Zachary+Baumann

//Summer Ball// by Mike Lupica

Young Adult Fiction __Overview of the book__ //Summer Ball// is about a 13 year old boy named Danny Walker who loves the game of Basketball. His dad was a proffesional basketball player himself and likes for Danny to follow his footsteps. Danny and his 2 bestfriends, Ty and Will, go to a summer camp called Right Way Camp. It is an official camp that has college coaches there to coach every drill and session there, and also people from around the world go there and are the best of the best, so you have to be a really good player to go to it. Well the three boys go to it and are amazed at the campsite and are excited to get started. But if youre the smallest kid on the court and have to play older kids and face the challenges like Danny, do you think he has what it takes to beat them? As Danny meets new kids and sees old players he used to play with, he needs to step up his game in order to stand tall and defeat all his challenges. __What i thought about the book__ I thought this book was really good because i can relate a lot to it. Also, i love basketball so much and this book really interests me on how it uses the sport. I really encourage everyone to read it because you can learn a lot from it and it is a great book to read.

Mike Lupica is a great author that has written many good books. He is one of the best known and widely read sports columnists in the United States. He began his newspaper career with the New York Post in 1975, at the age of 23, covering the New York Knicks. In 1977, he became the youngest columnist ever at a New York paper with the Daily News, where he currently writes four syndicated columns a week. He has also worked for New York Newsday and The National. Since 1987, Lupica has written "The Sporting Life" column for //Esquire// magazine. His work has also appeared in //Sport// magazine, //World Tennis, Tennis, Golf Digest,// //Playboy, Sports Illustrated and Parade. Lupica is also a regular on ESPN's Sunday morning show, "The Sports Reporters."// He started writing sports books and they became really popular. He wrote other books such as Baseball and football books too.
 * __About the author__**

__Other works by Mike Lupica__ > If you are into sports, you should definately look into these books
 * //Heat-//a book about baseball
 * //Million Dollar Throw-// A book about Football
 * //Shootout-// A book about Soccer
 * //The Batboy-// another book about Baseball
 * //Hero//
 * //Safe at Home- Book about Baseball//
 * //Long Shot-// A book about Basketball

__Social Issue Relevance-Bullying__ Bullying is a major problem that goes on forever. One in seven students is either a bully or a victim. It is estimated that 160,000 children miss school every day due to fear of attack or intimidation by other students. In this book the main character, Danny, is bullied by other kids and sometimes his coach that he has at camp. They relate because people are bullied like this too but it is for real instead of a fake fiction book like //Summer Ball.// There are many types of bullying. There is physical bullying, verbal bullying, and cyber bullying. Physical bullying includes kicking, punching, slapping, anything to do with hurting the other person. Verbal bullying is saying meanful things to the other person or stuff that effects the other person in any kind of bad way. Cyber bullying is bullying over the internet or other technoligical type of equipment such as texting, instant messaging, or email. The one that takes place in this book is a little bit of physical and verbal. Over the course of a year, nearly one-fourth of students across grades reported that they had been harassed or bullied on school property because of their race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or disability. In the United States, bullying increases for boys and girls during late elementary years, peaks during the middle school years, and decreases in high school. It is a huge issue that needs to be stopped. []

for more information on bullying, go to []

__Dramatization of the book__ If i were to make a movie of this book, i would choose these actors and actresses to portray the main characters.

Bow wow to play Rasheed Hill In this book, Bow wow would really do a good job playing Rasheed because he looks like him and he is good at acting in Basketabll movies. Jaden Smith as Danny Walker(the main character) I think he fits the spot good because hes a little kid that is good at playing those spots like in the movie Karate Kid Clint Eastwood as Ed Powers Ed powers is a mean basketball coach and Clint would fit this job perfectly because he is good at being mean in movies and in the book the coach is mean, Miranda Cosgrove as Tess She would be good because she is about the right age as Tess, and I think she could do a good job at it.

__About the reader__ My name is Zach Baumann and i go to Gahanna Lincoln High School. I live in Gahanna, Ohio and i have 1 brother. I live with my brother and parents and i love to play sports such as Basketball and Baseball. I love to go to different places and try new things. I am that curious type of guy. I am also very different than all the other average joe's. I am outgoing and i like to do my own thing. I also like to hang out with friends and listen to music. Without friends, i would never be where i am today. I am involved on the Basketball team right now and i soon to be on the Baseball team later. If anyone makes me laugh then ill love them. Humor is my thing.