Vladimer Tod is a vampire. Simple as it may seem, he has trouble trying to conceal his unhumanly manners while attending 8^th grade. Besides his little secret, he has the troubles of a everyday junior high student like bullies, getting in trouble and girls. To make things worse, he is being hunted by a vampire for a reason that is unknown to him ,his substitute teacher, it seems, may know his secrets and he is confused on if his parents really died in a fire. I enjoyed reading this book because it was a different take on vampires. Unlike all the Twilight hype, this book is only 1% romance and 99% mystery and action which keeps me interested.

            The main characters of this book are Valdimer Tod who is actually half human and half vampire so his powers are a little different. Also his Aunt Nelly who takes care of him, serves him his daily meals of blood pastries and blood drinks and its kind of nice that she works at a hospital. Another important person is Mr.Otis who acts suspicious around Valdimer, for example, during a project themed on mystical creatures, Mr.Otis assigns Valdimer to present to the class everything about vampires. This sounds a little fishy to Vladimir.

            I really thought this book was unpredictable which is excellent. As I read, I found about a organization that Valdimer’s dad was in or strange markings in his teacher’s house and the question that runs through your mind when you read this is why is someone chasing him. A good thing is that the book does not stop here, the book series continues to 9^th grade slays,10^th grade bleeds,and 11th grade burns. Even though this book was great there still were some points that I didn’t like about this book. The book was a mixture of his regular school life and a big mystery about his parents which I didn’t like because when all the action started happening at the end, the author forgot about his school life. Also it confused me with all the different clues and things that were being discovered almost every chapter.

            To conclude, I would give this book a B just because it did not have me feeling for the character or dying to know what was on the next page. Other than that, it was an excellent book. I would recommend this book to people who like vampires and mysteries.

"Find others with goals like yours and stick with them." This simple quote was something the young boys, Sampson, George and Rameck had to learn the hard way. Drugs,violence and crime covered the streets of Newark,New Jersey, where these boys called home, this book gives an insight on the lives of the three boys and how they turned from troublemaking teens to well reknown doctors.
First off, i admit, i finished this book within the 5 hours that i got it. That already shows how captivating We Beat the Streets is. My curiosity sparked just by reading the introduction stating "We are real people. We started out as kids in the toughest neighborhood of Newark, New Jersey and today we are doctors."The chararcters all had their own personality and had their own troubles which made the book always interesting. I liked how since the book was written by the 3 doctors, they  had sections for each of the boys part of view and was nice to see as you got farther in the book the boys section started to combine together the more closer they got.
We Beat the Streets has a moral for each story and you learn from the challenges they had and the consequences that came with it. I remember in the book one of the doctors said they wanted the boys that have drifted away from the right path to read this book because the big main of the idea of the book is that no matter your situation, you need to have your goals set high ,find the right people to be friends with and everybody has potential, you just have to work hard to be successful.
Something that made me enjoy this book is they formatted it so quotes were occasionally on the side of page, a summary of what the doctor think after every chapter and real photos of Sampson,George, and Rameck. When having a quote like ,"Kids learned early that walking with a air of being in control was neccessary for survival",kind of tells you the main idea in the pages you are reading. The summaries at the end of the chapters gives a chance for the doctors to say their opinion and reason why they did certain things. Also the pictures in the book reminded you that the stories were real life events with real life people.
My final opinon on We Beat the Streets is that this book is a must read. It shows the proccess from misfit kids to doctors which i think struggling kids should take note on. I reccommend this book to everybody.

"My mother was a woman of strong character, of deep and abiding commitments and a loving nature that drew people into her orbit." That was one of the many things Andrea Young said describing her mother. The book i am reading is Life Lessons My Mother Taught Me by Andrea Young. This is a biography about Jean Young written by her daughter. Every chapter has a little life lesson that Andrea learned by her mother. This book was one of the most interesting biography I read.

Jean Young is the wife of Andrew Young, the successful Atlanta mayor, she was able to make a life other own instead of just being "the wife". She was a respected advocate in the civil rights movement and children rights movement and made friends along the way. This is all told by her daughter Andrea, who explains her mother in her part of view and how her lessons influenced her in the future.

This book was intriguing because i even thought of the lessons Jean Young told like one other lessons was good self image is not only for others but also for yourself. My favorite part of the book was when Jean was young she had to deal with segregation '...White costumers of any age would be served before a black customer no matter how long they been waiting...My mother would express her displeasure at these customs by going to the counter, waiting until the clerk finally turned to her to ask "What do you want?" then she would stick out her hand and show her empty palm and say”nothing" and walk out the door'. It is my favorite part because even though that was a small thing to show against unfair customs, she still did something unlike other people.

In the end this taught me many life lessons like another example was that she always wanted to be a little different which she expresses, is a good thing. This is one of those books that after reading you feel smarter. Andrea Young did a wonderful job describing her mother and I would recommend this book to everybody.