Wallace Wallace, the guy with the name so nice you have to say it twice; has become a person who never lies. And is known for being the football hero of Berford because he scored the lucky championship touchdown. But when he gets pulled out of football to go to detetion, (which is really the drama club) things change for Wallace. He starts to take over the directors poisition from, Mr. Fogelman; and spices up the play Old Shep My Pal. But will he get a chance to go back to football? And if he does will he acutally go back, or stay with the play?

       No more dead dogs was a good and comical book. Each paragraph would be in the view of a differnt character in the book. So i did enjoy the way it was written. I would give it a rating of 8 out of 10. So if you want to read a happy and funny story I would recomend this book to you.

D,J.’s sophomore year didn’t go well and the basketball scouts aren’t going to be looking at her in the fall if she doesn’t pass sophomore English. Her teachers didn’t know that DJ was basically running the family dairy farm because her dad had hurt his back. He might have been a great football coach but he’s still a chicken when it comes to surgery. On top of running the farm and trying to make up English assignments, the football coach from the neighboring rival high school wants DJ’s dad to help train his quarterback for the next season, but DJ’s dad pushes it off on her. Nobody is happy with that, not DJ or Brian Nelson, the quarterback with a bad attitude to go with his bad arm! It looks like the summer is shaping up to be a royal pain all the way around!

An Abe Lincoln nominee, this is a great read about a girl growing up in rural Wisconsin but dealing with a lot of the same problems (boys, school, parents,,,boys) that city kids do.

Catch is the story of small town “golden boy” Tim Temples. Tim has just graduated from high school and is set to enter the University of Illinois-Urbana in August. He was a star catcher for his baseball team till he messed up his knee during a game. He’s not sure he wants to go to college, it didn’t work for his older brother, who flunked out and sits around getting high all day. But everyone assumes he can’t wait to go. Tim just wants to hang out with his buddies and not think about it. Then he meets Helena at work, an “older woman” who gets him to think about life differently.

I didn’t like Tim al all when I first started the book. About 1/3 into the book I realized  why it’s an Abe Lincoln nominee. Tim is not as mindless and self-absorbed as he appears on the surface, or to his friends. He’s got a brain and he starts to figure out why he’s not satisfied with where he’s at or with his brother’s behavior, or his friend’s attitudes, either. Tim manages to do some growing up that last summer and I enjoyed his journey. I think you will too.

This Novel is about a kid named pie. Pie is a teenage boy who is in love with hockey and has trouble while he plays. Pie plays and He made the a team and everybody makes fun of him. Pie has only one chance to prove him self and his teemates when something happens to him. To find out what happens to pie you might want to read this book full of amazement. I would deffinately recommend this book to any person who enjoys great storys.

victor wright

Brown Period 5

Chalked Up by Jennifer Sey is about a teen gymnasts dreams to be an Olympic gymnast, and her struggles on the way of getting there. At the age of 38, Mike Jacki, head of the U.S. Gymnastics Team, calls Jen and asks her to compete in an upcoming meet. But after 20 years she’s not sure she’ll be able to regain all of her skills. The book flashes back into her teenage years and tells the story of her life as one of the best gymnasts in the U.S. But as a young girl, her fear of getting hurt gets in the way of her being the top gymnast in the country.

This book is very appealing because it is based off of a true story. It goes into a lot of detail of her struggles with fear, weight, and demanding coaches. She is very determined and dedicated. She doesn’t understand why any girl would want to give up gymnastics for anything. Although she is always second best on her teams, and the assistant coaches pay more attention to her than the head coaches, she is more determined than any other girl on the team and she makes it farther than anyone would have thought.

If I were to choose one aspect to make this book feel appealing it would be the author’s word choice. Even though at times it gets old and kind of funny I feel that teens my age can understand the slang terms. They can also connect with Greg “Slam” Harris in the book. For example, the main character is talking about how some one plays he says, ” He got a tough game,” or if he was bad, ” He has weak game homey,” Not only when the author talks about basketball does he shows great word choice when he shows when Greg is given a math test and he is struggling and does not know what to do. You really feel like your in the book sometimes the way the author describes things. Overall, this book relates to teens around our age because of the word choice and all of the terms used with in this great book.

Brown 5

Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella is a story revolving about a man named, Ray, who keeps hearing mysterious voices coming from old baseball announcers. “If you build it he will come” is the first voice he hears. Instantly Ray knows what he has to do, build a baseball field. While beginning to build the field, he thinks of a novel that was written specifically about him by a famous author. He drives to meet the author and on their way home from a ball game they meet a couple of new friends.

Right from the start i was really drawn into this story because I love hearing old stories about baseball from long ago. Baseball has always been a big part of my life and it is the second biggest part of Ray’s after his family. I was shocked how Ray’s wife wants him to do whatever makes him happy even if it involves Ray being gone for long periods of time. This book is very realistic because i could see myself going out to find an author that wrote a book about me and taking him to a ball game. Ray kind of reminds me of myself because I would do whatever it took to meet the player I’ve always been dreaming to meet. There are many conflicts in this novel. For example, while Ray is on his road trip, he isn’t paying his mortgage and people are trying to take his house. His wife tells his to do whatever he can to keep the house on the farm because she loves it there. This shows another side to Ray other then just baseball. This book relates to me a lot and I’m sure it could to a lot of other readers.

Brown Period. 3

After star college basketball player Jason Lewis returns from World War II in Japan, with 2 missing fingers on his shooting hand, Jason must continue to stay active in the game. Since Jason can’t play, he must turn to be a once hated referee. As Jason tries to make the world of basketball as perfect as possible, he encounters the problems of players shaving points and referees making false calls for the “entertainment” of the crowd. Jason is looking for perfection in a world of crime and greediness. As Jason is away refereeing, his wife and new born child are alone at home. Jason struggles with his dreams of perfection for basketball and the hopes and dreams of his friends and family. Jason learns more and more about a world that had lost its innocence every day.

One aspect of the book that is very interesting and appealing is that all the players, schools, and games, actually happened. Even though Jason isn’t real, the events around him were. All these events were shown in such a great detail. It was as if Charley Rosen, the author, was actually there. He must have spent years and years of research to be able to come up with accurate information about events over 40 years ago. The book seems as if it were a newspaper that had been printed about the previous night’s games 40 years ago. The level of detail is just that incredible. Every game has in depth information about scores and highlights. Through all this detail, it makes the book seem more real and makes the reader want to read more and more.

Brown Period 8

Over Winter Break, I read the book Crackback by John Coy. The main character is a high school kid, Miles Manning who is a starter on the football team. Miles has a small body for the game and is always being pushed by his coach and his father to become bigger, faster, and stronger. After being demoted to second string, Miles’ best friend Zach suggests he takes steroids, because all the upper classman on the team are doing it. What should Miles do? He knows steroids are bad for him but he also knows that it can get him his starting spot back. Read the book to find out.

Crackback is a book that shows the struggle between doing what’s right and doing what will make you successful. It is a very cliché problem in a book but it can surely happen. And that’s what I really liked about the book, it’s so realistic. It was a story that can happen and I’m sure has happened to high school football players and just regular people. You don’t even have to be a football fan to read this book because other people can connect to the conflict. I really related to the book though because I play football. And I know the pressure from coaches and parents to get better and I felt what Miles was feeling throughout the whole story, minus the steroids. Crackback will keep you on the edge of you seat and make you want to keep reading. I recommend it to all.

Mrs. Colan-period 4

“I rolled to the right side, ran Tompkins into a pick, and got the ball from Roy. Tompkins had recovered and went up with me. I stuffed over him, and the crowd went crazy”. Hoops is an amazing story about a seventeen year old Lonnie Jackson whose team is in a city wide tournament of champions. His coach, Cal knows he can do great things like play college basketball and go to the NBA.Through out the book there are many obstacles that could stop Lonnie from achieving his goal. The question is will he give in?

Hoops is an interesting book because of its themes. I learned lessons from reading this book. One main theme teaches the reader no to give up on his or her dream. Lonnie pursues his dream of playing college basketball, despite the troubles. Another theme is not to be a sell-out. Cal was a sell-out because he shaved points to make money. Myers makes an example of what to do and what not to do through his major themes.