Our America Book Vs Movie Essay

In social studies class, we are reading a book called Our America. The book is about two African- American teens that grow up in the Chicago Homes Projects. They show their lifestyles and the way that they live. As they are growing up they show how they have to persevere through tough times in where they live at. During their time as reporters they come across a case where a 5 year old boy was thrown out of a 14 story project home close to where they live at by two 10 and 11 year olds because he did not steal candy for them. The book and the movie have similar and different ways of showing and describing the case. In the book Our America compared to the movie, they have similarities and differences through plot, characters, and other events.

First, in the book Our America compared to the movie, they have similarities and differences through plot.

The similarities of the plot are that LeAlan and Lloyd (the names of the two reporters) received an award for doing their first report about how they live. Also, they are similar because the two boys that dropped the 5 year old out of the window were sentenced to jail until they turn 21. The plot in the movie and the book are also different because LeAlan and Lloyd were in a drive-by shooting in the movie but not in the book. Another difference is when David Isay (the man that was helping the two boys with the recordings) tried to transfer Lloyd to a new school because he was not doing well in the old one. The plot is just one thing that had similarities and differences.
Next, in the book Our America compared to the movie, they have similarities and differences through characters. In the movie and the book, Toochie stuck with the same nickname. In only the movie, Lloyd’s sister had a boyfriend named Duane and he also had died in the movie. In only the book, the police officers were interviewed and introduced but not in the movie. Not all of the characters names were changed but some of them

were.
Finally, in the book Our America compared to the movie, they have similarities and differences through other events. They had small areas and events that happened in the movie but not in the book. For example, when LeAlan interviewed his grandmother, she started to sing her favorite gospel song as clips from the 5 year old boy falling to his death were showed. In the movie, they also showed LeAlan’s graduation and how Lloyd was watching them. In the book, they did not show a graduation or describe it at all.
To conclude, in the book Our America compared to the movie, they have similarities and differences through plot, characters, and other events. They were even when it came to are they more similar or different. The plot had more differences in the movie compared to the book. The movie had extra information and then they would leave out some bits and pieces that were in the book. Overall the book was a huge eye-opener in my opinion and really enjoyed hearing from LeAlan and Lloyd’s perspectives in both the book and the movie.