Author’s Note: I am writing this piece because it is for
the District Writing Assessment. I am working on going beyond a summary, giving
my opinions, and using better vocabulary.
“I’m calling you up, Bergie. You’re now on the Horizon
High School varsity.”(1) It is a dream for almost all kids that play basketball
to make the High School varsity team. In Box
Out by John Coy, Liam, the main character, gets called up from JV to play
on the varsity team because one of the players got injured on varsity. As I read
this novel, I learned about the characters and made several connections. This
narrative teaches all people to do the right thing even if it is tough.
Telling people your opinions on the book is a
high-quality way to express what you think about the book and whether to read
the book or not. During the season Liam doesn’t think it is legal to have a
coach lead prayers in a public school so he calls an agency and asks them about
his situation. Megan, the agency person he was talking to, sends a letter to the
school to notify them about Coach Kloss. After she sends the letter to the
school, Liam quits the basketball team because it is illegal for a coach to say
prayers in a public school. I think this was a decent choice by Liam because he
was doing the right thing and he didn’t feel very comfortable when he was on
the team. It was a bad decision because it was his dreams to play on the High
School varsity basketball team and now he just quit. In another situation that
I have opinions on was when Darius and Liam got invited to practice with the
girl’s team after previously quitting the boy’s team. I think it was a superior
decision by both of the kids because he could get better at basketball and then
next year, if they fire Coach Kloss, he could play on the boy’s team again!
There is only one bad thing about joining the girl’s team for practice, getting
made fun of by the guys. Luckily, when Liam, Darius, and the girls played
against the boy’s team, they beat them. Giving your opinions about a book is a
splendid way to respond to your book.
While stating your opinion about a book is good, making
connections is the best way to respond to a book. I made many connections to
this novel. I connected to when Liam missed both of his free throws to lose the
game in his first varsity game. This reminded me of when Kentucky got handed
their first loss of the season because they missed two free throws and then
Indiana made a three to win. I also connected to when the girl’s varsity team
lost a heartbreaker to get into state. The team lost on a half court shot by
the other team. Our team got to state but then lost in overtime against New
Berlin Eisenhower after being up the whole game. It was disappointing because
we have never beaten them and it would have been a big upset if we would have. Making
connections to a book is the best way to respond.
Learning about the characters helps you make connections
to every book. I learned about all of the characters in my book including Liam
and Darius. The book makes it sound like Liam is very tall because he has to
get a lot of rebounds but he is only six feet four inches. Liam is not afraid
of many things because he called the agency to report what Coach Kloss is doing
in the locker room. I think it would be hard to do that by yourself. Darius
reminds me of Darius Miller that played for the Kentucky Wildcats because he is
one of the best shooters. Darius is also not afraid to go alone by himself
because he quit basketball because he didn’t like the prayers and he plays
basketball by himself at the YMCA. Some characters change throughout the book
but the characters in this novel did not.
Since characters in this book did not change, the theme
is easier to point out. The theme of this book is to do the right thing. I
think this is the theme because Liam did the correct thing by calling the
agency and telling them about his issue. I also think it is the theme because
Liam quit the basketball team which was good because it was against the law to
say prayers as a team in a public school. I strongly think the theme of this
book is to do the right thing.
