Somewhere in the Darkness

I read the book called Somewhere in the Darkness. This book is about a boy named Jimmy. Jimmy is living with his grandmother named mama jean, when his real dad named Crab comes to his house to take Jimmy to live with him in Chicago. Jimmy had never met his dad before because he had just gotten out of prison for killing someone, so Jimmy was a little afraid of him. Jimmy does not want to leave mama jean, but mama jean makes him go. On the trip to Chicago, it was really awkward and quiet because they did not know each other, but by the end of the trip they loosened up a little. During the car ride Crab admits to Jimmy that he escaped from jail and did not actually get released, like he told Jimmy he did. In the end of the book Crab gets caught by the cops and has to go back to jail where he dies. This book is basically about Jimmy and Crabs relationship.

Jimmy is a nice kid. He is quiet and sometimes funny. I liked the way Jimmy acted towards mama jean. He would always call her mam and he would have a lot of respect towards her. The thing I would change about Jimmy is that when mama jean went to work sometimes Jimmy wouldn't go to school, but mama jean thought he went. So, I would make him less sneaky.

Crab is a tough and rough person on the outside, but a nice and gentle person on the inside. In the future for Crab I don't think he should go to heaven or hell. I think he should go to heaven for comforting his son and letting his son meet his dad. But I think he should go to hell for stealing all of that money from other people. I am also not sure if he actually killed anyone. If there was a place in between heaven and hell that is where he should go.

I did not like this book very much because the author presented the book was very slowly. He added in a lot of things that did not need to be mentioned in the story. I was just sort of bored with it after about 70 pages.

One of the 7 reading strategies that I used was determine importance. I used it a lot in this book because the author added a lot of unneeded details that sometimes did not even make any sense to me.

Another Book by Walter Dean Myers that I read is called Monster. It is about a boy named Steve that was blamed for a crime that he did not commit. I liked how the author included flashbacks of Steve's life. The flashbacks helped me to tell what Steves life was like back at home.