Harlem's Local Kids News
Darrius & Twig, Walter Dean Myers
Great Friendship, breaks an all-around world problem
This story takes place in Harlem, New York City, New York. The most important characters in this story are Darius and Twig. Darius is a writer who is very passionate about his writing, and has a lot of emotion inside of him that he can share in his writing. His family and his one and his only friend Twig, cannot help him or motivate him to improve his behaviour or his grades. Even though going through these tough times Darius still manages to earn himself a scholarship, which helped him excel in his career as a writer. Twig on the hand, a runner. Twig really wants to get a scholarship, knowing that his family cannot provide him with the money needed to go through university. As one of the fastest runners that his school has ever had, he progressed in his running career with the support of his dearest friend Darius. He left high school proud with two scholarship offers from two universities. I think the main conflict in this book was bullying and discrimination! I think this because Midnight (the bully/villain) kept physically hurting Twig, and he used verbal bullying towards Darius. He kept harassing them mostly everywhere he saw them, Twig’s race, school and many other places. The resolution to this problem was that Midnight got shot in the stomach, and after that he didn’t bully Twig or Darius. He didn’t bully them again because he was recovering, and Darius and Twig has gotten a scholarship and they moved on in life. The book ended by Midnight getting shot and those two friends getting scholarships.
"Never give up Stay Focused Stay Positive Stay Strong"
This song relates in many ways. The most important is that it relates with the authors’ message. The authors’ message is never give up. I think that from the book because Twig and Darius are constantly getting bullied. They still never gave up on their dream for Twig to become a runner and for Darius to become a writer. In the song the chorus is “ Keep the dream alive don't let it die ,If something deep inside keeps inspiring you to try, don't stop”. So she is basically saying in her whole song that never give up on your dreams, keep trying and don’t stop. You can clearly tell that this song and the book have the same authors’ message.