Jazmin’s Notebook Nikki Grimes Published 1998 Realistic Fiction Ashlyn Hanzon 5th period

Setting “Jazmin’s Notebook” takes place in Washington Heights, New York City. This part of town is the not the best part of New York City. In the book Jazmin states,” Me and Cece we’re constantly dogging bullets. The sisters live in an apartment complex on Amsterdam avenue. The complex is right next door to the, ”Garden of Eden bar and grill”, a Safeway grocery store, beauty salons, barber shops etc. The two places that Jazmin likes the most are the library and the bookstore, but most of the events that happen in the story take place at Jazmin and Cece’s apartment.

Characters Character Physical Characteristics Adjectives of Personality Text Evidence /Explanation of Adjectives Character 1: JAZMIN 1. Dark skin 1. Courageous 1. Jazmin is brave enough to live in a “bad part” of town and stay there. 2. Dark , short hair 2. Flexible ( okay with change) 2. Before moving in with her sister Jazmin had to move around a lot to live with different realities. 3. Big (coke bottle)glasses 3. Historian 3.Jazmin keeps a notebook that she calls her “photo album of words” She writes down all of her experiences in this. Character 2: CECE 1. Tireless 1. Cece works very hard to make a good life for herself and for Jazmin. 2. Tall 2. Dependable 2. Jazmin knows that she can always count on Cece to make her feel safe and to take care of her. 3. Long, dark hair 3. Resilient 3.When something bad happens, Cece is always the first to recover and fix it.

Conflict The main conflict in Jazmin’s Notebook is Man Vs. Society. Through this story Jazmin (the main character) is constantly struggling. For example, Jazmin and her sister Cece are very poor and have a low socioeconomic status. This problem really limits what they can own. This also means that they have to work extra hard to obtain the money they need to survive. Another conflict is that Jazmin is constantly fighting many stereotypes. Because of the way she looks and where she lives people are denigrating her. (“You’ll never amount to much or achieve anything.”)

Summary of Plot Jazmin’s Notebook is the story of a fourteen year-old African-American girl from Washington Heights ,New York city who lives with her 20 year-old sister Cece. Their parents divorced when they were very young. A few years after that their father died in a car accident. Their mother was so depressed that she started drinking. Jazmin’s mom was an alcoholic and had to be rushed to the hospital many times. Tired of living with other relatives, Jazmin decided to moved in with Cece. They now both work very hard to survive, but Jazmin dreams of a better and easier life. Throughout this book Jazmin realizes that hard work pays off. In the end of Jazmin’s Notebook, things get a lot better, she and her move to a safer neighborhood.

Theme/Evidence It is still possible to succeed in life even if you have had a rough past, and there are people standing in your way. 1. In the end of the book Jazmin and Cece move to a better place and start a better life. (they succeed in making a new life) 2. In the first couple of pages in the book Jazmin explains how her life wasn’t so easy and that bad things had happened in her life. 3. In the middle of the book Jazmin has to stand up to a teacher that in getting in her way of achieving her goals.

Point of View The point of view in this story is first person. This point of view helps the reader really understand how many hard things that Jazmin has been through and it shows how she dealt with them. It also shows how she thinks and feels about her life. If this book wasn’t in first person then the readers wouldn’t be able to see Jazmin’s personality and how she thinks.

Symbolism A symbol in this book would be Jazmin’s actual notebook. Jazmin keeps this notebook as her “photo album” in words. She writes all of her experiences down in it and how she felt about them. This object affected the story by showing how Jazmin wants to keep record of all of the things that happened to her, since she didn’t have that as a young child.

Recommendation I really liked reading Jazmin’s notebook. Although it wasn’t my favorite book that I’ve read. I would recommend reading it because it has a good plot and it was a great story.