The book  Upstate by Kalisha Buckhonon is about this boy named Antonio , and he's in jail because they accused him of killing his father. In his defense he was defending his mom. To me Antonio is a strong and brave character because he still manginess to keep his head up high and maintain his relationship with his girlfriend. 

For example, in one of the letters Antonio tells his girlfriend that he confessed and said what really happened to the jury, because he couldn't stand to see his mom cry. I feel like this was strong of him because he didn't really mean to stab his dad , but he's still taking full blame for it like a real man should. I agree with his desion because he's being honest and excepting the truth. His mom and girlfriend don't agree with his desion of being honest and just coming out and saying the truth , but I agree with it because it's showing that he can step up and except reality. 

A way that Antonio is also being strong is because he's holding on to his relationship an he's not giving up on it. Which I find romantic & nice. Because he's in jail yet still rights Natasha ever chance he gets, he's always telling her that he loves her, and to marry him. This is also a sign of hope because if they weren't hopeful of him getting out of jail why would they still be engaged ? Why would they still continue with the relationship ? . The little things that these characters makes a big difference in the book, & it gives hope on what's gonna happen next is good. Also that he might get out of jail. 

This connects to the world in many ways, because it shoes you not to lose hope, & to always be honest. Honesty and hope can help you a lot in life, 2 of the main things actually , things will go better for you of you actually are honest & do believe in what you say or the future or just in general. You should always be strong & don't lose hope. 

You'll Always Have a Friend :)

In class we read the book "FOX", and it"s about this fox that's lonely and doesn't  have friends. so in order to satisfy himself and not feel so alone he tries to ruin someone else's friendship. There's this dog and bird that are very close friends, so fox gets jealous and tries to ruin the friendship by tricking bird and taking her away, which in my opinion isn't fair.

People get jealous all the time, but I don't think it's right to ruin something because your jealous because it's not fair towards the two people that your affecting, friendships are very strong, especially when you have that type of friendship that you need each other for everything, and that's the type of relationship that dog and bird had. Now it's kind of bird's fault because she left, but in the end of the story she tries to find her way back, which I think is the main message of this story which is yeah your friendship can get ruined but at the end of the day it's worth fighting for no matter what you go through, because that's always going to be a friend. The journey to get back where you where at in the first place is not gonna be easy but it's worth the fight and journey.

I think this is a good message for kids because little kids especially get jealous when there "BFF" gets a new friend and doesn't really pay attention to you, so you get lonely and angry and go out you way to ruin the friendship which is understandable  but shouldn't happen because why can't we all be friends? , why do we have to be specific groups?, if its a true friend they will always be there, also when you ruin a friendship or do something to effect it your going to be friends again, not like the way you first were but you are. This message isn't only for kids but for teenagers and grown ups too, because we do ruin friendships and we don't try to put them together because we're either scared to be rejected or scared that friend isn't going to be waiting for you, which you never know they might be.