Bronx Masquerade - Comparison and Contrast

        The book Bronx Masquerade written by Nikki Grimes is about a group of teens that all go to the same high school. Their english teacher is having them learn about the Harlem Renaissance in class, so they are starting to write poetry about the event. As they start to write poems for class, they all soon discover they're secret passion for writing poetry. Their english teacher sees how many students love writing poetry, so he starts "Open Mic Fridays" where students can come in and read some of their very own poems that they have written. As this continues, the students start to use poetry as their outlet to write what they feel and whats on their mind.

        Two characters that I found were similar in the book Bronx Masquerade are Diondra Jordan and Devon Hope. These two students are similar because they both want to show people who they truly are without being afraid of what will be said about them. Diondra is one of the tallest girls in school, so people feel like she should be good at basketball, but she isn't. She is an artist and wants to show people that, but she isn't very confident and she feels like people would make fun of her. Devon is like that to. He is a basketball player and he's really good at it. He doesn't just like basketball though, he also loves to read, but not many people know that. He is afraid to tell people that he actually enjoys reading because he doesn't want to be judged like Diondra does. 

        Two characters that I found to be very different are Lupe Algarin and Judianne Alexander. These two students are different because they both have very different stories and problems. Lupe feels unloved and neglected, so she wants to have a baby in order to have someone love her. On the other hand, there's Judianne. Judianne feels like she isn't pretty enough and doesn't think her mother loves her because she is ugly. Judianne feels like Lupe has it easy because she is so pretty and every guy falls for her, but she doesn't think or see that. She even says, "Lupe has no idea how pretty she is. You should see how Raul and some of the other guys-Black and white-sniffing around her." All in all, Lupe doesn't feel like anyone loves her, so she wants a baby, and Judianne, feels like she isn't pretty, but Lupe is.