreed to take in black and Latinx students because they are given grants when they do so. This school also has security at the front entrance, and each kid must go through a metal detector before entering; students are also subject to random backpack and locker searches, but it becomes apparent that some students are targeted when it comes to these checks. Bri gets physically assaulted by one of the school security guards and is thrown to the ground. After having been thrown on the ground, she is called a “li’l hoodlum”(60) by the other security guard. This name bothers Bri a lot throughout many chapters of the book. She feels hurt and angry, yet she is unable to do anything and properly stick up for herself because when she speaks up she is called aggressive. Her mother says, “I need you to act as if you don’t have any [power]. Once you’re safely out of the situation, then we’ll handle it" (69); children of color all across the United States are being told the same exact thing Bri’s mom is telling her. When situations like Bri’s happen, kids, are being told not to stand up for themselves because it may be perceived as being violent by the other side. We all should have the right to speak our mind and our truth, but when this truth is taken in the wrong way it becomes a matter of survival--a matter of life and death.
Assumptions and jumping to conclusions play a large role in this book. This has reminded me that I must always stay open-minded and not be too quick to judge because as Bri says there is only so much a person can take when being described as somebody that they are not. When Bri’s first debuted song becomes controversial, she is described as being “ghetto, ratchet, [and] a hood rat with no home training”(217) by people who don’t even know her and her story. At one point one of her best friends accused her of writing that song because she wanted money, but that was right before he remembered that she was waking up in a house without heat or food. People not only missed the meaning of her song, but they also took her words, twisted them and gave them a meaning that was not at all what she meant. No one seems to understand that her song speaks of the stereotypes that are placed on black people. Instead, they only see a black teenage girl rapping about guns and violence. Bri makes a lot of choices in this book that can really be frustrating: lying to her mom, sneaking around, hanging with the wrong crowd, and being quick to react when someone says something that she doesn’t like. There are times when I am happy that she speaks up, but there are also times when I feel like she doesn’t speak up enough. I connected with this book on many levels; I know what it is like to struggle the way that Bri and her family did, and how it feels to not know what is going to happen next. Bri’s mom is also like my mom in the sense that she cares and looks after Bri and her brother. She sacrifices a lot just to put food on the table for her kids to eat; this is something my mom has done time and time again.
I am wholeheartedly recommending this book. Angie Thomas has created another authentically beautiful work of art. She is young, but don’t let that fool you. Her ability to enable her readers the chance to not only read but also live the story of the characters at the same time is amazing. However, due to the strong language used in this book, I would recommend this to young adult readers and above. The level of maturity, knowledge, and understanding that is required to read this book is another reason why I would not recommend it to a younger audience. This recommendation also goes out to all those people dreaming about their dreams instead of working to turn them into a reality. This book will inspire in you the determination needed to pursue your dreams no matter what they are or how impossible they seem.
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