SuitabookHeart or mind
Patrick Jones
- Reading
- Consider reading together or checking in after the riot, then give your reader room to decide how Rodney’s effort to avoid trouble shapes his choices.
- Themes
- Love, loyalty and social division: Rodney and Jawahir fall for each other amid tensions between student groups and opposition from family and friends. The Romeo and Juliet framing and love-versus-loyalty theme place Rodney and Jawahir’s relationship amid competing loyalties.
- School conflict and past trouble: Tension between African American and Somali students escalates into a riot; Rodney has previously spent time at County Home School and wants to avoid trouble. Rodney’s determination to avoid trouble sits alongside the riot and his earlier time at County Home School.
- Worth knowing
- The school conflict escalates from a food fight to a riot, with violence and lingering resentment between the groups. Rodney has also previously spent time at County Home School.