Character Review on Danny Cheng from "Picture Us In The Light"

            In the beginning of Picture Us In The Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert, Danny Cheng is a Senior in high school in Cupertino California. He has two best friends, Harry and Regina, who are dating each other.  He has a scholarship to his dream art school, RISD (Rhode Island School of Design), and a pair of loving and supporting parents. His life seems perfect and happy until we start learning more about Danny's family and the challenges he's facing.

            One very important thing we learn about Danny is his personality. At the beginning of the story, we see Danny as a quiet kid who is content in his warm home in the small town of Cupertino. Danny grows up around lots of people who have the desire to get into an amazing ivy league college and get perfect grades, though he doesn’t have this same amount or kind of pressure. Danny’s parents are happy and proud of him for getting into an art school that wouldn’t be accepted by even his friend’s parents if he were their kid.

One early turning point of Picture Us In The Light that almost gets looked over, is when Danny finds a hidden box by his father, filled with information on one man. When he first finds this, he does a little research, though not much. Another moment like this is when Regina asks Danny to draw a picture of their old friend for the one-year anniversary of her death. Originally, Danny says no to this as he doesn’t have the courage to and is afraid to face his emotions that go alongside that. Though eventually, he changes his mind.

By the end or near the end of the book, Danny changes. We see his courage grow and his personality shift to be more outgoing and daring. One moment that may not seem very significant is when Danny ends up doing that drawing. It's hard for him to gain courage, but he does it. Also, this leads Danny to face his parents and learn the truth about that box. Not only does he take the information to heart, but he also acts on it. He travels behind his parents' back to find out what really happened. He does this by talking to someone that seemed out of reach beforehand. Finally, Danny tells Harry his real feelings, how he truly feels about him.

In the end, we see Danny grow to be more courageous and just a stronger character in general. He faces his fears and the many challenges that get thrown in his face along the way. His parents might not be exactly who he thinks they are, and he might be hiding his own true feelings from himself and others, but now he can acknowledge that and do what he wants. He faces his fears.

 -Written By: Claire Hobson

Comments

  1. Nice review Claire! I like how you gave an overview/summary of the book without giving away too many spoilers, and also an observation on Danny's character throughout. This book sounds like an interesting read!

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  2. Great review! I think this book is really interesting. I liked your in depth summary of the plot and how you gave examples of Danny facing his fears. You did not give away any spoilers, and you highlighted Danny's growth over the course of the story. Although I usually do not read books of this genre, I am considering reading this one.

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  3. Great job Claire!
    I like how you talk about Danny's changes throughout the story, while also giving us an overview of the plot without giving away spoilers. It sounds interesting.

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  4. Awesome review Claire! I love how detailed you were with the summary and plot. You did a wonderful job analyzing the story and explaining how each event, big or small, played a huge role Danny Cheng's character. Picture Us In The Light sounds like a very interesting read! Definitely adding it to my reading list!

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  5. Great post! I like how short and sweet the summary was and how you talked about Danny's character development throughout the book. This sounds like a good coming-of-age novel that I might add to my reading list. I also love how one of the main topics throughout the book are colleges, and how other people may not approve of Danny's college choice.

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  6. Danny sounds like a very interesting character and I like how you described how he changed throughout the novel by describing his aspirations at the beginning and end; great review Claire!

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