The First Stone, By Don Aker

The First Stone You can’t make everyone happy. Sometimes the decision of the judges only satisfy some people. In the novel The First Stone, by Don Aker, a young teen by the name Chad “Reef” Kennedy finds himself in a tough situation and his sentencing is being in rehab and doing community service. Reef is responsible for putting Leeza a young girl, in the hospital because of his actions. Since he is in rehab, many people wished he went to jail. Reef’s sentence was just due to his age, his troubled past (foster homes), and his need to take responsibility for his actions. Reef is sent to rehab due to his age. Teen that are not mature, often do stupid things, because of Reef’s emotional childhood, he was given a reduced sentence. There was no one to help him get back on his feet in his current life. In the novel, it says, “In the end, he hadn’t been able to save that one person who’d meant everything to him. Had to watch the cancer burn her up, her body like an amber that crumbled into ash” (Aker 35). He was really close to his grandmother and her death affected him. Reef could have been sentenced to

Reef’s mom was deaf and when she got pregnant by Reef’s father, he left her. After a while Reef mom left Reef with his grandparents. Reef’s grandfather hated him because he thought Reef ruined their lives but it was not reef’s fault for being born. Reef’s grandfather was always drunk and cursed at him all the time. Reef has been to many foster homes. In the novel, Royce Gould, a social worker said in Reef’s defence, “The emotional abuse he’d endured from an alcoholic grandparent, the short-lived experience in numerous foster homes since he was nine.” (Aker 76). Having to deal with an alcoholic grandparent and being in numerous foster homes, a child does not always have someone there for him/her to show him/her the right path. We can see that Reef was a perfect example of this