Dear Readers of the Blog, 3/19/18

I read the nonfiction book, A Whole New Ball Game. The genre of this book is Realistic fiction. In the novel A Whole New Ball Game, the main character and narrator, Rip, loves to play basketball. He tells us, as the readers, about many different aspects of his life from his perspective. The author’s name is Phil Bildner who went to John Hopkins University. He  went on to law school and became a lawyer. After working in a law firm in Manhattan he decided that law was not for him. He went back to school to be a teacher and started writing books. I chose to read this book because it won an award so I thought it would be interesting.

 

The main character in the story, Rip, loves basketball. Rip has no brothers or sisters and he  has a best friend named red. I’d say the theme of the book is friendship.Rip’s friendship with Red is an important thing in his life.The audience learns that Rip and Red have a strong bond and similar interests. They also have a routine in the morning so they go right on time to school. Other aspects of his life are also important to Rip, including his relationship with his Mom, his school life and, of course, basketball.  Rip’s relationship with his Mom is a love-hate relationship in a way. Rip’s mom motivates him by telling him to be friendly with other people and not to be mean.She also motivates him in school. Rip loves to go to school and enjoys Mr. Acevedo’s class. He hits a roadblock when he has to work with Avery Goodman on a project. Rip wants to do well on the project but he doesn’t like the girl, Avery, that he is workings with. Rip’s mom said, “you have to be nice and send an olive branch to Avery”, and eventually Rip is able to overcome this challenge and be successful with the project.When Rip talks to Avery she says, “ Face reality, around here you’re a black kid who plays basketball.” and Rip replies to her “You’re wrong.” (pg 92-93 Bildner) Everyday after school, Rip and Red both enjoy basketball with Mr.Acevedo. Rip loves to play basketball. He is also excited to play on Clifton United. He also likes when Mr. Acevedo. motivates the whole basketball team to play well. As any dedicated ‘re team member would, he hates to lose and he practices hard.

 

I was surprised when Easy-going Rip is knocked completely out of his comfort zone when Red had his temper tantrum. It made Rip feel bad for his friend.  This reminded  me of a time in 7th grade  when my friend did not make it on my volleyball team and I felt sorry for him.

I rated this book and 8 out of 10 because it is a good book about friendship.

By Brian Forde