entry #6

By page four, it was already obvious that their was a barrier dividing the lassies from lasses in that neighborhood. Specifically at Lark Creek Elementary.  The author says:

   " At recess boys would play sports on the upper fields, for example baseball, and track. The girls took up a small section of the playground, used for hopscotch, jumping rope, and talking."

       Staging from an early belief of 'cooties', and other rare fake diseases you can catch from being touched by someone of a different gender, girls and boys kept there distance. The more clear how 'uncool' it is to be a friends with a girl/boy, the more clear how unique Jess and Leslie's friendship truly became. The friendship breaks all the 'rules', and is another baby step for Jess beginning to think for himself.

 For many people this story screams out 'pier pressure', but that is one perspective of looking at this interesting story. Another theme can be 'Choosing to go your own way'. All of these themes are important, because even though this book is clearly written for a younger audience, it has some very grown up morals snuck inside. An important repeating moral in this book is (As my Mom tells me)

"Go your own way, and not care what people say".          Which for me means:
follow your instinct, and don't give in to pier pressure.