First Quarter Outside Reading Book Review.

Travel Team by Mike Lupica. Philomel Books, 2004 Genre: Fiction

The book Travel Team is a fictional book by Mike Lupica. This book is about a young boy named Danny who does not make his travel basketball team. In the small town of Middletown Danny has a lot to live up to with his days amazing basketball skills. But with Danny's dad being in town and him hearing the new decides to coach a travel team for Danny. But when Danny's dad gets in a car accident what will Danny have to do?

"Sports writer and sometime ESPN analyst Mike Lupica thoughtfully offers sports watching boys (and girls) a story with which they can relate." Sarah (goodreads.com)

Travel Team shows the way most teenagers feel about sports. I think one of the great things about this book is it gives kids something to relate to. It shows main character Danny always trying harder and harder to be better and not giving up when things get hard or when you fail.

In this book readers are able to easily follow through the the book from nobody in the books point of view. This really helps the book flow well because with the author Mike Lupica not being part of the book it is in more detail. With this you are able to know more about what is happening.

"Then Will was there, and Bren, putting Danny up on their shoulders, carrying him around the court, the way the old Vikings had carried his dad once. Danny looked down on the day and thought: So this is what is what everything looks like from up here." (274)

I am a big fan of sports so i love reading books with sports in them. particularly ones that are suspenseful. i like this books because they keep me interested the whole way through. it also make me want to continue reading. this may be why i liked this book so much because it provided both of these things. i also really enjoyed this book because of the message that the book sends. this book teaches people to never give up and always keep trying. also to keep trying even when you fail. one of my favorite parts of the book is when Ali (Danny's mom) told Danny to keep trying because even the great Michael Jordan got cut from his High School basketball team. but Michael Jordan kept trying and trying and now he is known as one of the best players in the history of basketball.

Value Essay

Stepping Up to the Plate with a Couple of Tunes

In today’s world what is it that we value the most? Some people think it is what we spend a lot of money on. This is something that we want enough that we have to buy. But others believe that it is the priceless moments in our life that we value the most. These are the moments in our lives that mean so much to us that a price couldn't be put on them.

As I pick up the aluminum bat of my choice I spit on the ground and step up to the plate. My heart pumping so much that I feel as though my shirt will move with it. I am the first up and I gotta' hit the ball far. The ball is sailing towards the plate as my dad pitches it and the game has begun. It is a hot Saturday afternoon and I am doing something that I enjoy most.

I’m playing baseball with my family and my friends. We are at my house in my big backyard. I am playing the game with my dad, two brothers, and many of our friends. The teams are spilt evenly, but as talent goes, I am sure my team will win.

Playing baseball is one of my favorite things too do because I love the sport. It also helps me get better every time I play. During the game we only keep track of is the score not time. The only reason we keep score is it gives a certain amount of bragging rights to whoever wins, and also makes the game more interesting.

After the game is over we go and sit on the porch. While we are sitting we usually talk about the great aspects the game we just played. For example some of the top catches, plays, and hits. While we sit and talk my dad makes us strawberry daiquiri’s (non alcoholic of course). The winning team gets served first and then we all relax on the porch cooling off with a round of the finest chilled beverage I have ever tasted.

As I fit the little ear buds into my ears I scroll through to find a song. When I finally find the song I click play and send music flowing through my ears. I sit back and sing a long with the new music of today. I take my thumb and bring it around the white circle clockwise turning up the volume, sending the beats pulsing through my body.

My $200 iPod is red and holds 16 gigabytes of my combination of music, TV shows, movies, and photos. It is about 3 inches long and about a half a centimeter thick. This makes my iPod easy to fit in my pocket comfortably and noticeably. It has a decent sized screen which, when turned sideways is great for watching movies on. It has the new shake feature too. This feature enables me to change the song just but shaking my iPod.

I value my iPod so immensely because of the countless hours of relaxation it gives me. It calms me down when I am upset and also provides me entertainment that I use for long car rides. Without it these rides would be very boring and seem extremely long. Whenever I cant sleep I just pull out my iPod to relax my body and get sleepy, most times I even fall asleep listening to the music on my iPod. But sometimes when I am using my phone late at night and trying to stay awake I turn the music on my iPod loud so I don’t fall asleep on the people I am talking to.

So overall what is we value most? Is it priceless moments in our life or is is the things we spend money on. I think it is both. This is because I value more than just those priceless moments. But I don’t think we have to spend thousands of dollars on something for us to value it. But I think most people value the things the cost a lot because you are not going to spend a lot of money on something you don’t even really care about.

Alfred and Ender Reunite

This essay is about two character from two different book that meet in one setting that is in one of the books. The books I read are, Enders Game and The Contender and the characters I chose are: Ender, from Enders Game and Alfred, from The Contender. This will be narrated by: Mr. Epstein from The Contender. He is the owner of the store where Alfred works. The setting in this book is New York City. This is where Alfred from the Contender lives.

I watched as Alfred left the store for the night Friday and knew I wouldn’t see him until Monday morning when his weekend was over. He looked as though he were anxious for the weekend. When I asked him why he told me his friend was coming from out of town to watch him box. The next morning when I was going for my morning walk I saw Alfred waiting at the bus stop. Then up came I bus and a young man about the age of Alfred got off. The two boys shook hands and I could see that they seemed to have a lot in common. First off the boys both looked like they had compassion. But they also looked as though they liked too fight. As I walked by I herd them talking. “Hey Ender. Long time no see. What have you been up to lately?” said Alfred. “Yea I know Alfred, and nothing. Same old.” Then they left and started walking towards Alfred’s house in New York City.

When I saw Alfred next he was with Ender and he was showing him Donatelli’s Gym. I was there helping out and talking to Donatelli. I like going to the gym. I get to see who I think is going to be the next great champ and get Donitellis opinion on who he thinks it will be. “I come and train here every night after work,” said Alfred. “well by the looks of it, it seems like you work hard here training. You’re a lot stronger since the last time I saw you,” said Ender. “yea but I don’t think you need to get any stronger, seeing as you beat a kid to death when u were only 6 years old,” said Alfred. “hey. You know that kid was a bully and I was protecting myself,” said Ender. “whatever you say man,” said Ender. Then Alfred went and showed them around the rest of the gym. When they were back they were looking in the ring and nobody was fighting in it. Then Alfred said, “ Hey. Mr. Donatelli can Ender come to my next fight?” “yeah sure Alfred he can hang out with Spoon and Jelly by the ring while me and Henry help you,” said Mr. Donatelli.


So before the next match Ender went to Spoon’s house with Henry and Ender just like he always does. But Alfred always eats early so he can digest it. Then while he took his nap Spoon, his wife Betty, Henry, and Ender ate. Then Donatelli picked them all up. All too soon the fight came and Alfred was in the ring against a quick fighter named Griffin. After a while in the match Griffin gets tired of moving so fast so he slows down. But he slowed down too much because Alfred was able to dodge a punch then hit him right in the jaw. Griffin dropped at that punch. And Alfred won by K.O. he felt really bad though because Griffin seemed to really get hurt. Ender was the first to go up to him and congratulate him. But he seemed to really enjoy the thought that Griffin might have gotten hurt bad. “did u hear it him u popped him in the jaw!” said Ender. But Alfred didn’t want to hear it. He felt bad about it.

The next day Ender had to leave to go home. “well it was nice seeing you and I’m glad you enjoyed the fight last night. You really ought to come to the city more. We never get to hang.” said Alfred. “nice seeing you too, and perfect punch. I just hope I never get hit with that! And yeah ill try too,” said Ender. “Well bye Ender,” said Alfred. “Yeah bye Alfred,” said Ender. Then as the bus pulled up the two boys shook hands. Ender got on and the bus pulled away.