We currently finished reading
Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pies . The story is about an 8th grader named Steven who finds out at his 6 year old brother has cancer. Stevens world starts to crumble and before he makes an effort to stay confidence his grades are terrible, he screwed up with the girl he likes and he finally notices that his family is struggling with all Jeffery's medical bills. It finally hits Steven that there is a lot of things that could be worse in his life and that what he thinks is a big deal really isn't when they find out Jeffery has cancer.
In the book I could really see a big change in Steven. At the very beginning of the book all Steven could care about was how beautiful Renee Albert was and how amazing his drum skills were. But when Jeffery is diagnosed with cancer he looks at life in a different way. For example before Jeffery was diagnosed his world revolved around Renee, the most beautiful girl in the 7th grade. When the word lets out that Jefferry has cancer she offers to tutor Steven because his grades are falling. Now obviously Steven would be stoked but his parents tell him many of times no one can be around Jeffery because of the fear that he might get sick. Steven realizes that its not so much about him anymore and realizes that he has to be a bigger person. He doesn't let Renee come in and he doesn't feel bad anymore. I think this part really shows how Steven doesn't think about himself every single minute anymore and realizes that world doesn't revolve around her. Another example that clearly shows Stevens character change is when his dad told him that he might not make it to his big concert. At first Steven is mad and angry because all along he's been supportive and his dad can't come to one of his most special nights. But then he takes a step back and looks at it in a different point of view. It goes through his head that his dad is really stressed and is working his butt off to keep the family going and isn't coming only because he is trying to help the family not to not support Steven. Steven anger fades away and he finally understands. That even though he isn't the center of attention his family is supporting him even if it doesn't look like it.
If I could say anything to Steven is would probably be life's and arrow. To make an arrow go forward you have to pull it back. In other words even when life or something is going completely wrong it's going to boost you up or push you forward in someway. At some parts in the book you could see Steven and how he thought his world was ending and everything was going completely working but it's seemed to have pushed him forward. For example when his grades started falling he thought he was done for it but really he benefitted from it because Renee started helping him and noticing him. In the end. Steven changed the way he looked at things in a postive way.
