The 57 Bus teaches a very important lesson in life.

The 57 Bus isn’t like a normal story at all. When most people hear a story about a crime or something like that. Everyone has the same reactions and questions. “How horrible! Who would do something like that? Why did they do that? That is a horrible person!” But what is so special about the 57 bus is that you get to see both sides of the story from such a non-biased point of view. Daska Slater the author, does such a great job of not picking any sides, and just gives the facts. This book makes one idea clear in my head. In the 57 Bus by Dashka Slater, the  lesson is that there are two sides to every story, so if you don’t know the other story, don’t judge.

The 57 Bus is about a horrible accident between two teenagers in Oakland. Richard is on the bus with Sasha while Sasha is asleep. Richard is with his friends on the bus and they are all fooling around. One of them tells Richard to light Sasha’s skirt on fire as a prank. It went very badly. It was only intended to be a small prank but turned into a very big problem. The rest of the book is about each person’s perspective and each side of the story. That really helps you see how people can misunderstand things so easily when they don’t know the full story.

The author wanted to show the reader this story and show how a lot of things happened because of misunderstandings, and mistakes. The author does a good job of staying neutral. What I mean by that is the author tells each perspective without looking biased to anyone. When you see the author write this way, especially from the reader’s point of view as a watcher, you can see how this story is really sad and went down so badly. The author was trying to give you the least biased story-telling ever and it worked.

I learned that not all criminals are immediately a bad person. This goes back to the theme that there are two sides of the story. If someone told me that someone on the bus lit someone’s skirt on fire while they were sleeping, I would immediately think “Oh what a terrible person.”  Everyone would. This story allows you to see the full perspective. Any reader could learn from this book that you must learn both sides of the story before judging.

The theme of this book is how there are two sides to every story and this book is complete proof of it. The criminal has a backstory you don't know about and you also don’t know the full details of the incident. So in the future, I will try my best to hear both sides of the story before making my decision of whose side I’m on. For example, if there is an argument or fight, I will make sure I hear both people. That is how this book has affected me and should affect you and your choices in the future.