ACTIVITY 3: The Value of Friendship

STEP 2:

In Blood at the Root, the chapter Elroy concludes with Elroy thinking about his unlikely friendship with the elderly billionaire, Fairchild:

He'd never imagined he would meet a billionaire, and having met one, the thought that they might become friends had never occurred to him.

This morning he'd learned that it was possible to feel bad for a billionaire, too,and to know there weren't no way and no how he'd trade places with, given the chance. (151)

Think about a time that you either judged someone too soon and incorrectly only to learn that they were worth having as a friend or a time when this happened to you. What are some of the external factors that prevent us from getting to know one another?

Using old magazines, your own drawings, printed images, etc., create a collage that reflects the incident you recalled.

See an example of mixed media collage by Dan Eldon below. This image was created when Dan lived in New York and dearly missed his home of Kenya, Africa. Perhaps he hadn't expected to miss his home so much given that he was in New York for a prestigious internship. Perhaps when we have distance from an experience, we can make better sense of it.

Be sure to share your creative response with rockyourworld@creativevisions.org or submit your collage to our international youth gallery.

Rock Your World is honored to receive 10% of the sales of Blood at the Root. Learn more about author Ciahnan Darrell and where his novels are available.