True Notebooks by Mark Salzman: Analysis
Monica Rodriguez
4-3-13
“True Notebooks.”
Book Analysis (A) True Notebooks by Mark Salzman
Part # 1: Questions
1. What did you learn from reading this book?
By reading this book, I learned a lot about teenagers’ critical situations at juvenile hall. This book gave me a greater insight and deeper understanding of what their lives are like and the challenges they face in this place. I also learned that the legal system is not doing a great deal to help these young kids mend their lives. They are not being offered counseling or therapy which could help facilitate a great deal of things for them such as, getting a better orientation of a path for them to follow, dealing with the excessive amount of stress they face in a healthy way and learning tools for becoming effective members of society once they get out of that place. This book gave me a broader view of the factors that could have potentially contributed and played a big role in these teenagers getting engaged with gangs or committing these crimes. Most of these teenagers, to not say all, come from a very dysfunctional family where they were either battered by the father, had no positive role model to follow or no parents at all. Probably most of them joined gangs to feel they belonged to a group or where part of a family. I learned how miserable they feel by being in this place and the feelings they experience such as, loneliness, confusion, depression, no sense of personal worth and extreme stress. Many of them feel like they just want to die. All these feelings are not being managed by therapy or counseling but rather by just having regular nurses give them psych drugs which is very sad. I learned that these young kids are in great need of affection especially from their mothers and how much a compliment means to them. I also learned the importance of being tough as a survival skill in the prison setting. Many of these teenagers feel remorse for what they have done and would like to have a
4-3-13
“True Notebooks.”
Book Analysis (A) True Notebooks by Mark Salzman
Part # 1: Questions
1. What did you learn from reading this book?
By reading this book, I learned a lot about teenagers’ critical situations at juvenile hall. This book gave me a greater insight and deeper understanding of what their lives are like and the challenges they face in this place. I also learned that the legal system is not doing a great deal to help these young kids mend their lives. They are not being offered counseling or therapy which could help facilitate a great deal of things for them such as, getting a better orientation of a path for them to follow, dealing with the excessive amount of stress they face in a healthy way and learning tools for becoming effective members of society once they get out of that place. This book gave me a broader view of the factors that could have potentially contributed and played a big role in these teenagers getting engaged with gangs or committing these crimes. Most of these teenagers, to not say all, come from a very dysfunctional family where they were either battered by the father, had no positive role model to follow or no parents at all. Probably most of them joined gangs to feel they belonged to a group or where part of a family. I learned how miserable they feel by being in this place and the feelings they experience such as, loneliness, confusion, depression, no sense of personal worth and extreme stress. Many of them feel like they just want to die. All these feelings are not being managed by therapy or counseling but rather by just having regular nurses give them psych drugs which is very sad. I learned that these young kids are in great need of affection especially from their mothers and how much a compliment means to them. I also learned the importance of being tough as a survival skill in the prison setting. Many of these teenagers feel remorse for what they have done and would like to have a