Perfect Chemistry: Weekly Blog Post

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

          Perfect Chemistry is mainly about relationship that grows and grows. But it's filled with dark problems. Brittany, is the good girl in the story. Alex, is the bad boy in the story. They face through stereotypes, gangs and drugs, and heartbreak together. Their relationship is based on the these problem, but a darker problem lies beyond them both: family.

          Stereotypes. Brittany is from the north side. Alex is from the south side so it means they can't communicate in any way. Even them working on a chemistry project is a big problem for each person's group of friends. So when Brittany and Alex becomes more than just chemistry partners, things get messy with friends. Brittany's boyfriend, Colin breaks up with her and Alex's mom is even more furious than Brittany's mom. It's impossible to date especially since Alex's friends, including Carmen his ex is always teasing him.

          Gangs and drugs. Alex was a in a gang and it affected his relationship with Brittany a lot. They got into arguments and fights. Alex's gang friend, Paco was even killed during a drug dealing. Gangs and drugs eventually led to heartbreak. Alex became frustrated because he had no choice, but to stay in the gang. Brittany didn't understand that. After heartbreak, comes family. Both of them have major problems with their family including death and having a mentally disabled child in the house. This affects them by putting permanent scars on them and this also makes them similar.

          Perfect Chemistry's problems make the book what it is.

Glass: Weekly Blog Post

Glass By Ellen Hopkins


          Glass is a book with a lot of hard things going on with Kristina, the main character. One problem is addiction. Kristina is addicted to drugs and she won't stop. The drug, also known as the "monster" kills her and her family inside and out. Her family has to kick her out of the house because of this addiction. She goes to a point where she can't stop no matter what she does. the monster tears her and her family apart meanwhile bringing her close to her druggie friends and her druggie boyfriend. Her addiction has led to teen pregnancy and jail, but what actually caused this addiction was peer pressure.

          Teen pregnancy is also a problem. While addicted to the monster, Kristina has a baby that she barely cares about. Her baby, Hunter is also affected by her addiction by hurt. Kristina has tried to stop using drugs for her baby, but things got even worse. Hunter got injured several times and it was clearly a sign for Kristina that she needs to stop using drugs, but she went deeper into her addiction. Kristina has no control of herself or baby. Jail has been a problem, too. Kristina and her druggie boyfriend, Trey get arrested and they both go through the pain of separation from drugs and from each other. In jail, Kristina also finds out that she is pregnant again and now this baby will be even more hurt than Hunter. 

          Peer pressure caused the addiction. Kristina's first love, Adam introduced her to the world of drugs, and all her boyfriends after Adam were addicted. Kristina's friend Robyn affected her the most. Robyn did lots of drugs, dealt with drug dealers, and she got Kristina hooked up to addiction. This book is really about how addiction can change your life and everything in it.