![]() ![]() She is the envy of all the other black girls. Her stepfather makes fun of her looks and her mother does not defend her. She has low self-esteem because she believes her bluish-black skin and hair are ugly. Judianne loves to design and sew her own clothes. She is lonely because her mother died and she had to move to the Bronx and live with her grandmother. She feels she has nothing in common with her black and Hispanic classmates. Leslie Lucas is a white girl from the suburbs. She strives to graduate high school and go to college. Gloria loves him, but life as a teenage mom is hard. Gloria is a teenage mother with a baby named Angel. Her mother and her mother's husband only care about themselves and Lupe's siblings have all moved out. Lupe Algarin adores her niece, her sister's daughter. He hides his love of poetry to fit in with the other boys. Devon pretends to practice basketball, but he really goes to the library to read poetry. Devon Hopeappears in Devonĭevon is a good basketball player. She gets teased for not being good at basketball. People think she should play basketball, but she is secretly an artist. ![]() Diondra Jordanappears in Diondraĭiondra is six feet tall and shy. He wants to paint and write about the beauty of his Puerto Rican culture. Chankara does not want to be in the cycle of abuse. She will not be like her sister, who has a physically abusive boyfriend. Chankara Troupeappears in ChankaraĬhankara gets beat up by a boy, but she throws him out of her house. He believes in his students and wants them to be high achievers. It is his idea to have Open Mike Fridays, so the kids can read their poetry. Ward is the teacher for this high school English class. Though only one section of the book is dedicated to him, he is always in the background as Tyrone's best friend and he gives advice to Sheila to be true to herself. Wesley is an important character because he sparks the class's love for poetry. This inspires the other kids to bring in their poetry and read. Wesley is embarrassed at first, usually not in his nature, but he does not want the other kids to laugh at him. ![]() Ward surprises Wesley and asks him to read his poem to the class. Wesley is a risk taker for not handing in the essay and for presenting his poetry to Mr. He chooses not to write an essay on Hughes, but instead, he writes a tribute poem about Hughes and how great of a poet he is. He ends up loving it and loving the poetry of Langston Hughes. Ward's class, Wesley must study the Harlem Renaissance. Wesley sees the value in school, even though Tyrone does not at first. He looks after his friend Tyrone to make sure Tyrone goes to school. Without Wesley being the poetry pioneer, the other kids would not have asked to read their poetry. Wesley "Bad Boy" Boone is an important character because he begins the Open Mike Fridays and introduces poetry to the entire class. He almost gets choked up and he seems to be speaking for the entire class. Tyrone's feelings really come out when he speaks in front of the assembly and says the poetry makes him feel connected to his classmates and he realizes they are not that different. In particular, he lets Steve, a white kid, rap in his crew. He seems almost racist until he starts to become friends with a couple white kids. He thinks they do not know him nor can they relate to him. ![]() Tyrone is distrustful of white people though. Tyrone is also a character in the sense that he says really funny things and has a good sense of humor. Tyrone comments after every poem is read. Tyrone is the main character in this book of 18 characters. His father had become clean and sober before he died so Tyrone has some good memories of him. His father died before he was 30 years-old in a drive-by shooting. He wants to be a hip-hop star, but he does not think he will live long enough to do so. The only reason he goes to school is for his friends. ![]()
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