Beckyg’s Comments (group member since Oct 25, 2016)

Beckyg’s comments from the 833 Reading Responses group.

Question: How has the character's background impacted him/her?
Area of Inprovment : Analysis
In the realistic memoir, On the Court with Yao Ming, by Matt Christopher, the main character, Yao Ming's background impacted him to be a dedicated basketball star who inspires others to succeed in all expectations. Yao grew up outside the large city of Shanghai and thanks to a big part of his parents, shooting and dribbling was a more of a second nature to him. By the age of 14, Yao stood six feet tall and many Chinese basketball officials recognized his as a future star. A year later, Yao was seen by the coach of Los Angeles Lakers who later brought him to an All-American camp who brought on a buzz. On chapter three the narrator says, "When Yao arrived, few American coaches has ever heard of him. The few who had expected him to be slow and uncoordinated. No one thought that he could hold his own against the best high school players in America," (23). When Yao came to America, he wanted to achieve something new, but many people underestimated him because he was Chinese and not many people heard of him in America. He proved people wrong by working harder than anyone else and his parents supporting him by his side. Yao's having an advantage of other by his height, he grew up playing basketball because of his parents, and Yao working hard, caused him to be the fierce player that he is on the court. As a result, Yao's background impacted him to be a noble piece who never doubts himself and enjoys to show others his skills.

Focus Question: What is a moment that reveals something important about your protagonist?
In Kristin Cast's House of Night fiction novel Betrayed, a moment that reveals something important about my protagonist, is her help for others. In a fragment of the novel, Zoey Redbird, the protagonist, wants to warn all the people who plan to drive the freeway, to not drive the freeway because her friend, Aphrodite, predicted a crack on the bridge. She wants to make sure everyone knows about the crack and so no one would get hurt when driving. Zoey figures out a way to get the word around by calling the local news station and warning people about a fake bombing so no one would be in danger. Zoey states, "This was actually part of my idea. I figured if I called a local news station, we would have a better chance of having the threat reported quickly on the local news, and then we could keep an eye on the bridge to see if it had been successful" (128). This shows that Zoey has a kind act of care for others because she wants to make sure no one gets injured on the cracked bridge. By doing something like this, this proves that Zoey is a kind warming person and is caring this an important moment that reveals something important about my protagonist.

Question: What is an important choice or action your character made?
In Jennifer Brown's realistic fiction novel The Hate List, an important action that my main character, Valerie Leftman, made was to easily forgive Nick Levil, the guy who shot his own classmates, no matter what obstacles come in between them. Before Nick's big scene, Valerie and Nick were pretty intimate and even after Nicks death of him shooting himself, she made it clear that she still had feelings for him. She still believed that Nick was innocent for what he did and doubted everyone that saw him as a murderer. Nick and Val were in high school and as their friendship began to grow, Nick was always there for Val; right by her side. One a former classmate, Christy Bruter, was "accidently" bullying Val on the bus, Nick immediately went and mistreated her. "'Got her,' Nick said, looking down at her too. he was holding a gun and his hand was shaking. 'Got her,' he repeated ... But no way could you convince me that he was a monster." Valerie chooses to easily forgive Nick for his actions because they've have created a very close bond that nothing or no one can break apart. Valerie thinks that no one really knows Nick, like how Valerie's Mom doesn't know Val's Dad. Everyone can think that they are a perfect family but in reality, her parents seem to always bicker at each other because of many issues including Valerie and her brother.