Far From You by Lisa Schroeder

"Far From You" by Lisa Schroeder is a tale about the hardship of living with a dead mother. Alice lost her mother to cancer and now goes through the long process of healing. She now goes through life with a heavy heart and takes it out on those close to her. Alice seems like she is fine but in reality, she isn't. This story symbolizes the hardships that some teens go through when loosing a loved one.

This story starts off with Alice explaining her life and how she grew to hate it. Her father remarried after her mothers death, and now is welcoming a new baby girl into the family. Of course this upsets her deeply, thinking now that now one will have time for her even though she will just push everyone away. She seems to hate everything and everyone, but possibly in reality she wants someone to care about her like her mother did.  But she seems blind to the fact that everyone in her life cares about her    But this story then takes a turn for the worst when after a family gathering in California a snow storm hits. Leaving Victoria (the step mom) , Ivy (the new baby) and Alice stuck in the car with little food, warmth and liquids. In the car true colors come out and feelings are exposed. Victoria says to Alice, " I'm not plotting anything. And your not going anywhere. You are staying here and we will figure this out together." I feel like this quote opened new doors for them both. Alice starts to see that now everything isn't always about her and her mothers death.

When Victoria has chosen to go out in the snow storm to find help, Alice is left alone with an infant to take care of. In a desperate time, heat was out and the was only a lighter, but with no kindling. She smashes her guitar, one of the only things left from her mother, and creates a fire. Her smashing the guitar symbolizes her letting go of her mothers death and accepting it. She goes back into the car and faints from lack of food with Ivy in her hands. Her mother comes to her in the form of an angel and comforts her saying that everything will be alright. She say a few word that change the story all together, " learn to enjoy the little thing in life because they will always be with you". This is her mothers way of saying that I am with you in all these little things, you will never be alone. When Alice wakes up, she is in a hospital room on an IV. She learns that Victoria and her new family might not be her mother, but she has to learn that they need her and she has to be there for them.

I Am Number 4 by Pittacus Lore

In the book "I am Number 4" by Pittacus Lore, I feel the most changed character is Mark. Mark is your stereotypical highschool jock. He was a selfish andself-centered person, he goes out with his group of jocks and is a big bully to those who are "under" him, such as Sam. When John comes to the high school for the first time, he develops a crush on Marks ex-girlfriend, Sahra. Mark wasn't happy about it and vented his anger onto John. He filled Johns locker with cow manure and he takes his cell phone (which is extreamly important to John). And when John starts to develop his legacies in the middle of class, Mark follows and starts a rumor that John chickened out in fighting him so that's why he ran out of class like that. The next day John is the center of attention in a bad way.

Skip ahead, Mark and his crew kidnapped Jonh, Sahra, Sam, and Emily just so he can beat up John. But John beig superhuman and all, it doesn't work out for Mark. After Mark sees John as a better opponent then himself, he begins to leave them alone. Then the Mogdorians find out where John and his Cepan are, and go on the attack. Trapped inside the school, Mark , John, Sahra, Sam, and Six are forced to fight back. John and Six being Loric and all gives them an advantage over the Mogordians but are outnumbered 1 to 100. Mark then sees what John has to go through everyday and how his bullying isn't helping Johns cause. As John is about to get killed, Mark steps in and shoots the Mog before it kills John. John, Sam and Six eventually have to go because the battle dud toyed the entire school and police think it was a terrorist attack by John. Mark defends them even after they go, saying that they didn't cause the attack but were helping defend it.

Mark made an incredible change from selfish jock to a helping ally to John and his friends. Even though he is a minor character, he goes through one of the biggest changes in he book. He plays a big role and if it wasn't for Mark, John would be dead.