Sunday, May 4, 2014

Samy Hamdallah - Roberto EXTRA CREDIT



Summary

Josh wasn’t a very good student in Spanish class so he went to his teacher Ms. Molina to ask her what he can do for extra credit. Then they start chatting together and Josh asks Ms. Molina why she is in a wheel chair, she tells him that when she was a kid she got very ill and she had problems with her spine. Her parents were very poor and couldn’t afford medication. But one special person, Roberto Clemante, a very famous and loved baseball player offered to help out. He insisted on flying over to Porto Rico to give Molina $100 in order for her to buy medicine. Unfortunately his plane crashes and he dies and never gets a chance to give Molina the $100 he had promised her family. So Josh decides to go back in time to warn Roberto not to take the flight.
            In order for Josh to go back in time he has to use an old baseball ticket that dates back to 1972. When Josh arrives back in time and is in the stadium watching Roberto’s baseball game he decides that this is the time to tell Roberto about the flight. When the game ends Josh and Sunrise, a friend he met when he went back in time, meet Roberto and tell him that he shouldn’t take the flight to Puerto Rico. Roberto promises Josh not to take the plane and gives Josh $100 to help him.
            When Josh comes back to the present time he discovers that Roberto did not keep his promise and took the plane and it crashed.
            Josh receives a visitor from the future, his great great grandson who invites him to go with him to the future. Josh agrees, when he visits the future he discovers that global warming has ruined the world, and promises his great grandson that he will help as much as he can. What will happen with the $100 that Roberto gave Josh, read the book to find out.
Genre

            This book is science fiction because Josh travels from present day to 1909 and then to 2080. In page 17 “When I opened my eyes, I wasn’t in my house in Louisville, Kentucky anymore. I was in the year 1909… with Honus Wagner.”

Character Development

            At the beginning Josh was not familiar with humanitarian work, as the story develops he is more aware of how he can help people in need. In page 164 “I’d like to buy an envelope please…I fished the $100 bill from my pocket and slipped it into the envelope she gave me.” “That’s a lot of money to be sending through the mail the lady told me” This shows that towards the end of the book Josh sends money to help the poor in a children’s hospital in Puerto Rico.

Author’s Characterization

         The author describes the character’s thoughts and emotions in a specific way. This helps the reader picture in his mind what the character feels and what he is going to do. In page 132 “Bernard probably had a lot of questions he wanted to ask me too…” “You feel the tingling sensation. Yeah he replied, in my fingertips…” “I knew exactly what he was experiencing.”

Setting

            This book takes place in school in the present time. In the past it takes place in the baseball stadium. In page 10 “Tito is my Spanish name. On the first day of school.” In page 86 “This time Clemente went to field the ball, but it ticked off his glove and bounced about 10 feet away.”

Point of View

         This book is written in 1st person point of view, which means “I” or “me”. I think this point of view helps the reader know the character better. It also lets the reader know the internal thinking of the character and his feelings.


Theme

         The theme of this book is necessity of the past and future in one’s life. In the book Josh does many journeys to the past and to the feature this is what makes him humanitarian. In page 126 “Ever since my first experience traveling through time, I dreamed of going to the future. If I could move backward in time, why not forward?”

Reflection


         I think this book maters because it shows people how they should be generous and help people in need of money or help. I liked this book because it was nice and a bit sad at the same time. I would recommend it to people that are interested in baseball. I would give this book an 8/10. I gave it an 8 because I think the book would be more interesting if Roberto did not take the plane and stayed alive.

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