Newport Times
By Luke Muse
Torn Apart
Can you imagine what life would be like if you lived during Prohibition? In the book Black Duck by Janet Taylor Lisle, Jeddy has to deal with the effect of the Prohibition. This book took place in Newport,Rhode Island in 1929. At this point and time America had a law called Prohibition and everyone wanted to drink alcohol and it wasn't pretty. Ruben Hart and his best friend Jeddy live in Newport, Rhode Island and find themselves right in the middle of a group of rum runners. Jeddy and Ruben finds their lives flipped upside down.
Jeddy and Ruben first find out that something is fishy when they find a dead body on the shore of the beach with a lighter and a half fifty dollar bill in his pocket. The police refuse to investigate the case. Ruben is offered some money to help unload some rum from a boat. He thinks about it and decides to accept. The police came down to the beach and the person who set the whole thing up was very mad because he had paid the police to “look the other way”.
Mr. Adventure
Ruben feels all alone in the book Black Duck and he just wants to do something different. Everyday he went to school, came home and worked at his dad's shop, He always wanted to make a name for himself. His loneliness is increased when his best friend Jeddy says that his dad forbids them from being friends. Although he doesn't desperately need the money, when he is asked to work on a rum boat he accepts with pleasure because he wants to do something different. “My parents didn't say a word when I left for the boat. It was almost like they knew I was making a mistake.” Ruben said. But being a risk taker comes with some danger; When he is offered a trip on the Black Duck, one of the best smuggling boats in the country will he go on? It could be the difference between life and death!
Dead Man's Body
The first Turning Point of the book Black Duck by Janet Taylor Lisle is when Jeddy and Ruben find a dead body on the shore of the beach. Above is a picture of the shore that they might have found the body on.
Betrayal
The second turning point is when Jeddy’s dad decides that Jeddy can’t be friends with Ruben anymore. Ruben is very sad because they were best friends. He keeps trying to become friends again but Jeddy stuck by his word and refused.
Kidnapped
The third turning point is when Ruben is kidnapped by a rum runner. Ruben is very confused to why they would kidnap him but then he remembers about the half fifty dollar bill and he regrets ever taking it out of the dead mans pocket.
Unraveling the History
2. In Black Duck it talks about Ruben and Jeddy finding a dead body on the shore. They tell a police and since the body isn’t there when they come back the police man refuses to investigate because there is not any evidence. It shows that many crimes were going on at the time and that one dead body wasn’t important. “Well there is no sign of the body now. No sign of anything,” Charlie said, sounding oddly satisfied. If someone came and dragged him off there’d be marks, wouldn’t you think there’s not even footprints.” page 31.
3. The book talks about Ruben being offered money to unload a boat. Because of the Prohibition even though he had a strict dad his dad said yes. A strict dad now a days would never let their son do something like that. “All right! You do what’s been asked of you,” he snapped, before I could open my mouth. He was angry. “It’ll just be this one time.” page 97.
4. The book talks about Ruben missing a few weeks of school and living down by the ocean for a couple weeks. I think it shows that during Prohibition being absent for school isn’t as important as it is now. “Maybe it was just being out from under my old life, away from the humdrum of school and Riley’s General Store, but I felt like a bird escaped from a cage.”
Important Events in our History
2. On December 7th, 1941 the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
3. On July 20th 1969, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.
4. On November 9th, 1989 the Berlin Wall started to be taken down.
5. On November 4th, 2008 Barack Obama was elected President and in November, 2012 Obama was re-elected.