Final Reading Response

Susan Zheng 810

The book I'm writing my reading response on is called This is Me From now on by Barbara Dee. I'm writing about this book because it has many real life topics to discuss. And I can connect to these topics because I have friends too. The main character in this book is Evie ,and she faces many friendship trouble along the way. I think everyone might have gone through some issues if you have friends. Evie has two best friends Nisha and Lily. They spent most of their afternoon times in Lily's bedroom eating Pringles , and taking personality quizzes from enormous stacks of magazines that Lily borrowed from her cousin. I think that's one of the problems that Evie has with her friends, she doesn't even like eating Pringles in Lily's house. I think Evie should speak up for herself and not follow them to please them. That's what friends are for , they can listen to your ideas on how to spent the rest of afternoon and give you some suggestions.

Friends share secrets like Evie does with her friends . They all know that Evie has a crush on Zane a boy in her class for 3 years.Like me and my friends always tell each other secrets like problems in our family , and test grades. We always would have something to tell each other so that we know everything about each other. Their friendship connection is strong or else I wouldn't think Evie would share anything personal to them . But friendship relationships can get really complicated when a new neighborhood moves in next door to Evie's house.

The new girl that just moved in is sitting in Evie's kitchen table chatting with her mom. The second thought that comes to Evie's mine when she see's her is "Whoa. That girl looks incredible. I wish my hair was long and all wavy like that, and my eyes were that smoky sort of green. And I bet SHE doesn't have trouble finding a bathing suit" , her third though was "she's crazy." That's when her mom suggest Evie to show Francesca around the neighborhood. Evie finds Francesaca weird because of her clothes , it looks like she is going to a costume party. But as Evie' s relationship with Francesaca grows closer and closer she learns that she is wild and funny and the only rules she follows are the ones that she invents herself.

On the other hand as Nisha and Lily meet Francesca they dislike her . So now Evie's relationship with them are very complicated . On a history project you can only have two partners in a group , and since there are three of them Nisha and Lily paired up. Leaving Evie only one choice , Francesca . At first Evie doesn't trust Francesca because she was a liar and wore weird costumes. But she decided to give her a try and work with her in the history project. That's when things go wrong, Nisha tries to rescue Evie from Francesca because she thinks that they actually don't want to work together.

This is the point of view from Evie in the book : I stared back at her. "Oh, yeah ," I muttered.

"The doctor appointment. Actually , Nisha , I rescheduled that."

"Are you sure you should have?"

"Uh-huh. Definitely."

"Because you were feeling so sick before . Weren't you?"

Okay, this was going way too far. Obviously, I knew I should have been grateful of her helping me. But was she going to stand here and insist that I dump Francesca in front of everyone? And also act like I couldn't make a decision for myself?

"Well , I'm fine now."

I think what Evie did was correct , ever since she meet Francesca I think she changed. In the beginning of the book Evie usually doesn't say anything that's why Nisha thinks that Evie can't make the decision for herself. Which also isn’t wrong because she was trying to help her friend out. But now Evie is speaking up for herself which is a nice change. Because Evie is deciding to make friends with Francesca her feelings are hurt by her friends. "I went upstairs , surprised and hurt that my best friends were refusing to wait for me, even if Francesca would be tagging along." In school Nisha avoided eye contact with Evie when she was trying to smile back at her because Evie noticed that Nisha was peeking at her. I think Evie tried her best . If Nisha is ignoring her I think the best thing to do is explain what her feelings are. Now Evie's relationship with Nisha and Lily are growing farther and farther apart.

Evie made a right choice in the beginning of the book , choosing to be friends with Francesca. Francesca is not a selfish person and when she sees Evie very sad, she convince Evie to be friends with Nisha and Lily. That way Evie now has three best friends. Except the relationship between Nisha/Lily and Francesca needs to get closer. And the book ends with a very happy ending . I grabbed my cell phone and my bubble gum, and checked to make sure my amber necklace was clasped tightly around my neck. Then all four of us ran down the steps and out the door into the freezing sunshine.To make friends you shouldn't judge people by the way they dress. or force your friend to make a decision which friends they want to be with. There will always be a way to figure things out . Friendship should last a long time , it's about trust and sharing .