PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Main Characters
Antonia Dillion, Jasmine "Jazz" Luther, Mrs. Dillion, Mr. + Mrs. Luther
Jazz Luther is your standard rebellious teen. But deep down she has some not so rebellious talents. Jazz's parents are very controlling and try to change her and make her less "punky" but that just makes her worse.
Antonia Dillion is an average teen that does well in school and is very responsible. She seems normal at school, but her home life is terrible and it puts a lot of stress on her. She keeps her stress well hidden.
Mrs. Dillion, Antonia's mom, is suffering from depression problems and she doesn't take her medication. She stays in bed most of the time, so Antonia is forced to be in charge of her two brothers, Michael, who is older and Chuckie, who is 3. And their dad left 3 years ago. Because Antonia has to take care of them, she puts too much pressure on herself and therefore she is very stressed all the time.
Setting
The story takes place mostly at Oberon Middle School in the conference room, where peer counseling takes place. This is a good place because they are isolated form the rest of the school and the cliques.
It also takes place at each girls house, and other minor places.
Antonia signs up for peer counseling and gets stuck with Jazz . As they have more sessions they discover they have more in common then anyone could've thought. They talk about personal things that most people don't know about them.
As Antonia and Jazz become better friends, Antonia goes to Jazz's house. The Luthers are very wealthy. From Antonia's perspective Jazz has a great life, but Jazz's and her mom always fight because her mom doesn't like the way Jazz dresses.
Antonia finds out Jazz has a hidden talent. But Jazz won't do any competitions because her mom would make her dress more "normal", although she is very good. And both Jazz and her mom are very stubborn.
While Antonia was at the Luthers her mom took the boys somewhere and when she got home and didn't see them she got very worried, especially since the mom hasn't driven in a few years and she rarely got out of bed. Because Antonia doesn't have any other friends, Jazz is the only person she can call.
Antonia and her brothers stay at the Luthers for a little while their mom is in the hospital. But after a few days they go to a foster home. The foster parents are very nice, but Antonia thinks very negative towards them because she knows that this isn't her real home.
Theme:
"Don't judge a book by its cover"
At first, Antonia thinks Jazz is a druggie, a punker, and a gang hanger but as she gets to know Jazz, she finds out she judged Jazz by her looks, without finding out what's on the inside. Jazz was probably the same with Antonia, thinking of her as a goodie two-shoes, rule-follower, and a teachers pet.
Rating
We give it 4.5/5 stars. It was thrilling and had many cliff hangers that made it hard to put it down.
