Reader’s Journal for Born a Crime Chapters Two and Three

 "She didn’t care about breaking the law. She cared about breaking the system." (Page 21)

•  I picked this because it shows how strong and brave Trevor's mom was. She wasn’t scared of the rules they were unfair, and she knew it. She didn’t just want to break small rules, she wanted to go against the whole system that treated people badly. That really stood out to me. It made me think about how some people just follow rules without asking if they’re fair. But she didn’t. It reminded me that sometimes doing the right thing means not doing what you're told. She wanted a better life, even if it meant taking risks.

"We weren’t poor. I don’t even think I knew what poor was until I got older. Being poor in a group of people who are all poor doesn’t create the same feeling of shame as being poor in a group of people who have money." (Page 29)

•  This quote made a lot of sense to me. Trevor didn’t feel poor growing up because everyone around him was the same. They didn’t have a lot, but it felt normal. That made me think about how being poor is more about how it makes you feel than how much stuff you have. If everyone is struggling together, it doesn’t seem so bad. But if you're poor and everyone else has money, you see everyone living their best life and seeing that makes it feel worse. I really liked how he explained that. It made me think about my own life and how important it is to be thankful, even if things dont perfectly go my way.

Free Write:

In Chapter 2, we find that Trevor’s mom Patricia, was strong and didn’t let racism stop her from doing anything. She did what she had to do to live a good life, even when the law said she couldn’t. She found a way to survive and take care of Trevor, even though the rules were against her.

In Chapter 3, Trevor talks about living in Soweto. A lot of people there didn’t have much, but they had each other. There were mostly women raising kids, and they all worked hard. What stuck with me was how Trevor didn’t focus on being poor, he focused on the good memories and how his family made the best of things.