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This part of the book talks about the early life of the great Duke Ellington. So far, he has not discovered his passion for music yet. Although, everyone is claiming that even early on they knew he was going to be special.

tough, business, dramatically, sleep, thrive

The business of the young count was tough.
Many nights he wouldn't sleep.
But still, he would thrive dramatically
Playing his piano emphatically.

The metaphor used in this part of the book is "Satchelmouth." This is the name that Louis Armstrong was called by his friends when he was younger and is still known today. It is a metaphor for Louis' large mouth and his great trumpet playing even at a young age.

This part of the book covers Louis Armstrong's time in a reform school. This is the part of Louis' life that he claims saved him. He learned to play music and got away from all the trouble that landed him in the reform school to begin with.

my poem:

Work and work and work
Job after job after job
Little Louis will find a way to pay for his sister and mom

deprivation
separation
segregation
provenance
freedom

These words speak to the hard and unfair lives of black people in early America. Specifically, the early life of Louis Armstrong. These words point to the struggles but also the hope for new and positive change. If you changed some of these words they would likely have a more vague meaning, but as they are I think it is somewhat obvious what they reference.

The introduction to this book sets the stage and explains the author's approach to explaining these three musicians' lives. The book intends to focus on what the musicians did off the bandstand rather than what they did at their shows. I think there will be a lot of deeper dives into the racial inequalities of the time and how that affected their daily lives as well as how they wrote their music.

I have just started this book; it is more of a nonfiction-style book than a story. Currently, it is just introducing some of the main jazz musicians who popularized the music. I am looking forward to hopefully reading about some new stories of these musicians that I haven't already heard.

Cooper is toast. He is solid and always somebody you can rely on. He stays cool under immense pressure and gets the job done, simple yet effective. Even at the end of the story, when he is locked in the restaurant freeze,r being shot at by organized criminals on the outside, he remains level-headed and barricades the door, saving his life.

Cooper is toast. He is solid and always somebody you can rely on. He stays cool under immense pressure and gets the job done, simple yet effective. Even at the end of the story, when he is locked in the restaurant freeze,r being shot at by organized criminals on the outside, he remains level-headed and barricades the door, saving his life.

Cooper would probably relate to "First Fig." Cooper tried to keep silent in order to protect himself and his family, but his candle burned at both ends. In the end he had to go to the scene of the crime and face his situation head on. In the moment, keeping silent would seem like a good thing, however the longer it went on the less likely the robbery case was to be solved.

Cooper and Lunk are now trapped in the Frank N' Stein's restaurant with the now-identified criminal, Mr Stein. Unfortunately, Cooper and Lunk have a shaky history, and I think they are going to have to work together if they want to get out of this mess.

Adverse: unfavorable, against one’s desires
Cooper is facing a lot of adversity lately and is finally breaking the code of silence by going to Mr Stein. Unfortunately, he has realized all too late that Stein is heavily involved in the murder of his business partner, Frank. Cooper is stuck with Stein until he can find a way to escape and go to the police. I feel like Cooper has had very unfavorable circumastances.

A lesson I am learning from this book is sometimes it is necessary to sacrifice your own well-being and convenience for the sake of others. This could be in a team environment, but it could also be in a survival environment. Sometimes your individual worries aren't as big as the issues that follow the whole group.

A lesson I am learning from this book is sometimes it is necessary to sacrifice your own well-being and convenience for the sake of others. This could be in a team environment, but it could also be in a survival environment. Sometimes your individual worries aren't as big as the issues that follow the whole group.

All the main characters in my book are kids so they haven't had experience with the realities of the American dream. They haven't been in many situations that would reference the American dream either. However, given the situations they are in, I think they would believe that luck is a factor in success. They are in a big mess that is out of their control and it's weighing on them.

In my story, the 3 main characters are actually religious, so they would likely be celebrating Christmas and Christmas Eve at church and/or with their extended families. Cooper and Gordy are cousins so it wouldn't surprise me if they actually celebrated together.

Things are heating up. In the morning, Cooper received a text from Hiro letting him know that the police planned on trapping him that day. Cooper calls Detective Hammer about the letter that was left the night before. Hammer informs Cooper that they have a suspect in custody but need Cooper as the witness to identify him. Cooper is hesitant to go to the police office though, because this could be just another trick.

While contemplating coming out to the police, Hiro calls her brother, who is an officer in the area. After a long conversation, she explains the situation to him, and Hiro's brother hints at the robbery being an organized crime. So, after all this time of "should we tell the truth?" we have confirmation from an officer that laying low while trying to point the investigation toward the real criminals is the way to go.

I think this story pushes a theme, to be honest and avoid lying. This whole time the kids have been trying to hide their connection as witnesses to the robbery in order to hide from potentially corrupt police. Although their plan makes logical sense, as time goes on things aren't getting any better and some of them are beginning to question their plan.

Cooper upset Hiro and Hiro left the group. Of course, after she is gone the police pull up right next to Cooper and Gordy and began interrogating them. They were able to get away without being too suspicious but I have to wonder how long they can keep this up. Things have been gradually getting more and more tense and risky as the book progresses.

Cooper believes that a mixture of staying anonymous and silent about the crime as well as dropping hints to the police as to who the suspects are, will make him successful. His primary goal is to be safe from the suspects as well as potentially corrupt police. Up to this point he has done a solid job and stayed unnoticed, however, the pressure of lying all the time hurts his friends and relationships.

The most recent scene has very high tension. There have been unresolved issues within the group between Cooper and Hiro. Cooper wants to maintain their code of silence for the safety of the group, and Hiro wants to come clean and stop lying to everyone even if it means risking their safety. This is a very emotional scene and if I were to act it out, everyone would need to be very anxious, maybe fidgeting around.

In this chunk of the story, the kids are typing an anonymous letter to send the police to point them toward the real criminals. Throughout all this, they are trying to be secretive as to what they are writing, so when Cooper's mom comes in I would have two of the kids stand in front of Cooper to block the view of Cooper's typing. Maybe they would be closer to the front of the stage to really block the view.

This chapter focused on Hiro a lot more than the other main characters involved. She is very frustrated that her friends have stayed silent about the robbery and she wants to come out with the truth despite suspicions about corrupt officers being involved. More than anything she just wants justice for Frank, and she feels that as every day passes the case will be less likely to be solved.

The kids are getting out of interrogation because a large parent group protests outside the school on interrogation day. This will buy the kids a lot more time to figure out who the real criminals are. Just a few days prior Cooper had a close call being chased by the one headlight van that was seen at the crime scene, and now I think it is about time for the kids to get together and come up with some new plans.

If this book were a play, Cooper would probably be wearing some comfortable athletic shorts and a t-shirt. It's still warm out because they are just getting to early October at this time of the story. Many scenes take place outside right now, so the kids probably wouldn't be wearing anything too fancy.

If I were to act as Cooper I would probably show little emotion in order to keep suspicions away from myself. Any abnormal move could draw attention and get Cooper in trouble, so I would try to act as "normal" as possible.

Most of the story takes place at school and Cooper's house. So there would probably be two main sets. The school would have lots of desks, chairs, lockers, and maybe some wall decorations like a whiteboard or chalkboard. Cooper's house would probably be like a multipurpose room with a kitchen and living room with a TV where the family watches the news.

I think a partial theme to this story is that whatever happens in the dark will come to light. Cooper is trying to hide his association with the robbery to avoid becoming a suspect because the real criminals are likely apart of the police. The more I read the closer things get to Cooper's secret getting out and even though Cooper did nothing wrong, he can't hide forever.