Tangerine by Edward Bloor

This book is about a family that lived in Houston, Texas who go to Lake Windsor Down, Florida because of the father's job. Paul Fisher, the youngest member of the family and a seventh grader, is the narrator of the story. In Lake Windsor, Paul's family goes through many conflicts and problems. To list a few, Paul's new school sinks into a sink hole, his new best friend's brother gets electrocuted, Paul gets kicked out of his soccer team, and his brother goes to prison at the end. The book talks about how a family should look like, sports in American culture, the difference between rich and poor, and teenagers growing up. I liked this book because there are many things going on in it that get connected to each other as the story goes on. Also each event is unique and interesting. The only thing that I dislike about this book is the story goes too slow.

Creative Writing: Seedfolks the fourteenth member

I am Darwin Thomas and I was born in Burundi, which is a very small country in Africa. I had three older brothers and two sisters. My parents were farmers, growing peppers, and our life was getting better and better. When I was fifteen a huge flood washed my sister and the farm away. We became poor. Two of my brothers were shot in the street, and my remaining sister and brother went to Bujumbura, the capital, to make money but they never came back. I went to Bujumbura to get a job when I grew up. After seven years of struggle, my wife died and left me with a son named Eddy. My parents were dead after two years. I spent all my money to get a ticket to America.
Now I’m thirty-five and the life in America is not easy. I still couldn’t find any job. My son and I slept in the subway for a while. One day my mind exploded with rage, thinking about the past, starting to hate this world. I drank a lot of beer and passed out. Next morning I found myself sleeping next to my son with a load of cash and a gun in my pocket. I was scared that I might have done something bad. I heard that a Korean woman, Sae Young, who runs a dry cleaning shop, was robbed by a tall, muscular, black man with short curly hair and big nose and eyes. I knew that it was me. I went to a church that day with my son and cried all night. I cried because my life was so difficult, I hated myself for robbing a shop, and I felt sorry for my son.
A minister came up to me and prayed for me. I started to live with the minister and work at the church. I cleaned the church and took care of the church’s garden. My life became easier. Time passed and I have my own garden in the community garden. I grow chili peppers there because I like hot and spicy food and my parents also grew peppers. I combined a very hot chili pepper with a different kind and made a super hot chili pepper. I saw an Asian woman in the garden, I knew she was Sae Young. I swore to pay back the money that I stole. I started selling the super hot chili peppers to farmers and restaurants. The people loved them and I got a lot of orders from many different places. Now I started to see a spark of hope.