The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime that Changed Their Lives (2017)

Introduction and Part 1

Reading Check

1. 8 minutes (Introduction)

2. Tumblr (Part 1)

3. Age 6 (Part 1)

4. Asperger’s, a form of autism (Part 1)

5. Samantha is transgender. (Part 1)

6. To legally recognize genders outside the male-female binary (Part 1)

Short Answer

1. This is a story with an ambiguous moral core. While the act of violence committed upon Sasha is in no way right, there is no clear “right” or “wrong” in the story since Richard was just a child at the time he committed the crime, which had unintended consequences. Narrative non-fiction allows the author more freedom to editorialize and interpret, and to help the reader see the moral gray area presented by Sasha’s and Richard’s tale. (Parts 1-4)

2. “Astrolinguish” is the language that Sasha created at age 6. Some languages have notions of gender, but Astrolinguish does not. It shows Sasha’s relationship to language and words, but it also shows Sasha’s relationship to gender. Sasha prefers gender-neutral pronouns. (Part 1)

3. “Sexuality” is the category of person to whom you are physically attracted. Meanwhile, “romantic” describes those to whom you have a romantic attraction.