These girls are not bad, they are just growing up and testing their limits, like all young people do. They rebel because they want to see how far they can push adults, and where the limits are. They also rebel because they are strong and strong willed, and they believe in themselves. These girls could be sisters, because they are very much alike. The stories end differently, but they both end on a happy note. Squeaky learns how to make friends and respect other people. She thinks, "It's about as real a smile as girls can do for each other, considering we don't practice real smiling every day, you know, cause maybe we too busy being flowers or fairies or strawberries instead or something honest and worthy of respect...you know...like being people" (Bambara). She learns a lesson, and so does Jing-mei, who learns to respect her mother and how her mother tried to push her to be her best. She respects her mother, and her mother's culture. She says, "My mother had died a few months before and I had been getting things in order for my father, a little bit at a time. I put...
The sweaters she had knitted in yellow, pink, bright orange -- all the colors I hated -- I put those in moth-proof boxes" (Tan). The girls learn similar lessons, even if they are at different stages in their lives, and if they were sisters, it seems they would get along just fine, but they would have differences, because all sisters do.
Raymond's Run" by Toni Cade Bambara [...] what Squeaky learns in the story, and how her life will be different because of her experiences in the story. Squeaky learns many things in "Raymond's Run," from dedication and perseverance to how to gain respect. Squeaky is wise beyond her years in many ways, so some lessons are beyond her. However, her most important lesson is really about friendship, and how
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