“No matter what the decision, they knew they would always be champions to each other” (Thomas 33). This quote from the story “Amigo Brothers” by Piri Thomas shows one of many interactions between the amigo brothers, Felix and Antonio. Felix and Antonio are two best friends who do everything with each other, from working out for their boxing championships, to running along the beach. When the brothers figure out they have to fight against each other, they have a difficult time and have to learn how to keep their bond strong. The strength found within Felix and Antonio is important for middle school students to read about. This story shares many experiences a typical middle school student would have to go through. The “Amigo Brothers” shares …show more content…
However, such an argument is flawed because the story, “Amigo Brothers” shares a story about competitiveness and sports, and that is more popular among middle school students. According to ESPN, around 21.47 million kids play competitive sports. Of those kids, middle school students tend to play the most. The highest number on the chart by age is 2.2 million, which is represented by thirteen-year-olds. Thirteen is the middle of the three ages of kids who are in middle school (Kelley & Carchia). This proves that students are always involved in athletics and they seem to be more apparent than any middle school relationship. In the story “7th Grade”, the main character Victor has a crush on Teresa which is a girl in his grade. This crush starts to take over his life. In the text, it states, “Besides, Teresa, a girl he had liked since they were in catechism classes at Saint Theresa’s, was taking French, too” (Soto 112) This proves how the crush is taking up Victor’s school life and causes him to change his mind about which classes he takes. These decisions can cause difficult learning environments in classrooms, making “7th Grade” the wrong choice for middle school students to read. It also makes “7th Grade” harder to connect to for middle school students, unlike the “Amigo Brothers”. In the amigo brothers, the two boys are extremely athletic, from running to boxing. In the text, it states, “Every chance they had, the boys worked out, sometimes at the Boys’ Club on 10th Street and Avenue A and sometimes at the pro’s gym on 14th Street. Early morning sunrises would find them running along the East River Drive...” (Thomas 20). This piece of evidence proves the athleticism the amigo brothers have, but it also sets a relatable topic for the book. When any sport in a book is