Social commenting in Be More Chill

Be More Chill is a book about a kid who is extremely unpopular. He is frustrated and wishes that he was "In". He learns of a secret new pill called the "Squip". The squip enters your brain and tells everything to do to be cool. I think that the author wrote this book as a social comment to show that this isn't possible.

There are several things in the book that led me to believe that this was the theme. One of them is the fact that the layout of being an unpopular kid in high school is very cliche and if they didn't make a new twist on it instead of having a really cheesy theme like everyone is cool... bla bla bla..., it would have been a pretty bad book. But the way the author writes it is taking this cliche format and writing something meaningful about it.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Oskar idolizes his father

In the book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, the main character, Oskar's dad died in the 9/11 attacks. Oskar was so traumatized by his fathers death because he loved and looked up to him so much. His dad recognized exactly how Oskar's mind worked and was just a great friend and mentor to him, like how he knows that Oskar is a lot smarter than someone who's 9 years old and treats him almost like a peer. They had a conversation about why people exist, and it was really in depth and philosophical.

I think that Oskar has a sort of subconscious goal that he has to: 1; Finish the last puzzle that his dad gave him, which was just a map of central park, and 2; Find the lock that fits the key that he got from his dad's things after he was dead. (I'm guessing that those two will tie together.)

I'm just starting this book, but I can already infer a lot about it, which I think is a sign of good writing craft.

Small as an Elephant - Jack and his Mom

I just finished reading the book Small as an Elephant. It's a really good book about a boy who's mom is mentally ill and sometimes leaves him alone wherever they happen to be, often for days on end. The particular time that leads to the rest of the book is when the two of them are camping in Maine and his mom just leaves in the middle of the night.

Throughout the book Jack thinks about whether or not he wants to forgive his mother for what she did to him. At first he has no doubts about it and is completely sure he wants to go back to her. I think that he has grown up thinking that whatever his mom says is right because he loves her so much, but he has no judgement of when to say that she needs to get some help and he needs to be able to stay with someone else.

Later into the book, as he has been having to live on his own and survive with what he can find, Jack starts to realize that he should let himself be angry at his mom, or at least want to turn himself in and get her some help. Just like I predicted when I started reading, he never really gave in and felt any resentment or loss of trust in his mom, but he ended up realizing that she couldn't take care of him. I think that when he realized that his grandmother wasn't trying to take him away from his mother, but that she was just there to care for him and love him, he was also able to realize that there were so many people in the world who cared about him and that it wasn't him and his mom against everyone.

Small as an Elephant - Jack's proctectiveness of his mom

I've started reading Small as an Elephant. It's a really good book about a boy who's mother is mentally ill and sometimes abandons her son, Jack, who is the main character. She goes through times where she can't control herself and she completely forgets him and will disappear for hours, or even days.

Jack won't tell anyone when this happens. He has become so independent and able to fend for himself until his mom gets back. However, she has just left him at a campground in maine, hundreds of miles from home, to go on a cruise to the Bahamas. The book is Jack's physical and mental journey home through stealing, hiding, and lying just to protect his mom. I think it's incredible that he has so much respect for her, he knows she doesn't mean any harm and is able to forgive her so easily. He doesn't want to tell anyone that he's alone because he doesn't want to be seperated from her, because he knows if he tells someone, she won't be allowed to care for him anymore.

Jack has so much care for his mother and he wants to forgive her and stay with her, but I think it's to the point where he is being ignorant. He needs to find a point to say that's enough, and not give her any more chances.