The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater is about how a simple prank turned into a serious crime that changed both Sasha and Richard’s lives. This story is told through the perspectives of Richard and Sasha, two very different people with very different lives. It all started on the afternoon Sasha got on the public bus to go home, and they happened to be wearing a skirt. The same skirt Richard and his friends decided to set on fire while Sasha was sleeping. This book was based on a true story of violence, peer pressure, and forgiveness.

Here are the notebook pages I wrote down my ideas and thoughts in while reading this book:

I found some informational evidence that showed central ideas that was also connected to Richard and Sasha’s backgrounds. The central ideas go for both the narrative and informational pages because they were big parts of each character’s background, and in the story they used real statistics. I used box and bullets to show that multiple evidences connect to one central idea.

As I was reading, I found that sometimes the author used descriptive passages to show central ideas too. The author was telling this part of the story as the reader having the perspective of a prisoner. By looking at the tone of the author, I could tell that they were trying to describe how inmates have no freedom (a small central idea).

On page 283, when Sasha and her family received the letters Richard wrote fourteen months before ( and 90 pages before), I wanted to reread Richard’s letter to get a clearer understanding of what made Debbie change her mind. I also felt like I needed to reread page 99, because it was confusing why they started the fight. 

Throughout the book, these were the most biggest central ideas and theme I found. The first central came was mostly in part 2- Richard, but it also came out in part 1 – Sasha, because a lot of LGBTQ people like Sasha were victims of violence. The second central idea was about why Richard set Sasha on fire when he was with his friends. I chose a theme that best described the ending/moral of the story. Richard being given a second chance was the main part of this story, it also showed how forgiveness is very important.

I notice that one thing leads to another over the course of the story. Sometimes there are multiple causes and one effect, one cause and multiple effects, and one cause and one effect. This page shows my thinking:

I enjoyed reading this book, I would recommend it to people who like reading stories with different perspectives.