Weekly Blog Post: Let It Snow

Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, Lauren Myracle
Spoiler Alert
        
          Reading this book had been such an intense experience. In the first glance, you might think it's just some book with too many authors and ideas, but there's something more to it than that. This book has three stories to tell; three delicious stories to tell. These stories combine and clash with mix-matching themes that will move your heart. The themes are fairly different, but once you figure them all out, they really match together and fit like a puzzle piece. I will start this by talking about the first story, "The Jubilee Express". This story tells you about the magical qualities of responsibility and taking a chance.

          When you think of your responsibilities, you probably think of them as stupid things that take over your life for no reason. I know that's what I think (or used to). This story actually tells me that with responsibility, you have to be brave with them. The main character in this story is Jubilee and she has an odd responsibility. Her responsibility is to take the train by herself to Florida to stay with her grandparents. She needs to stay with them because her parents are in jail. In this situation, I can really see Jubilee doing what she has to do and taking care of herself along the way. That really makes me think about my responsibilities and how sometimes I'll have to be brave and just do it. As a young girl, my parents were practically always at work and I would have to go to bed by myself or make sure all the lights were shut off. I wonder if Jubilee was feeling brave, scared, or nothing at all. But I know that sometimes we just have to do what's right. I can actually relate this a lot to my family because they immigrated to America from China. My mother and her brother left when they were 20 and they not only left China behind, but a lot of family as well. I know that she had to risk it all for a better life and it did work out.

          Sometimes what I don't get is why some people don't just take chances. They then let their chance go by and regret it later on. Jubilee takes a chance by staying at some stranger's home and considering that she has barely known the stranger for more than a mere hour, that's pretty brave. That tells me that without taking chances, people would be nowhere. This theme is just so beautiful and it tells me to take a chance and risk it all. What's to lose? Sure, sometimes there are a lot to lose and too much to risk. But hey, you'll never know without taking a chance. Some chances could be asking your crush out, breaking up with someone, or maybe even trying out the new ice cream flavor instead of the old one you always buy. This story tells me about how that without trying, you'll always be clueless. I believe that taking chances ends up making your life better. Maybe this story tells a theme of regret too because as you all might know, taking chances can lead to regretting. But I also think that this story tells that you shouldn't regret because you would have never known if you didn't do it anyway (taking a chance, that is). How would I have known that my crush liked me too? How would I have known that my crush only liked me as a friend? By taking a chance.

          Now, on to the second story. The second story is ''A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle''. This story doesn't really have much of a variety of themes, but it shows one theme that I love a lot and probably most people do too. And what's the wonderful theme? Miracles. Just believe in miracles. I also believe that this theme leads on to something much bigger and that something is taking a risk (again).

          Everyone believes in miracles, right? Well, not necessarily. Tobin, the main character of this story doesn't really believe in anything other than well, having good friends to be there for you. But this story takes a strong hold of miracles and sprinkles them all over the place. This story tells me that miracles can happen and they will lead to another thing. I love that and I like the idea of miracles having to lead on to something else. The theme that's really appealing is that you just have to believe in miracles for them to happen. Probably a lot of people think that miracles and wishes are stupid things to believe in, but not me. I guess if you really believe in them, they will happen. Anything can happen if you just believe. I know that's a really cheesy theme and probably too much, but I like it. It's such a optimistic way of looking at things and it really gives you hope. For example, when I'm feeling down in the dumps and I keep on thinking of my high school scores, I just try to believe something good will happen. Believe to achieve!

          I'm going to bring up taking a risk again. But this time, it's something entirely different. It's not just about taking a risk in general, but taking a risk for a friendship. I know I've been through this and probably many, many people have too. When you start to like your friend, it feels sort of scary and exciting at the same time; scary because you know somewhere in your relationship something will go wrong and you two will drift apart. Tobin really faces this in a hard way because the girl he likes is a really good friend. But Tobin actually takes a risk and things up really good. If Tobin never told his friend he had feelings for her, he would have never known what would come up next. Taking a risk in this type of situation is kind of like a life or death situation (not exactly, though). Things could end up good, like for Tobin or bad as in awkward acquaintances from now on. But hey, you either win or lose.

          For the third story, ''The Patron Saint of Pigs'', it's really only two themes. It's not like this theme is boring though; its relatable and probably every single person on Earth have felt this before. This story's theme is regret and caring about others.

          Regret in general is a really broad topic, but that's how it's portrayed in the story. It takes you on a journey about a girl regretting something and doing something about it (taking a risk, again). Addie is the girl who has recently been through a break up by cheating with someone and trying to change someone. She regrets it and she ends up changing everything back to normal. But the thing is when Addie was dragging along life thinking about Jeb (her boyfriend), she had never thougt of moving on with life. That really got me thinking about how some people or maybe even myself force themselves into the past. They make themselves think that they can't move on, so they don't. I honestly hate that and I used to be like that, but not anymore. I hate the idea of trying to make yourself do something that you know is not good for you. Regret is for the weak and I have learned that from the book and real life. Do something about it and see what happens because nothing feels worse than regret. My friends have experienced regret and so have I. It really brings people down in my opinion because you're always thinking about the past. Seriously, who likes dwelling in the past? Not me.

         Addie not only has problems with her boyfriend, but her best friends as well. I notice that in the book, Addie only talks about herself. It's like I'm in her own little world and I find out that her best friends notice, too. Her friends say that she seems to ''make everything about her''. That made me think about myself. I always try to care for others and not only talk about my problems, but sometimes I feel like Addie; like I'm the only one with the problems. But this story really taught me that friendship is beautiful, but it's not and cannot always be about one person. If my best friend decided to yak everyday about her problems without even caring about mine, I would seriously be pissed off. Who wouldn't be? I can see that Addie has a lot of problems, but I notice that her friends do too. Too bad Addie never even thinks of speaking to her friends about their problems. She's a bit self-absorbed and in the end, even she notices that.

          All in all, this book was such a joyful read. It spread lots of themes and it made me see friendships and relationships with a different point of view. Just because this book is portrayed in the holidays doesn't mean you can't just pick it up and start reading it. Read into this book and you'll see so much going on in just one book.