Evading Juli Baker

Sinopsis

It all started the summer before starting the second grade, Bryce Loski was moving into a new neighborhood. He didn't know that he was going to be facing more than half a lifetime trying to avoid a single girl,  Juli Baker. We can say that she was anxious for the arrival of Bryce because the second he arrived, she climbed into the truck where Bryce and his father were unpacking. Mr. Loski didn't want Juli to help them so he send Bryce to "help" his mother. Obiously Juli thought that Bryce was forced to go, so she wanted to grab his arm so they can keep playing for a little while. Then the most embarrasing thing happened, Bryce and Juli accidentally hold hands! Juli thought that Bryce was going to kiss her but Bryce just wanted  her to give him some SPACE. By fifth grade Juli knew how to control herself, but Bryce still wanted to give her the message that she wasn't his type, consequently Bryce asks Shelly Stalls out. This plan was perfect because Julie HATED Shelly Stalls. However, thanks to Garret (Bryce best friend) who knew everything,  Shelly soon discovered Bryce's true intentions were, therefore,  Shelly dumped him. Juli  heard about it and began to look at Bryce with the "goo-goo" eyes again but this time she also sniffed his hair. The biggest change in the life of Bryce was when his grandfather moved with them when Bryce was in seventh grade. Also, by these dates Juli appeared in The Mayfield Times because she wouldn't come down a sycamore tree, she loved that tree very much and she wouldn't come down because they were going to cut it down. Grandfather got to read the newspaper and he thought that Juli was a special little girl, but eventually they had to cut the tree. Unfortunately the tree was right next to the bus stop so Juli did not want to go by bus to school because she didn't want to go through that tree that for her was the most special tree in the whole world. When Juli didn't thought about the sycamore tree, she went outside and made his father company while he painted, that is when Juli learned that she had to look to the whole landscape to know if they where more or less than the sum of it's parts.

Quotes

"She didn't just barge into my life. She barged and shoved and wedged her way into my life. Did we invite her to get into our moving van and start climbing all over boxes? No! But that's exactly what she did, taking over and showing off like only Juli Baker can."

I think that Bryce was exaggerating about the whole Juli Baker thing because it seemed like she only wants to be friends with him. Maybe Juli didn't have much friends and she was exited when Bryce moved in...when she saw Bryce maybe she saw it as an opportunity to make a new friend, so instead of proving herself nice and everything she demonstrated quite the opposite. For me it was a little bit rude the way Bryce is describing the attitude of Juli. Well, I can tell that Juli is a bit annoying, I never in my life would just brake into someone's van and start just moving stuff around, but maybe that is how Juli interact with other kids. Does Bryce really need to be this rude? Does he know if Juli had a harsh past?

"A painting is more than the sum of his parts, he would tell me, and then go on to explain how the cow by itself is just a cow, and the meadow by itself is just grass and flowers, and the sun peeking through the trees is just a beam of light, but put them all together and you've got magic."

This quote certainly paint us a picture in our minds about what is happening in our surroundings, it also paints a espectacular landscape of a meadow that has the magic of a cow, grass and flowers, and even a beam of sunlight portrayed in someone's imagination. For example, you are on the beach and you're lucky to admire the beauty of a sunset with the sound of the sea, the palm leaves that touch the breeze, also to feel the peace that is just listening to silence. I wonder if the father of Juli is just saying this to her only to make her realize the real person Juli is falling in love with.

Final Thoughts

So in this first forty-two pages what happened was that Bryce Loski and his family moved into the neighborhood where Juli Baker lived. Juli immediately fell in love with Bryce but he just wanted her to back off. Therefore, these chapters are all about avoidance and "social discomfort". Anyway after reading this first forty-two pages I can say that in the following chapters what will happen is that eventually Bryce will give up trying to evade Juli, so he finally try to make friends with her. Of course my prediction may be wrong because Juli is a very intense little girl. However, what may happen also can be that Juli gets tired of being evaded and now she is the one that ignores Bryce Loski. Will Bryce feel excluded? or Will he feel happy that Juli at last left him alone?