In the book "19 Minutes," by Jodi Picoult, there are 5 different characters who tell the story at different parts. These characters are Josie, Peter, Josie's mom Alex, Peter's mom Lacy, and Jordan (Peter's defense attorney). Each character is telling the story from their point of view. 

When Josie tells the story, she makes it seem like her mom, Alex, is the "bad guy." In Josie's retellings, Alex repeatedly ignores Josie, or seems uninterested in anything Josie tells her. But, when Alex tells the story, she makes it seem like Josie doesn't want to talk to her. Alex explains how Josie keeps blowing her off when Alex wants to spend time with her. In reality, Josie and Alex probably don't have a great relationship, but it probably doesn't go to the same extremes that they both think it does. 

This happens many times in the book, including when Peter and his mom, Lacy, are telling the same story. Peter always describes Lacy as never sticking up for him, and always wanting him to be more like his brother, Joey. But Lacy always describes Peter as wanting to do his own thing, and as being someone very independent who really doesn't need her support. This shows that they aren't really communicating with each other, so they don't know how the other person feels and they are just saying what they think is going on. 

I found it very interesting that so many characters would describe the same events so differently. This shows how when more than one person tells a story, it will be told in many different perspectives. 

In the book "Speak," by Laurie Halse Anderson, Melina is repeatedly punished for things that she shouldn't have been punished for. She tries to make a mini-protest in her social studies class, and is sent to the principal. She stops talking all the time, and her parents are called in by the school. Some of the characters in the book overreact to Melinda's "misbehavior," when all she's really doing is trying to stand up for herself.

Melinda has an extremely mean and non understanding social studies teacher who she likes to call "Mr. Neck." In the beginning of the book, Melinda is failing his class, she never does the homework, and doesn't even show up half of the time. But, towards the middle of the book, she starts trying a lot harder. She does all of the work she's asked to do, and hands it all in on time. Then, she hands in a social studies project on the women suffragette movement. She hands it in exactly on time, and he tells her that in order to receive the credit for the project, she has to do an oral presentation in front of the class the following morning. Melinda never talks, especially not in front of a group. So instead, she protests against the unfairness of the assignment. She goes up in front of the class, hands everyone a copy of the report, and stands there, completely silent, for the full 5 minutes that she had to do her presentation. Mr. Neck sends Melinda to the principal, where she is unfairly punished. Melinda was only trying to make a point and stand up for herself, but no one listened to her.

In the beginning of the book, Melinda has almost completely stopped talking. She will say the occasional two-word sentence to some people, but usually not any more than that. When Melinda's teachers finally realize that she has stopped talking, they call her parents. Her parents come to the school, and they have a huge meeting with the guidance counselor, the principal, and Melinda. Throughout the meeting, Melinda is trying to block out what everyone is saying, but she can't completely. Her parents think she's trying to be funny, and get even more upset. They all agree that she needs to spend time in M.I.S.S., which is basically an extended detention within the school. Melinda shouldn't be punished for not talking, because she didn't actually do anything wrong. She has a lot of reasons for staying silent, so the adults shouldn't be trying to force her to talk. They aren't paying attention to what Melinda is trying to say, and need to be more thoughtful of her than of themselves.

In the book, Melinda is constantly being punished for things that don't deserve punishment. No one is listening to what she is trying to tell them, and they automatically assume that the only way to get her to do what they want is by giving her unreasonable punishments. This isn't going to help anyone in the situation, and will really only make things worse.

I recently read the book "Crank," by Ellen Hopkins. In the book, Kristina is visiting her father in New Mexico. Soon after she arrives, she meets Adam, also known as Buddy. Kristina introduces herself as "Bree," her alter- ego. Throughout the book, Bree repeatedly does things that Kristina would never think of doing, including doing dangerous drugs such as cocaine and meth.

When Kristina/ Bree is still in New Mexico, she is continually getting herself into trouble. By becoming Bree, Kristina lets herself do all of the crazy things she would've never done, without thinking of the consequences. She's letting herself get into serious trouble with boys and drugs, and regrets it as soon as she becomes Kristina again.

When Kristina/ Bree gets back to Nevada to be with the rest of her family, she meets a lot of new people. First she meets Chase, and then she meets Brendan. She introduces herself as "Bree" to both of them, and doesn't act like Kristina at all. This gets her into even more trouble than she was in in New Mexico, especially because in New Mexico she could leave and never come back, but in Nevada everyone knows her.

Kristina/ Bree sees her self as two completely separate people. There is Kristina, who has good grades, gets along well with her family and friends, and doesn't do anything dangerous. Then there's Bree, who is easily bored when she isn't doing something "insane." Bree is daring, and Kristina is safe. Kristina / Bree seems to like Bree more when she is being Bree, and as soon as she becomes Kristina, she tells herself how stupid she was to do whatever Bree was telling her to do.

When Kristina/ Bree first got off the plane in Nevada, she says that "Kristina had seen it all before. Kristina was home. Bree saw it all through new eyes. Bree was a stranger." This shows that Bree had only really become a part of Kristina while she was in New Mexico with her dad, and that Bree was new to Kristina's family in Nevada.