Hostage

Author's Note: I wrote this piece to describe how the main character changed. I worked on advanced transitions.

"They will kill us if you talk". (Page 12) This is what Zach’s Mom said to Zach and his sister as they were getting chalked up in duct tape by Alonzo and his crew in the book Zach’s Lie by Roland Smith. Alonzo and his men broke into Zach’s house because Mr. Osborne worked for Alonzo, but then ran into an undercover cop while he was working and got arrested and thrown in jail. Zach faces many problems throughout the story but the most immense problem was his Dad and his drug smuggling. There is a very slim chance that this happens to anyone but Zach handled it fine even though he changed throughout the story.

Even if there isn’t a great chance of your dad being a drug smuggling man and getting thrown in jail, it still happens and Zach was one of the unlucky kids for it to happen to. Since the men broke into Zach’s house, he was quiet for a while and talked to almost no one but his imaginary friend. "You know," his father said, "when I was your age I had an imaginary friend too". (Page 6) That quote just proved that he didn’t have many friends at all because he talks to someone that doesn’t even exist. Commander IF, his imaginary friend, traveled everywhere with Zach. I would be kind of embarrassed if someone saw me talking to an invisible friend, but that was just how Zach is. The climax of the book happened right after the men broke into Zach’s house.

The climax of the book was when Zach had to move to Elko, Nevada where he changed numerous times. When Zach arrives in his new town, he was lazy and didn’t want to make friends until school started. "All you've done since we moved in here is to sit around and watch these stupid movies and mess up the house."(Page 64) This quote proved how Zach acted when he arrived in Elko. He may have acted strange and lonely at the beginning of his life in Elko, but he definitely changed throughout his time in Elko. One way he changed was when he met Sam, the janitor of his new school. Sam showed Zach the punching bag in his office so that he could relieve his stress. Zach used it after he found himself finishing a fight with his new rival in Elko. Sam also acted as a Dad to Zach because he turned to Sam every time he was in trouble. Once Zach met Caitlin, she changed his life too. Caitlin made Zach feel more safe and comfortable in Elko. The only bad thing about Zach making such a good connection with Caitlin, was that it was hard for him not to tell her his secret about his real name, even though he thought he trusted her more than anyone else. Zach’s life was almost the same as his last one in his old city except that he couldn’t talk to old friends and he didn’t have his Dad.

I can’t make a connection to not having a Dad like Zach but I can make other connections related to the book. Just like Zach and any other new kid to a school, they are quiet and don’t want to make friends. My friend Parker, who moved to Pewaukee from Illinois, was once new too. But just like Zach, he made friends after a few days. Parker told me that he has switched schools plenty of times so I am sure he knew what it felt like to be a new kid at school. The only thing different between Parker and Zach is that Parker could talk to past friends unlike Zach. This was a strong connection between the book and my friend.

Connections are the best way to relate to a book in my opinion. Learning lessons is another way to relate to the book. Zach and everyone that has read Zach’s Lie, could have learned a valuable lesson from this book. The lesson is to never take anything for granted, your life could turn into something similar to Zach’s and you could have your Dad thrown in to jail for something you didn’t do. Zach changed throughout the story and handled it fine.