In Letter 1, I wrote my letter to Mary Roach
In Letter 1, I wrote my letter to Mary Roach
Hi, my name is ...........and I am here to tell you about a fantastic book named heat by Mike Lupica. This book is great for any student, teacher, anyone who plays baseball and more. This book is about a kid named Michael who stops a robber named ramon by throwing a baseball at the back of his head when he runs across the baseball field Michael was playing on. The cop that handcuffed Ramon is telling Michael what a good arm he has and should find a baseball team to play for. He finds a little lead team called the Clippers that his friend Manny plays for. Him and many were practicing baseball when this girl showed up when Michael looked at her she ran away. Michael has his first baseball game he only pitched one inning he struck out everyone he pitched to and they win. A few days later Michael, Michael’s brother Carlos, Michael’s dad, and Mrs. C who is a neighbor in there apartment building are talking and watching the TV but out of no where Michael’s dad has a heart attack and he dies. The next day Manny and Michael are practicing and again the girl shows up but this time she does not run away. They find out her name is Ellie Garcia they find out she is a good pitcher to. The cop that handcuffed Ramon’s friend wants to honor Michael for stopping ramon and wants to take picture with him and his parents or legal…
The book, Last Man Out by Mike Lupica, is a very unique book and I would recommend it to anyone who loves sports, especially football, to read it. The setting of this book is in present-day Boston. The main character is Tommy Gallagher, a 12 year-old boy who loves to play football. The rising action of this book would be that Tommy’s father died because of a fire at a house that he was called to. Because of this Tommy’s sister, Emily, stopped playing the sport she was so good at. Tommy tried to persuade her to keep playing. Tommy kept playing football and kept making…
The book Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen, is about a boy named Brian who lives in New York. One day he is sent to visit his dad in the summer on a one passenger plane. On his way there, he suddenly realizes that the pilot is having a heart-attack. So Brian does what he thinks he should do and crash lands the plane in the middle of a lake. So from then on into the book, Brian is stranded in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a hatchet he had gotten from his mother a few years back.…
Turtles give hope “Slower than the rest” by Cynthia Rylant is a realistic fiction about a boy named Leo. In the beginning, Leo and his family are in the car driving Leo yells, “There's a turtle.” The car halts Leo gets out of the car to pick up the turtle. Soon Leo feels happy and names the turtle Charlie. In the end Leo has to make a presentation on wildlife and uses Charlie as an example of a slow animals.…
Question number 11 asks me if the book Heat has helped me in any way. This book has helped me in a way because it taught me a lesson. Heat showed me that even though a situation may seem impossible for you to overcome, but if you keep your head up anything is possible. Michael Arroyo, a 12-year-old pitching phenom from Cuba, is an illegal immigrant as well as an orphan living with his brother. If the Social Services heard of the situation, Michael and his brother, Carlos, will be separated and maybe even sent back to Cuba. Nobody knew that Michael was an orphan. His father died of a heart attack a few months before Michael started becoming a rising star. If authorities found out about the death of his father, Michael and his brother would be sent back to Cuba, where his hopes of becoming a professional baseball player would most likely vanish. Even though Michael was always under the radar of powerful authorities, it didn’t stop him from pursuing his dream of becoming a player in the MLB. He continued to work hard and at the end of the story, Yankee’s star pitcher and Michael’s idol, El Grande, locates a copy of his birth certificate, which makes him eligible to compete in games. This story taught me that if Michael can keep his head up through his father’s death and always living under the fact that at any given day he could be sent back to Cuba, I should be able to keep my head held high through any situation as well.…
When you’re feeling hurt, upset, angry, or in pain, just think your way out of it. In the story, “Freak the Mighty” by Rodman Philbrick, Max and Freak (Kevin) are brought together and become best friends. Max is tall, big, strong, and not smart. Freak is short, tiny, unatheletic non muscular, and smart. A pair of opposites brought together, to became friends. When Max was afraid or scared, he would hide it in his mind. When he didn’t want to witness something, he backed up into his mind and let all of his thoughts and emotions flow through his mind. “You can think your way out of anything, even pain.” (53) Max avoided drastic situations by going into his mind. It saved him from witnessing stuff he didn’t want to witness. Whenever he got to…
In Russell Banks novel, Trailerpark, there are many different stories that compare different kinds of people, and their personalities. In almost every story there is always a main character that has a problem. He uses his stories to show the reality of life, and all the bad things that come along with it. In Banks story, Comfort, he says, “ Its not so much that you will say things when drunk that you’d never say when sober, as much as you will try to say things you’d ordinarily know simply could not be said. It’s your judgment about the sayable that goes, not your inhibition”(124). Banks is using this story to show how people sometimes communicate when they’re drinking, and how people use drinking to talk about something that they normally wouldn’t talk about.…
Raw follows the story of Brett Dalton a teenager with an attitude who has succumb to peer pressure and lives outside the law. After being picked up for various minor offences Brett finds himself having to spend time at a rehabilitation centre. the image that I have created symbolises Brett Daltons perspective of the rehabilitation centre called the farm. The farm is home to many young crime committers such as Brett. The farms main purpose is to reform kids that are sent there. It is very different from most detention centres in regards that a lot of trust is given to the inmates. Brett was confused with this as his image of the farm was completely different as he states in the book “what kind of detention centre is this ? there weren’t any bars on the cells ? There weren’t even cells” the farm ran a much different way to which Brett thought which I have created in my image. My image helps to express the idea of how Brett sees the farm through his eyes. At the start of the novel Brett is considered as a rebel and feels that the whole world is against him and blames others for his troubles he has the perception that the farm will be full of guards and have locked gates and that it will never change who he is . Brett’s negativity towards authority is expressed in his antagonism towards the police but throughout the novel Brett comes to understand that not all power and authority is like that represented by police that power is non-merely vested in institution’s and authority figures but there are sensitive and compassionate individuals that through the book help Brett to regain control over his own destiny Although the farm does not successfully help Brett get out of trouble as he ends up in jail but he learns many lessons and that ‘he is the only one that can change who he…
In “Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders His Power To Alter Public Space,” Brent Staples discusses the development of standard stereotypes that can not just affect the actions of the victim, but the suspect. Throughout the essay, Staples describes himself in a sequence of events, and proceeds to tell the readers how people around him react. Brent Staples was a tall black man and always faced the same reaction when walking the streets during his late night strolls. People that were walking late as well especially white women would avoid Staples either by crossing the street to avoid him or immediately be quiet and walk faster. Staples, being a six-foot two black man, appeared to be dangerous which caused the white women to cross the street or walk faster. When he is telling this story, he states that “it was clear that she thought…
She places her hands on her knees and bends over in order to catch her breath. She looks out at the goal and the goalkeeper, then takes a quick glance at her teammates– her eyes scanning the stadium as she does. The vivid colors of the American and Chinese flags stand out no matter where she looks. The sound of silence engulfs her, and she can feel the audience’s eyes drilling holes into her. She takes her hands off her knees, stands up and looks down at the ball. The Chinese goalkeeper keeps her eyes focused on her opponent and the ball, making sure she does not look away for even a second. She takes a deep breath, and is overwhelmed by the smell of dirt and sweat. She looks down at the ball and then the goalie.…
In the story “Winky” by George Saunders, one would believe he is poking fun at all the lack luster individuals who believes that their miserable life is the fault of others. This theory presents itself on page 437, in this passage he shows that he feels his life is so sad because of the hand he was dealt. One can see this when he said “he’d been cursed with a bad dad and a bad ma and a bad sister and was too weak to change.” He starts blaming others immediately for “crapping in his oatmeal”. He does not start realize that he maybe the problem until the end of his rant on his life.…
“If i stay” by Gayle Foreman is about a seventeen year old girl named Mia Hall who had everything, a perfect relationship, a loving family and best friend, and a future of becoming a professional cellist with a goal of attending Julliard. One snowy day, when school is out, her family decides to go on a roadtrip to visit friends and there is a tragic accident. That day Mia lost everything, her parents, her brother and almost her own life. From that moment on Mia’s spirit, trapped between life and death, lives amongst the ones she loves the most and she has to decide whether to stay or go. The movie and the book both show this but in different ways, the book has much more detail and more character description, where the movie felt more rushed and kept out a lot of detail that may have been needed.…
The poem “Where There’s a Wall” by Joy Kogawa describes the historical event of internment or concentration camps using a wall as a metaphor. The author does not outright identify and describe this unfortunate historical event but readers can use the imagery and symbols along with their historical knowledge to be able to determine that the author could be writing about a person in an internment or concentration camp. The poem is universal in the fact that it may not be interpreted in a historical way by one that does not have as much knowledge about history. These type of readers may interpret it as the wall being an obstacle in the way of a goal. This aspect of the poem makes it very interesting because it can be interpreted in many unique ways to different readers.…
A long time ago the difference between perception and reality was defined as the act of understanding in contrast to the act of being real. Reality could be tricky; most of us including myself depending on scenarios of our lives tend to give in to ideas which are not applicable to reality as a whole. The best example of this is written in the short story “All Over” by Guy de Maupassant. In which his main character Lormerin is very self conscious and narcissistic also Lise de Vance, a former old love plays a big role in hurting Lormerin ego and opening his eyes by showing him, his real self. Many would say that when reality knocks it could be harsh and confusing. In the next couple of paragraphs I want to show how my understanding of reality can be applied to the short story previously mentioned. Every day life brings so many unexpected moments of which we dream of but never really happen, this is where we draw the line for reality and perception of a perfect to be situation. Reality is in the eyes of the beholder and no one can really change that, all of us are born dreamers. When things get out of hand and reality hits, this is where people suffer. Why do we suffer? We suffer because we give too much or expect too much and not everyone has the same ideals when returning the favor. Also, some events might be trifling to some but extremely important to others.…
In the novel Keeper 'n Me by Richard Wagamese, he shows the importance of family and culture as a healing process in self-knowledge. The development of self-discovery is based on the world around, what is seen, heard, experienced etc. Learning about one’s self is about individual experiences, it is not something that a book teaches. Pursuing life first hand is the only way to learn about self-discovery. Garnet being alone for so long, leaves him unhappy and feeling meaningless, not having anyone to connect to. Every foster home Garnet’s been to never feels like home, he is always shut out or made fun of. He could not discover who he is as an individual being surrounded by negative energy. Being thrown in jail was a turning point in Garnet’s…