Glass, an astounding book

I just finished reading Glass. I couldn't put it down as a read it. Ellen Hopkins' blank verse is compelling and the subject matter grueling. I found myself hoping that Kristina's positive outlook at the end brings her into a drug-free future with her family and child.

LibLongLearn

Always Running by Luis Rodriguez

Our next book selection is Always Running by Luis Rodriguez. In Always Running, Luis Rodriguez describes how by age twelve, he was a veteran of East L.A. gang warfare. Lured by a seemingly invincible gang culture, he witnessed countless shootings, beatings, and arrests, then watched with increasing fear as drugs, murder, suicide, and senseless acts of street crime claimed friends and family members. Before long Rodríguez saw a way out of the barrio through education and the power of words, and successfully broke free from years of violence and desperation. Achieving success as an award-winning Chicano poet, he was sure the streets would haunt him no more--until his young son joined a gang. Rodríguez fought for his child by telling his own story in Always Running, a vivid memoir that explores the motivations of gang life and cautions against the death and destruction that inevitably claim its participants. At times heartbreakingly sad and brutal, Always Running is ultimately an uplifting true story, filled with hope, insight and a hard-earned lesson for the next generation.

CLC February 1st meeting

THE CLC met on Friday, February 1st to discuss Glass by Ellen Hopkins. The group had a very mature, engaged and lengthy discussion about Bre and the consequences of her decisions. We discussed why this particular series is so popular right now and how the use of crank and glass has reached epidemic proportions and that this epidemic in one way or another is affecting so many families.