The Last Stop On Market Street Analysis

In 2015, Matt de la Peña, published the novel The Last Stop on Market street. The following year it received the Newbery Award, in order to receive such a honor the author and the book must stand apart from all other books. One of the reasons the committee for Johns Newbery Award loved his book, and stood out to them was because of the theme of the story. Peña overall theme in his story The Last Stop on Market Street was seeing the beauty in life and new perspectives. In Peña writing, he tells about a little boy name CJ who goes with his grandmother to church every Sunday. CJ began to ask his grandma multiple questions. Starting with “How come we gotta wait for the bus in all this wet (Peña pg.3)?” CJ grandma began to answer with her wisdom of “Trees get thirsty too. Don’t you see that big one drinking through the straw (Peña pg.3).” While taking CJ on an experience through the city to help him see the beauty in life. CJ stared at the tree and never saw straw and didn’t understand why his grandma would say something like

CJ and his grandma were at the last stop to get off the bus to walk home. As they walked home his grandma taught him to see one more thing in a new light. CJ looked around when he got off the bus and saw dirty city, broken sidewalks, broken down doors, and old stores. CJ asked his grandma “How come it always so dirty over here?” “Sometimes when your surrounded by dirt CJ you’re a better witness of what’s beautiful” (Peña) said his grandma as she pointed to the sky. CJ looked up and saw a rainbow over their soup kitchen and thought how could his grandma see things so beautiful in place he never thought to look. That was the moral of the story was the CJ grandma was teaching CJ to see life as beautiful thing. At the end, CJ realized why his grandma did what she did and was so thankful that he came