Summer Reading Response

Captivating, beautiful, and funny is how Sharon G. Flake invites us into Raspberry’s world. In the book Money Hungry we are within a world where it’s hard to trust others, keep everything together, and being successful. We follow all these things in Raspberry’s journey.

Through out the book we learned about Raspberry’s past. The book explains why she was so “money hungry”. She was homeless, yet she and her mother never beg for money. They lived with family and friends but after a while it was too much to endure. They never went to a shelter because Raspberry’s mother had her own experience being in the shelter. However, now they are back on their feet, there’s no going back. Her mother had two jobs and the only time they got to see each other was when Raspberry was driven to school.

 One of the key elements within the book was when Raspberry stated that she had money hidden all over her room, although her mother doesn’t know about it. Why would a thirteen year old need all of that money or have to go through this trouble? Well she was paranoid. We saw how she would do anything to get her hands on money. For example, she gave into giving her friend, Ja’nae money. Her friend needed to put back some money that she “borrowed” from her grandfather. It’s easy knowing that Raspberry had six hundred dollars and wasn’t willing give it to her friend. My observation was she was afraid of not getting her money back. Losing two hundred dollars will have her return back to her nightmares.

For instance, Raspberry did an odd job with Ja’nae and they got their payment for the work done, Raspberry took Ja’nae’s earnings.

We also learned how her mother felt about her daughter being “money hungry”. Her mother took the money and threw it out the window with good intentions. She was worried about her daughter and her money. Money almost seems like the one thing tearing them apart.

All Raspberry wanted to do was to protect herself and her mother.

Raspberry’s journey was about being tougher than the streets, not letting your guard down, and trying to excel the best way possible. Although these elements affected her relationships with others and herself. It leaves us to wonder was she really tougher than the streets?