BFMY Special: Bluford Series Retrospective Part 4: Change

The Second Five, just like the first had a common theme, while those were about common story lines running along side each other as a way to emphasis the main story, for these five it was Change.

‘The Gun’ changed its point of view from the victim to the bully, Tyray Hobbs, a freshman at Bluford, was known for bullying the other students and he found a new target in Darrell Mercer, a student who moved to the local area from Philadelphia. Tyray begins his reign as main character being the same person he was in the earlier book, his change comes from  not wanting to be like his brother, choosing not the take another person’s life, opening up to the his parents and changing his way as a bully.

In ‘Until We Meet Again’ change came from the characters, Hakeem moving to another city, the death of Grandma Wills and a shift in personality for main character Darcy Wills. Since  Hakeem’s moving was not highlighted until ‘Blood Is Thicker’ I’ll talk about it when I get that book. Until We Meet Again, for me unfortunately, was not my favourite book of the five, as I stated before the personality of Darcy Wills shifted in the book’s pages, turning from a strong caring character to an annoying protagonist, it is something that I will talk about when I get to the character part of the retrospective.

Hakeem Randell’s move in ‘Blood is Thicker’ is the change for the book, since his father’s cancer was getting worse, he is unable to work. Hakeem’s uncle offers his father a job in Detroit, which they take leaving Bluford behind. We are introduced to Hakeem’s cousin, twin sisters, aunt and uncle as well as several other characters. Hakeem is the first character to leave California instead of moving to California.

‘Brothers in Arms’ is told in first person, instead of the third person and concentrates on a Hispanic protagonist instead of an African-American. Martin Luna’s brother is the second person to die in the book series, Martin is also another character who moves into the local area but did not move there from out-of-state.

‘Summer of Secrets’, the sequel to Until We Meet Again, looks at the affect of change to Darcy and her out look on life after the events of its predecessor. Darcy is not the only person whose life is changing, her sister Jamiee has a new boyfriend, Brisanna Meeks changes who she is to please her new boyfriend only to end up regretting it, the normally cool head Cooper Hodden  also changes (although not for very long), a new arrival changes the Wills Family and the normally hostile relationship between Brisanna and Tara seems to change for the better.

Despite some hiccups in Second Five I enjoyed some of these tales, join us next week with the final 5 and a very special surprise.