Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie, by Jordan Sonnerblick

Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie, by Jordan Sonnerblick, shows the story of 8th grader Steven Alper, and his coping methods, with a dramatic school year, and his brother getting diagnosed with Leukemia. Throughout the year, he faces a lot of issues, but he learns how to deal with them, or at  least do what he can. It actually helps him become a more mature person. 

One thing that Steven does to deal with the troubles in his life is that he tries to help his brother feel less self conscious about his bald head, Jeffrey is bald  because he is on a lot of cancer killing medications, that make him lose his hair. Steven shaves his head too, so that his brother isn’t the only bald one, I think that this shows how much Steven cares about his brother. You really have to care a lot about someone to do something that bold. The way he put Jeffery before himself, is a sign of maturity.
Another thing Steven does to cope with all the drama, is he decides to stop taking drum lessons. He notices how stressed out his parents are, because of the medical bills, and realizes that even though he loves the extra lessons, they aren’t a necessity. He tells his drum teacher, that he needs to stop lessons, because of all the financial problems his family is facing. Even though it’s a small change, it certainly helps. He gets lucky on this attempt to help out, because his teacher offers free lessons. Because of this, his family is saving a ton of money.
The last thing Steven gave up, to help his brother was Renee. Steven has had a huge crush on Renee since the third grade. After Jeffery was diagnosed, Steven began to slack off school work. Eventually teachers noticed, and decided to let Renee tutor him. Steven was really excited for Renee to come to his house, but when she got there she was sick. She was sniffling, sneezing and coughing. Even though those are only signs of a small cold, Steven’s mom warned him that any sickness near Jeffery could get him even more sick. Steven really wanted Renee to stay, but he put his brother first, and told Renee that she had to leave, in protection of his brother. The fact that he kicked His crush out of his house, for his brother is amazing.
In conclusion, Steven learned to deal with all the abnormal events that took place in his eighth grade year. as a result, he became a much more mature person, he learned that shouldn’t take responsibility for things he can’t change, instead, he takes part in smaller, more realistic changes that make a difference.