September Blog Post 33 Minutes by Todd Hasak-Lowy Reading Response

      In the book "33 Minutes" by Todd Hasak-Lowy the main character Sam Lewis is the cliche of a nerd and a confused eighth grader that has a former best friend (Morgan Sturtz) that doesn't like him anymore. Sam still tries to hang on to a friend he had really good times with. Throughout the book Sam turns into a person that is confused about their friendship with a person they care about his best to a person that has to end that friendship for the better. At the beginning of the story Sam thinks about the times him and Morgan were best friends and about what they used to do. For example "Just this last September, me and Morgan were still together all the time. Or at least a lot. He was over at my house on the weekends, his playbook filled with Xs and Os opened up on our living room floor, while I helped him memorize plays." (Pages 23-24) The author included this into the text because he wanted the readers to see that Sam cannot let go of the fact that the days when he helped Morgan with his Football plays are over even though they weren't that long ago.

      

      In the middle of the book Sam starts to remember why Morgan sometimes wasn't a good friend and starts to think about why they still were friends after those events. In the book Sam remembers when the principal made an announcement about the math rally team winning and Morgan laughed about it even though he knows Sam was on the team that won. "All five of whom stopped when, a couple seconds later, Chris yelled: MATH SUCKS! At which point everyone laughed. Except Amy and (most of) the teachers. Everyone including Morgan."(Pages 42-43) Sam remembered this as one of the times that Morgan ignored one of Sam's math tournaments for a football game. 

    

      At the end of the book Sam's school is forced to go outside because of a fire in the school. When they're outside Morgan beats Sam up because Sam says he dumb earlier in the book. "I turned to a blank page in my notebook. I wrote Morgan is so dumb right in the middle." (page 109) Even though Sam seems like he would never do such a thing he did it because he was mad at Morgan for laughing at him and making fun of him, which is also mentioned on page 109. "Maybe I finally got sick of Morgan laughing  at me then and at the pep rally and about twenty times in between." This quote explains that Sam got fed up with Morgan making fun of him and took action about it. Maybe he took action the wrong way but he still stood up to Morgan. As a result of this Morgan beat Sam up and everyone was cheering to fight and beat Sam up. At the very end Sam realizes that he cannot be Morgan's friend anymore for the better. "My mouth and jaw still hurt, but I have no problem saying the word as clearly ad I've ever heard anyone ever say it: 'Good-bye.'" (Page210) 

   

     This book is so unique because it shows the point of view of from a person that has social issues more specifically having trouble making friends. This book is also an example of character change because not only does Sam change from a person that doesn't want to lose a friend to a person that is better off losing that friend but Morgan has also changed because he used to be best friends with Sam and recently he has changed to a cliche of a jock. Which relates to real life because in real life people do change which makes the characters Sam and Morgan so believable.