Summary of Necessary Roughness

Necessary Roughness is about a boy named Chan Jung Kim whose family had to move from L.A. to Iron River, Minnesota. Chan wasn’t happy about it and neither was his sister. Chan didn’t get alng with his father, Abogee. The reasn that they moved to Irn River, Minnesota was because Abogee’s brother, Bng, had left his general store in pursuit of a “sure way” money making scheme. He had asked them too take over, and Abogee had volunteered his family.

They packed their belngings, and were on their way to the town of Iron River. Chan often wndered why his family kept a Buddha statue. It was heavy, and not only that, but Chan’s family was Christian. Abogee thought it was something great, and it came with them on the move.

When they arrived in Irn River, they checked in with the owner of the apartment complex where Bong had lived. The man was racist, and demanded the rent that Bong had not paid before he had left. Abogee paid for it, and asked if they could have Bong’s apartment. The man refused and said he didn’t have time for any more sneaks. Abogee requested that he have his money back, but the owner ordered them to leave. He and Abogee argued, and finally the owner man handled both Chan and his father out.
They searched at another complex, where the owner told them they were full. Chan’s mother talked with the owner, and found out that perhaps the chamber of commerce could assist them with finding a home. The family drove there and discovered that an old lady named Mrs. Knutson was looking for somene to rent the upstairs of her house. Chan’s mother chatted with Mrs. Knutson, and they agreed the family would stay there.

The Irn River High School was impressive compared to the town. It was much different to Chan because it didn’t have any graffiti n the walls, and the interior was spotless. In L.A. if schools were like that that it was cnsidered a miracle. During lunch, Chan decided he would eat in the gymnasium. There were already a group of guys in there, and one asked who he was and called him a name. Another asked him if he played soccer. Chan answered he did. The guy that asked him was named Mikko, and he wanted to know if Chan was up to playing n the Irn River Miners football team as kicker. Chan told him that he would think about it. Chan didn’t think he would, for Abogee would tell him football wouldn’t help him get into college.
Chan had difficulty deciding whether he should join the team, and he talked with his sister. She said she thought he should join even if Abogee was against it. Chan made his decisin and joined the team. on his first practice, nly Mikko was friendly towards Chan. The rest ignored him, except for two of the linemen who were named Rom and Jimmi. They called Chan racist names and were always bullying him. The coaches of the team knew what they were doing. one of the coaches whose name was Kearney seemed like he belonged ion the military because of the workouts he made the team do aond also the way he talked. He always picked on a person if they performed a play wrong, or if they were lagging behind during practice.

After school Chan had to help with the store. He was in charge of the checkout counter. Abogee was not happy when Chan joined the football team.He reacted the way Chan thought he would. Chan convinced him that he could receive a scholorship through football like some other kid did. Abogee became slightly less hostile towards football.

At Chan's first football game, the team was up against Moose Creek. They lost. It wasn't the end for the Miners though.

One day after practice, Chan was in the locker room when he got a towel wrapped around his nose. He was carried and received another towel tied around his ankles. Chan tried fighting back, and he managed to kick someone, but the attackers tightened their grip and tossed him into a locker. Chan's ankle hurt like fire, but worse was he couldn't breathe. he wiggled until he loosened the towel around his face. He untied the towel around his ankles and got himself out of the locker. He was almost sure the attackers were Jimmi and Rom. He had to make up an excuse for his injured ankle to the coaches. Coach took him to a doctor. The doctor diagnosed a badly sprained ankle. Chan was grateful, for he didn't want to miss many games. The practices were even more intense since the Miners lost their first game.

Homecoming was near, and Chan was determined to win the homecoming game. The big day arrived. The game was against the Little Moon Pirates. The game went back and forth, but the Miners were winning, and Chan was going for the extra point. He waited for the snap, then began running toward the ball. A pirate line man somehow got through and crushed Chan after he kicked the ball. Chan saw the ball make its goal, but he felt like every bone in his body was snapped, and he couldn't breathe. Coach saw him writhing on the ground and called for the medics. The medics rushed onto the field and asked Chan if he could breathe. He shook his head and the medics leaned him forward. Chan sucked in breaths and realized he just got the wind knocked out of him. His ribs still throbbed, and he was taken into a doctor again. The doctor took x-rays and proclaimed he just had bruised ribs. Chan felt good enough to attend the homecoming dance, and he and Mikko hung around.

The coaches decided to hold a father-son night at the local VFW. Abogee told Chan one day that his coach had stopped in the store and talked about how well Chan was performing on the team. Chan asked if Abogee would like to go to a father-son night at the VFW. Abogee agreed it would be good, and it was settled. The night of the dinner, Abogee didn’t know what he should wear, and Chan had to help him decide what to wear. When they arrived, they were welcomed and escorted to their table by Coach Thorson. They ate, then stayed at their table while everyone else visited each other’s tables. Mikko’s dad came over and talked with Abogee, then Coach Thorson. The coaches stepped on stage and announced that they were going to hand out lettered jackets to the new players. When Chan received his, Abogee smiled for the first time in a long time.

Chan began to notice that Mikko was always asking about Chan's sister Young. He saw that Young acted different around Mikko, and Chan didn't mind them being together. The only problem was that their parents had set a rule of no dating until college. Both Young and Chan strongly disagreed with the rule. One day Abogee and Young began arguing over if Young should be allowed to date Mikko. Young ended up storming out of the room crying and Chan soothing her.

The Miner’s next game was a major one against the Moose Creek Spartans. It was the game that decided who went to the state tournament. The game was close, but the Miners won. It was Chan that scored the winning field goal.

The team’s tournament game was nearly a month away, and the Miners were training tough. Chan and Mikko were throwing a ball back and forth. Mikko was waiting for Young to stop by and watch. She didn’t show up, and Mikko decided he wanted to go home. Chan walked home and found that Young wasn’t there. He remembered she was at one of her friend’s, so he did his homework. As time went by and Chan’s parents came home, they began to worry about her. Around 7:00, a police officer came by and told the family that Young and her friend lost control of the car and crashed into a tree. The officer explained to them that Young died, but her friend was in the hospital. Chan couldn’t believe that his sister was dead. Chan had difficulty attending the funeral. Bong came back and attended it, as well as other family members. Bong left almost immediately after. Coach Thorson stopped by and took Chan to the town’s café. He attempted to talk to Chan. Once Chan started talking, he couldn’t stop. He told Thorson everything, including the truth about the incident in the locker room. Thorson asked if Chan knew who did it. Chan was reluctant, but he finally gave in and told Thorson who he suspected.

Chan arrived home from school one day and found Abogee kneeling in front of the Buddha statue. He explained to Chan that he wanted Young to have a safe passage.
Chan came back to practice, and he found that Rom was gone, but not Jimmi. Jimmi talked to Chan in the locker room and explained that he wasn’t one of the people who tossed Chan into the locker. He claimed that he was in on it, but backed out when Rom announced what he and his friends were going to do to Chan. Everyone knew what had happened to Young, and Jimmi started to finally be friendly towards Chan.
Chan had doubts about the Miners winning the Championship since they didn’t have Rom. The big day arrived, and the team was ready. The Miners won, and Chan visited the grave yard after the game. He laid the trophy on the grave. Just then, it began snowing, and Chan sat and watched his first snow next to his sister.

Essay Rough Draft

There are many inspirational messages that I have for others about pursuing their education goals. One is this, “How well a person does in school decides the kind of life they will have. If they do well, they have a higher chance of getting the career they want.”

A second message from me is, “It’s important to do well in school because it affects your chance of being accepted into a good college. Colleges look for people that do well in school.”

Educational goals are important to make because goals inspire people to achieve them. Why would someone make a goal if they don’t plan to achieve it? Goals don't have to be large, they can be simple such as earning an A on your tests, or getting all of your assignments in on time.

Being a hard worker is a key in doing well in school. A hard worker gets their work finished on time and also gets it handed in on time.

Educational goals and Being a hard worker are keys to receiving good grades. Good grades will show up on your record, and they’re important for getting into the college and the career you want.

Try very hard not to procrastinate. Procrastination is a detriment in getting homework finished on time.

Set a goal for later on in life to achieve and work toward it, such as finishing high school, or receiving a bachelor's degree.

Quitting school may seem like an easy option, but the truth is that it hurts you in the future.

#2 The Big Wander

I’ve finished reading The Big Wander and my opinion on it hasn’t changed much. I still think it was an okay book, not a must read book. The Big Wander became more enjoyable nearing the end of the story.

There were some things that I enjoyed about The Big Wander even though I didn’t enjoy the book overall. I still think the idea of the boy traveling across the desert alone to be somewhat entertaining and interesting. The ending was suitable, although predictable. It made you wonder what happened after the ending.

There were some things that I didn’t enjoy about the book. One was that some things that the author tried to express to the reader weren’t clear. Another was it was boring in the beginning, and boring in some other parts of the book.

I inferred a theme from the book. “Taking the chance of doing something that is right, but consequential is often rewarding.” I think this could be a possible theme because Clay took the chance of being caught and freed his uncle from a jail to help him free some wild horses that were going to be caught and slaughtered.

In a rating from 1-10 I would rate The Big Wander a 5 because it wasn’t the right book for me. To me it seemed boring. It didn’t catch my attention at the beginning, so it may have ruined the rest of the book. I wouldn’t strongly recommend this book, but somebody may find it to be a better book than I did.

#1 The Big Wander

I’ve just begun reading The Big Wander by Will Hobbs. When I read the first pages, the book didn’t appeal to me. As I continued reading, I became a little more interested. I think the book so far is okay. I thought the idea of a boy raveling across the desert alone was interesting. I am enjoying the adventure part of it. Other than that, I think the book is boring.

The main character is a fourteen-year-old boy who is searching for his uncle in the desert part of the U.S. The main character’s name is Clay. He had an older brother also looking for the uncle, but he left and went back home, while Clay stayed behind determined to find his uncle.

Clay and I aren’t much alike. A similarity I did find between us is we’re both fourteen years old. I think Clay likes to travel, and so do I. I could find quite a few differences between us. He doesn’t mind traveling far away from home with just his brother, who is a couple or so years older than he. When Clay’s brother wanted to go back, Clay decided that he wanted to stay behind and try to find his uncle in the desert all alone. I would’ve never dared to venture into the desert alone. Clay knows a lot about horses and he knows how to ride them, while I’ve only ridden a pony at a carnival when I was about seven years old.

If you are a person that enjoys western/adventure books, you would possibly like this book. In my opinion, the book so far is an okay one, but not a great one. If you are a person that finds western books boring, this probably isn’t the book for you. It takes place back in the ‘50s, so if you don’t like books that take place in the past, this isn’t the book for you.

The only thing I’ve learned so far is that a burro is a very useful thing to have in a desert because it can carry all the things you need, and is able to carry you too when needed.

Recommendation for Danger Zone

Danger Zone was one of the best sports I’ve ever read. I recommend this book to just about anybody. I have such a high recommendation for it because there was an abundance of action, and a satisfying amount of suspense. It was a book that kept me reading it until I had to stop. Danger Zone kept me wondering what was going to happen in the next chapter. I liked that the book took place in many different locations such as Minnesota, California, and Rome. Having the story in many locations gave me a new picture of the story in my mind. If the story took place just in one location, it may not have been so interesting or entertaining. All the parts of Danger Zone were great, the beginning, the middle, and the end. Danger Zone to me is a unique book.

I’d recommend this book to anyone, because I’m quite sure you’d enjoy it too. A person who likes sports books would enjoy this book especially. I can’t really see anyone not liking this book. I’ve read another book by David Klass. The book is called A Different Season. I thought it was also a great book.

There wasn’t much that I didn’t like about Danger Zone. The beginning was mostly action, but then transferring to suspense nearing the conclusion. I wish there were a sequel, but there isn’t. I rate Danger Zone from a scale from 1-10 a 10 because it made me addicted to it whenever I continued reading it, and to me it became better and better as the story progressed. The storyline was very interesting. Like I said earlier, there is plenty of suspense and action throughout the book.

If you ever want to read an excellent sports book, I strongly recommend that you read Danger Zone.

Setting of Danger Zone

The setting of Danger Zone takes place in Granham High School at the beginning of the story. The town of Granham is located in Minnesota, and I think Granham is fiction, because I couldn’t find the town of Granham in Minnesota, just the town of Graham, Minnesota. The gymnasium where Jim plays basketball is located behind the Granham High School in a separate building. There, Jim plays and practices basketball. In the gym, there are bleachers that are situated like the bleachers in North. For the time period, I don’t know what it was because the author didn’t say.

When Jim decides to join the U.S.A.,”Teen Dream Team” Jim is flown into Los Angeles, California where he meets the team and also where the team practices before flying to Rome for the tournament. In the area of Los Angeles where the team stays to practice, it’s decent, but surrounding that area there are many neighborhoods where gangs lurk. The story takes place there for a few chapters.

For the majority of the rest of the book, the setting takes place in Rome. The team gets used to the gym there, and they reside in a motel whenever they’re not in the gym. The coaches tell the team they have to stay in the motel and not to wander, but Jim figures he coaches weren’t going to be strict on that. Jim explored the city and visited a flower shop to order flowers to be sent to his girlfriend.

A day after one of the U.S.A.’s Teen Dream Team’s games, The mayor of Rome visited the motel where they were and gravely reported that after Augustus got into a fight with a spectator, the spectator turned out to be a Neo-Nazi and his gang made threats of killing the team. The team was escorted by many bodyguards and they were taken to a military compound to assure their safety. The bedrooms seemed like prison cells to Jim. Jim’s room was quite small. It had one tiny window with bars across it, a lumpy cot in one corner, and the door was thick and solid.

The last change in setting was after the last game in the tournament. The U.S.A Teen Dream Team won, and the spectators crawled over the barriers to get closer to them. Suddenly, a man stepped forward with a gun. He aimed it at Augustus, and a police officer tackled the man. The tackle didn’t stop the man from firing. Jim leaped out of the way, but the bullet hit him in the leg. He was immediately taken to a hospital. The doctors treated the wound as best they could, but Jim’s leg was really messed up. He was taken to a hospital in Rome where the best surgeon was. The surgeon told Jim he wasn’t a miracle worker, and Jim told him to do the best he could. Augustus showed up and stayed with Jim while he got his surgery.

Description of Main Character 2nd Entry

At the end of Danger Zone, Jim was a dynamic character. He was beside himself near the beginning when some basketball scouts introduced themselves to Jim and asked Jim if he would like to represent the U.S.A in a basketball world tournament for players 17 and under. He told them he couldn’t, and he tried to keep his mom from finding out because she would tell him he had to go, and she would operate the store all on her own.

His mom found out about it and told Jim he should definitely go. Jim reluctantly listened to his mom and told the scouts he would go. The U.S.A team consisted of ten players, and Jim was surprised to see that there are only 3 white players and 7 black players. At his first game with the team, Jim was very nervous because he had never played against or with anyone as good as him.

Later on in the story, Jim is terrified of someone coming to kill him and his team, because Augustus (One of the teammates of the U.S.A Teen Dream Team) picked a fight with a neo-Nazi during one of their games. The country of Rome (The location where the tournament was held) received threats of someone coming to kill the U.S.A team. Rome took every precaution to ensure the safety of the U.S.A team. The leader of Rome took the team to a safe location for them to stay. Jim was so paranoid he slept with the door locked, and made sure the window was locked, even though there were guards guarding the building where the team was sleeping.

As the book progresses, Jim became more comfortable playing basketball with his team and wasn’t so intimidated by other teams, though he was still paranoid about someone coming to kill him. One game when the police leap into the crowd, Jim freezes while he was in possession of the ball. The cops were just breaking up a fight, but it really spooked Jim. He played poorly for the rest of the game, but they still won that round. At the end, Jim and Augustus finally became friendly toward each other. (They hated each other at the beginning of the story)