Tears of a Tiger

I read the book called Tears of a Tiger. This book is about a boy named Andy Jackson. Andy was driving drunk when he had a serious car accident. Andy and the two people in the back seat named BJ Carson and Tyrone Mills got out of the accident with only a few bruises and burns. However, the person in the passenger seat named Robbie Washington died in the accident. Andy feels like it was his fault. He was the driver and he crashed the car and is living with the guilt of killing a friend.

Andy is a 17 year old Afro American teenager. He is athletic and nice but sometimes he can get really depressed and cranky. Whenever some one mentions Robbie, Andy always gets depressed and doesn't want to talk to anybody.

Keisha is Andy's girlfriend. She is 17 and Afro American just like Andy. Keisha is smart and very caring. She is always there for Andy and anyone else that needs her help. Keisha and Andy have a close relationship. Andy is usually feeling sad about Robbie so Keisha always has to cheer him up.

I loved this book so much because this teaches such a good lesson. The lesson is to never drink and drive. In this book two people ended up dying. Robbie dies from the crash. Then Andy puts himself under so much pressure because of what he did to Rob. Andy finally cannot take it anymore and just shoots himself. This could happen to anybody if they drive drunk.

One of the 7 Reading Strategies I used in the book was Mental Images. I used mental images a lot to picture what the crash scene looked like. I pictured it on a highway at night time, with a rusty old car on fire smashed up against a wall. I picture BJ and Tyrone on top of the car smashing the windshield and trying to break it, but it wont brake. I picture Robbie screaming his head off saying, "Help me, please get me out of here."

I have never read any other Sharon M. Draper books. I like the way she Incorporated the kids English assignments so you could really tell what they were feeling about the whole situation with Robbie.