Firegirl by Tony Abbott

Firegirl by Tony Abbott is a novel about a shy, unpopular boy named Tom Bender who's life gets turned upside down when new girl Jessica Sweeny comes to his class. Jessica has been badly burned in a fire and the whole class is afraid of her and for the most part ignores her, especially by Tom's best friend Jeff. Tom finds himself doing what no one else would do - befriending Jessica. This changes Tom's life forever.

For this journal, I decided to create a piece of artwork, combined with a popular song to show my feelings and thoughts on the novel Firegirl by Tony Abbott.

Do you ever feel like a plastic bag

Drifting throught the wind

Wanting to start again

Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin

Like a house of cards

One blow from caving in

Do you ever feel already buried deep

Six feet under scream

But no one seems to hear a thing

Do you know that there's still a chance for you

Cause there's a spark in you

You just gotta ignite the light

And let it shine

Just own the night

Like the Fourth of July

Cause baby you're a firework

Come on show 'em what you're worth

Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"

As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby you're a firework

Come on let your colors burst

Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"

You're gunna leave 'em fallin' down-own-own

You don't have to feel like a waste of space

You're original, cannot be replaced

If you only knew what the future holds

After a hurricane comes a rainbow

Maybe you're reason why all the doors are closed

So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road

Like a lightning bolt, your heart will blow

And when it's time, you'll know

You just gotta ignite the light

And let it shine

Just own the night

Like the Fourth of July

Cause baby you're a firework

Come on show 'em what you're worth

Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"

As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby you're a firework

Come on let your colors burst

Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh!"

You're gonna leave 'em all in awe-awe-awe"

Boom, boom, boom

Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon

It's always been inside of you, you, you

And now it's time to let it through

Katy Perry's "Firework" conveys perfectly how I responded to the main characters Jessica Feeny and Tom Bender. Jessica and Tom are either actively shunned or go unnoticed in their middle school classroom, and often feel defeated by not being accepted or well liked by their peers. This song would be the advice I would give them if I were to meet them in real life, because they each have some much to offer and if they would just "get out there" and let their personalities shine through then people would see how amazing they really are.  The end of the novel is heart warming because even though they feel like outsiders throughout the novel, something special happens when they reach out to each other in friendship and "let their colors burst" for each other to see.