Night - Matthew Ulozas

     It may seem odd for me too have done to blogs on The Running Dream twice in a row, however, there is a logical explanation. When the first review was written, I had only read 61 pages, to put that into context the book is three hundred thirty-two pages, I had, at the time of writing, only read a fifth of the story. The second reason, is I have not started a book, and even if I did the blog it would be just as surface level as the previous one. So I decided to do another blog for this book because  I can not really stomach the idea of two fairly undetailed blogs. So, what will this review cover that was not in the previous? Well, it will obviously have a lot more information about the plot and theme of the book. There is also an interesting correlation between the characters and the format of the book. I also highly recommend you read my first review, and also be warned that this will spoil the entire book which really is amazing, so please don't read further if you want to read the book at a later period of time.

    When we last left off with Jessica she had descended into a very depressive and terrible state having finally escaped the confines of the hospital. She finds herself isolated at home, trying just to figure out simple things like going on stairs, or taking a shower with her sharing this frustration. "I can't Figure out how to get over this hurdle, and it makes me mad" (71 Draanen). Eventually returning to school after being convinced by Fiona she finds herself overwhelmed with assignment after assignment, with one of the most ruthless being her math teacher, Ms. Ruckers. Because of her movement impairing disability, she is moved seats to sit with a freshman named Rosa who has Cerebral Palsy or CP. "The girl in the motorized wheelchair. The girl who rarely talks and, when she does, is very hard to understand. I didn't even know her name was Rosa" (105 Draanen). What she says about Rosa Jessica will later learn is a common occurrence for those who are disabled, notice how the first thing she says about Rosa is about her wheelchair and speech patterns.

    It takes Jessica a long time to get used to her new life, and during this time her bond with Rosa only grows. However soon a shred of good news comes in the shape of the following which is said by her coach, Kyro. "'Our goal is to buy you a running leg so you can get back on track and compete on the team senior year'" (144, 145 Draanen). These hopes are soon dashed when it comes to light that her running leg would cost 20,000  dollars, a preposterous amount. However this does not discourage her friends, and during their first fundraiser, they get over eight hundred dollars! With this knowledge Gavin, a fellow student who is very popular makes an article about the situation. Everything is going well, except the donations, the received just 50 dollars from the article, where had all the donators gone? The answer was simple and Kyro eventually revealed it. "'For some reason the helpers in the front office didn't know who to give 'Jessica' mail to, so they collected it in a box.' he smiles at us 'So here's our tailwind. The checks range from five dollars to two hundred and fifty, and our new grand total is four thousand seven hundred and sixty five'" (217 Draanen)! That was not the only good news, an anonymous donation will pledge the amount donated to the cause, going up to ten thousand dollars, so in essence, they only had to raise that much.

    Things seem to be going better and better for Jessica, she has both her running and walking legs now and the ever-popular Gavin now hangs out with her. However, one thing just does not sit right with Jessica, during their times together Rosa asked a lot about running, obviously interested. So, Jessica makes it her goal, get Rosa to finish a marathon. she starts out on her own pushing a wheelchair with soil bags in it, but that obviously would not work, the wheelchair is too uncomfortable, and the weight too light compared to a high schooler, and so she gets help, a lot of it. Her dad upgrades the wheelchair and Kyro helps her with diet and exercise. during her morning runs with the wheelchair see discovers a peculiar friend who follows. "'Gavin?' I'm suddenly aware of how odd it is to be running with a load of potting soil on a wheelchair" (286 Draanen). during this meeting the two of them get together and it's all smiles, but Jessica still needs to get ready, the marathon is 10 miles pushing over 100 pounds. The race is hard and Jessica almost passes out, but when straits look most dire the finish line is there, and they cross it. "I'm aware that Rosa is in seventh heaven"(331 Draanen) "This is my new starting line" (332 Draanen). After everything she finally did it, and the story ends on a happy note.

Works Cited

Draanen, Wendelin Van. The Running Dream. Wendelin Van Draanen Parsons, 2011.