Handbook for Boys: Discussion #1

          I was assigned to a book club with three other members from my class. We are currently reading “Handbook for Boys” by Walter Dean Myers. We all read the first 52 pages of the book before we met up for our first meeting together. We discussed a couple of things about some of the main characters, but mainly about Duke and Jimmy. We also talked about what happened so far in the book and if we liked the book or not and why.

            Jimmy was introduced in the beginning of story and he was being assigned to a youth facility for assaulting a kid. A man named Duke who owns a barbershop in town, was in court watching while Jimmy was about to be assigned to a youth facility. He decided that he will take Jimmy and have him work at his barbershop, he will mentor him, and then he will pay for his first two years of college. Kevin is another kid who Duke saved from being put in jail for selling marijuana. Duke is also doing the same for Kevin. I believe it is really nice of Duke to be doing this for two kids that he does not even know. There are not a lot of people out there now days that will actually do that for people they do not know. I believe that Jimmy will end up doing something with his life since he seems to care about what is happening with his life. He spends time with his mother and helps her out. He seems like a decent kid who just got in trouble mainly because he got into a physical fight with a boy. I feel like I have not gotten enough background information about Kevin just yet that I can make a prediction about how he will turn out. Duke is truly an amazing man who’s goal is basically to help people out who have not gotten enough information about how to succeed in life and help them out by mentoring them. 

            I actually really enjoyed this book so far; it is a book that catches my attention. We were supposed to only read up to page 52 for our first meeting, but I couldn’t stop reading. I had to actually force myself to stop. I am looking forward to see what ends up happening with Jimmy and Kevin.