Prediction By Josh Bell

The narrator’s point of view in the story is 1st person. The narrator describes the feelings and ideas of himself. He is described in words like I, we, and me. An example from the story are “Maybe a book of those rules you give me and JB before each of our games.”

The settings of this story is in North Carolina most likely. I am not exactly sure where this story takes place, but from known information in the story, we are able to make a prediction. The story takes place in modern time and the boys go to school at Reggie Lewis Middle School.

This story's main character is Josh Bell. He lives with his brother, mom, and dad. He has a passion to win in basketball and has not lost many games. Josh gets suspended from playing basketball by his mother and won't play in the playoffs. He has a bad temper at some points but a good heart. Josh gets mad when his brother gets a girlfriend, so he lets his anger out on him. His mom with the school principal and always getting him in trouble for something. Josh's dad is an all-star basketball player, but doesn't play anymore, because he did not choose to have surgery.
Josh and Jordan are twins and get along, until Jordan gets a girlfriend.
She takes over Jordan's life and he doesn't have time to play basketball anymore with Josh. Jordan will go out on dates with his girlfriend and won't play basketball with Josh and won't even talk to him that much. Josh feels left out so he lets out his anger on the court. Jordan used to always play with Josh but now doesn't play often. They rarely talk to each other at school or at home unless they need to. When his father gets an offer to play the coach at a college so way, they might have to leave the team and move. His father is feeling sick and often in the hospital. One day after an attack he died. At the end, his brother gives him his father's basketball ring his father wanted to give
him.

At the end of the story Jordan and Josh are friends again. They talk to each other now and play basketball together often. They don't have to move away for his father's job.

In this story Josh behaves in many different ways. In the beginning of the story he is all happy and upbeat. By the middle his brother has a girlfriend and he is feeling left out. At the end he is mad and let's out his anger on his brother, and is stressed, but deals with it.

This story has romance and basketball. Jordan gets a girlfriend and Josh is lonely. Josh get suspended from playing basketball by his mom for being mean to Jordan.Josh is playing basketball after the suspension with his father, when his father falls down, out cold. He stays at the hospital for a long period of time, but at the end he does not make it. His father has a ring from his career basketball, and at the end when Josh is shooting hoops Jordan brings it out to him and says father wanted you to have it.

“Dear Jordan, without you I am empty, the goal with no net.” (P 159) This means that he misses his brother deeply and is referring to a goal which always should have a net. This is personification.
“Vondie strips the ball at center court, shoots a short pass to JB, who skips downtown, zips around, then double dips it into the bowl.”(P 181) This means that JB runs at a slow pace to the other end of the court, and scores.
“Dad is on his feet with the rest of the gym as JB steals the ball and takes off like a wildfire.” (P 148) This is personification because people cannot burn like a wildfire.

The theme of this story is to love your family. Jordan ignores Josh, but in the end, they reunite and are friends again. Their father dies, but together they can get through any pain. His father is Josh’s dream. He is what Josh wants to be when he grows up.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes sports. This book is about family and adventure. It is happy at some points and it can be very sad too. I would recommend this book to anyone who is 11 and older. It is a fun read, and a book that inspires.