Mrs. Abrams' Virtual Language Arts Class

n Chasing the King by Joshua Stein, Jason Skids,(who goes by his last name) Skids, is a great soccer player. Skids has everything going for him. Skids and his friends play for the Bay Side United Soccer Team. Skids thinks his life is great and that everything is going his way; however, his life takes a sudden twist. He has to move to Brazil! Little does Skids know, but the move will turn out to be an adventure of a lifetime. In addition, the move teaches him the lesson of perseverance.
Skids and his friends love to play soccer. When Skids reaches high school, him and his friends make the varsity soccer team. He is thrilled and can not believe that he made the varsity soccer team in his freshman year. Skids thinks he is one of the best soccer players around. However, once he gets to Brazil, he finds out that in comparison to others he is slow and not the great player he thought he was.
When Skids' dad first told him they were moving to Brazil he was so upset. They had to move because of his dad's job. Skids was crushed. He would never see his soccer team, friends, and school again. Skids was so worried about the move. Brazil was so far away and he did not even really know where it was. Also, he did not know how to speak Portuguese.
Skids dad said that it would be a good experience for Skids and that it would be fun. Skids did not see how it could be fun. Skids did not talk to his dad for a week. He was just so angry. Skids father left for Brazil first to look for a house for the family. Skids' dad promised him that they would not move until Skids finished he soccer season. After that though, it was off to Brazil.
Once he arrived in Brazil, Skids missed his home and was depressed. He could not stand having people talk around him and not be able to understand them. The one bright spot was that soccer appeared to be very popular in Brazil, which is called “football” instead of soccer. Skids first chance to make some friends was in a football pickup game. Skids immediately noticed that the Brazilian players were faster than him and had better moves than his. Neverthless, he had a great time playing the game he loved so much. Well, until near the end of the game when a player in a bright yellow jersey blocked his first opportunity to score. Skids was quickly learning he was not the best soccer player around. The goalie in the yellow jersey easily blocked Skids attempt to score. Once again, Skids became depressed.
As time goes by, Skids meets a lot of people and makes many new friends. He plays soccer almost every day and becomes amazing at it. He learns Brazil style tricks and is in the best shape of his life. Skids hopes that he can play soccer for a carrer. The thought makes him so happy. Skids starts to realize that maybe the move to Brazil was a good idea.
His dream eventually comes true and he gets to play for team U.S.A in the World Cup. He is so proud of himself. Life is great for Skids. The move taught Skids not to judge a place before you get to know it. What I will take away from this book is that as long as you keep trying and practicing you will get to your goal.

Posted by Mrs. Abrams at 8:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In the book The Highest Stand, by Tonie Campbell, an Olympian, Dede Savage, is reminiscing on his past. As he entered the Olympic Stadium, he frequently reminded himself of all the wrong choices he has made in his past. His friends forgave him, but that wasn’t enough for Dede. At college, Dede started training with the goal of breaking the college record for track. Eight years later, Dede wins the gold medal for hurdling in the Olympics. As he struggles with trying to keep his popularity, Dede learns that friendship is more meaningful than popularity.
Dede enters the Olympic Stadium for a hurdling competition. While he’s getting ready for the race, he reminisces to the past of how he used to be a nerd, but slowly became popular. The inspirational words of an Olympic athlete made him realize that no one should stand in the way of what you want. These words gave Dede the courage Dede needed to stand up to the bullies. Since Dede stood up to the bullies, he slowly became popular. He decided that popularity meant more to him than his old friends so he befriended them. Rosa, a girl Dede likes, says she’s not happy with the choice he makes. Since then, Dede only thought about how he had hurt his best friends.
When Dede was in high school, he got kicked off the track team since his grades were declining. After that, Dede decides to become a nerd for his old friends. Rosa and his friends accept his apology and Rosa begins to tutor Dede to get him back on track. Eventually, Dede is confident with himself again and he tries out for track and makes it. Without Rosa's knowledge and encouragement, Dede could have never pulled it off.
Apparently, Dede goes to college for track. When he gets there he beats the college track record. Due to Dede’s amazing skills, the Olympic track team tests him and he gets accepted. A tragedy happened and Dede breaks his leg and can’t play in the Olympics until eight years later. Dede pities himself of how he lost a chance to win the Olympics.
Dede comes back when he is 31 years old. Dede pulls his hamstring. Even though he is in an abundance of pain, he perseveres himself to keep running. Dede crosses the finish line at first place. He smiles thinking of his win. Dede’s parents cry with tears of joy. Dede has never had so much pride in his life.
Dede learns that friendship is more profitable than being popular. He learned this lesson from neglecting his friends but realizing that when he was popular no one was really his “Friends.” I learned that perseverance is the key to succeeding in life. Dede won the race only because perseverance was assisting him. Dede never gave up even though he was in pain. While Dede was standing up on the first place podium, he thought to himself, ”Dreams do come true.”

Posted by Mrs. Abrams at 3:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Kid from Courage by Ron Berman is an excellent book that keeps you reading. Bryan Berry, the main character, is a likeable person that has a love for tennis, from the small town of Courage, Kansas. He plays but says that he is not yet a tennis player. He enters the annual tennis tournament. Then he works with Henry Johnson, and old tennis pro, they become very close, and even closer when Henry is under the weather. As Bryan struggles with his tennis game, and achieving his dream of becoming a pro, he learns that with the help of old Henry Johnson, and some support of his divorced dad, that his dream can come true.
Every year Courage Kansas hosts an annual tennis tournament, and ever since Bryan met the age limit, he has competed. Charging through the first couple of matches, he was placed into the third round. There was where he met Ted Grover. it was a grueling match among the fifteen year old and the forty year old. Bryan took the first set in a tiebreaker. At 5-4 in the second set and Bryan down with the game score of 30 all, Bryan hit a clean down the line winner, that touched the line but the call from Grover was out. Bryan was furious, and with a couple more horrible calls and a few games later, all going Ted's way, Ted Grover stole victory out form under Bryan's nose.
After the match, Bryan spotted Henry Johnson, and old tennis coach, strolling toward him. To his disbelief, a couple minutes later Bryan and Mr. Johnson were into a deep conversation about the match. Following that day, Bryan was hitting with so much confidence, because Henry was watching, Bryan asked if Henry would guide him in the right direction, as his coach. They became very close, almost like family, they started over from scratch on his tennis game. Bryan told Henry about his problems including his father and him trying to become part of his life. But Bryan's not so sure if he should let him back in because he left once before. Then something very tragic happened.
Poor old Henry came down with the flu. Because Bryan could not be coached by Henry, he had to find a someone else to be his coach. With the nationals coming up, he needed someone with experience, so they called up Mike Scully. Mike and Bryan trained every day. It took Bryan a while to adjust to the feeling and not to be nervous. While Bryan was fight to stay alive in the tournament, Henry was also fighting for his life. Earlier that morning, he had fallen in the bathroom.
Henry was put into the hospital. Bryan came to visit him as much as possible, they talked about the tournament coming up in Kalamazoo. Henry tells him that his problem with his dad is like his second serve, you get another chance and you are only as good as our second serve. One night Bryan went to see Henry and his condition had taken a turn in the wrong direction. He was lying on his death bed and both of them knew it. As Bryan left that night, he knew it would be the last time they saw each other. He reached for the doorknob, ready to leave, and turned back, running to Henry's side, sobbing. They hugged and told each other that they loved one another. That was the last time they saw each other.
Bryan did not want to continue on his path to becoming a pro, but his dad and mom encouraged him to because that would have been what Henry wanted. So he went on with encouragement of his family, step mom and dad included. He lost to the top seed in the finals, but not without a fight. It's a long way from Courage to Kalamazoo, but Bryan Berry made it there known as the Kid from Courage.
Henry teaches Bryan to believe in himself. If you want something bad enough, with a little hard work, you will eventually get there. Bryan now has a totally new outlook on life. In the end, Bryan learns to give people a second chance, because you are only as good as your second serve. I gained a lot from this book, but all in all, I think the most important thing I learned that was if you have a dream, chase it, until you get where you want to be.

Posted by Mrs. Abrams at 3:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Response to Literature #1
Have you ever read a book about someone who is afraid of everything and then decides to go out for the soccer team and is the goalie? Well if you are interested in those kinds of books this is the right book for you. Keeper is the book I am reading and the authors is Holly Goldberg Sloan. Sasha is the main character in this book, she is the girl who is afraid of everything and somehow her best friend Courtney changes that. First, they were in there first real fight which led to a promise. Then on their way home from school Courtney would secretly get Sasha into training. When she went to school one day the promise led to soccer tryouts. After the tryouts they were at the first game she played she was amazing and got to be goalie and went for it totally and then as soon as she new it, it was all over and she had a sad surprise when she got home. An African American girl named Sasha was afraid of everything learns that people may say you can overcome every fear but Sasha learned that you can overcome some but not all.
Hear it goes, a disadvantage, in the beginning The First Real Fight, Sasha called it the Ice Age and before they new it Courtney came and started to talk to Sasha. She said how she would forgive her if she would try out for an athletic team with her once, Sasha agreed. I bet you are wondering how it all started, right? Courtney was trying to make Sasha try out for the swimming team and Sasha would not. That’s how Courtney got the idea for her to promise to tryout for at least one team. This event has changed Sasha’s life now because she has to try out for a team and she doesn’t have a choice anymore because she promised. Members got into the fight/promise which led to a new part to the book, now the reader won’t think this book will be about two opposite girls now they could somehow change and it would be a fun book.
There has to be many different ways that Courtney could get Sasha to actually learn how to play without her knowing it. Oh wait there is she could trick her. It was her best friend that thought of pretending to get scared and make Sasha run home with her. Also Courtney would kick the ball and it would somehow go to Sasha and she would have to be able to kick the ball and that’s how she learned how to kick the ball. Nets, she taught her the rules by pretending it was hockey and it would tell her about offsides and those rules. At the end of the training Courtney asked Sasha if she would try out for soccer and she said yes. Lastly this event has definitely changing the character because in the beginning she could not do anything and wouldn’t and now she can and will. What do you think will happen next, do you think she will try out for the team or is she just saying that?
At the tryouts, will they be a drag, or will she do good. Will Courtney bail on her and not want her to make it, Will she be good? While Courtney was at the store before practice she bought Sasha some cleats for the try outs. In the beginning, Sasha shows up at the tryouts all the girls thinks she weird until the watch her play and she’s not considered a loser on the field. Otto thinks she will make the team and would be a good goalie. Many people, including me thought at this point that she would have made the team but I’m not giving away any secrets because you need to read the book.
Most people would not expect her to actually play on the field in the most important game ever. Real goalie’s knee broke then the back up goalie got sick so that left Sasha and they won because she blocked a ball. Then the next game, the last one of the season is was the most competitive game, she had to be the goalie again and the game was up to her and she was so scared but just jumped right into the ball. Then when she went home something tragic happens. Now Sasha loves the game and would die without it. This book was so much fun to read it had a lot of things that I am interested in and I thought it was a good book. Is that how you thought it would end?
The book Keeper is an awesome book and is written like it could actually happen.
As you can tell this book was about a girl that was afraid of everything and all the sudden her life changes into something better. The life lesson learned from the character was that you need to live freely and not to be afraid just having fun. The lesson learned the book gave me was to never have to many fears it may become bad just have fun with yourself. I have never enjoyed a book like this before I like reading, but this book I loved to read.

Response to Literature #2
In the book Keeper, by Holly Sloan, Sasha Beckdell Lewis is featured as the main character. 8th grade Sasha is a girl trying to figure out who she is in life without a real family. Sasha is afraid of many things such as clowns, cats, knives, forks, car wash places, sprinkler heads, men in beards, blood, and much more. Throughout the book Sasha is always trying to avoid the things she is afraid of. She learns to overcome her fears by the love and encouragement of several people in her life.
Although Sasha does not have a traditional family, she has many people that care for her. The father of Sasha left her mother before she was born. Her mother was tragically killed in a car accident so now Sasha lives with her grandmother, Nammy. Eighty-five year old Nammy spends most of her days sitting around the house watching the weather channel. Courtney Bilsesser is Sashas best friend and has been since kindergarten. Even though Courtney knows about Sasha’s fears, she just jokes and laughs about them. Another important person in Sashas life is her soccer coach, Otto. All of these characters play a big role in helping Sasha face her fears.
During the story Courtney who is a great athlete, tries to get Sasha to try out for many different sports. Do to Sasha’s fears, she is afraid to play a sport because she might get hurt or the germs she might catch from other people. First, Sasha tries out for the basketball team and doesn’t make it. Next, she tries out for the soccer team and actually makes it! Without Courtney making a deal with the coach, Sasha would have never been apart of the team. Surprised by making the team, this causes Sasha to feel both nervous and a little excited about being a part of a team.
Otto, the soccer coach, has to make a difficult decision in choosing what position Sasha will play that will not effect the whole team. He decided to make Sasha the back-up to the back-up goalie. After hearing what her position would be, Sasha became more excited because she might not ever have to play in a real game. Soccer season started out great with their team winning every game. Sadly, the main goalie Madeline, broke her leg during a game so now Shawana, the first back-up goalie had to take Madeline’s place. During a game against the teams biggest rival, Shawana had an asthma attack causing Sasha to become the goalie. Nammy started coming to the soccer games which made Sasha feel good inside because her grandmother was there supporting her. At the end of every game Otto huddled the girls in a circle and told each girl what they contributed to the game. Surprisingly, Otto told Sasha that he was proud of how courageous she was to become the goalie after the other girls had to step down from their position. Nobody had ever called her courageous and it gave her a number of feelings she had never felt before.
Since Otto told Sasha that she was courageous, it made her become more outgoing in a variety of ways. Playing goalie at the next game, Sasha overcame her fear of the ball hitting her by blocking a shot. When she made the save the crowd went wild and she realized she didn’t need to be afraid to be part of the team. Looking up in the stands Sasha realized that Nammy wasn’t there. Finally when the game was over Sasha went home and found Nammy had a heart attack and died. Once Nammy had died Sasha had to find a place to live. Many people offered to let Sasha live with them but Sasha choose to go to boarding school. Overcoming many types of fears allowed Sasha to be successful in soccer throughout high school and college.
Facing, your fears in life is one of the hardest things to do. With the help of others Sasha was able to face her fears. Had it not been for Courtney Sasha might not have had the opportunity to find enough courage to overcome her fears. Hopefully Sasha will have enough courage to face any fears she might have later in life. I believe that having various people who love and support you can give you the courage to face your fears and reach your goals.

Posted by Mrs. Abrams at 3:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

“All the Right Reasons”, from the book, Future Stars of America, written by Ron Berman, is my favorite story of the collection because the true story helped me realize how much I love my sports. The main character, Raymond Sarmiento, lives in Los Angeles, California, where he first learned tennis. Someone out of the ordinary comes into Raymond’s life and gave him encouragement. Through his experience, Raymond has traveled sometimes far for competition. Soon Raymond becomes a star of America, for he has worked hard and deserves the title. Raymond Sarmiento is a young tennis player who learned that your dreams can lead you to something you love and enjoy, from the professional tennis player, Andre Agassi.
Throughout his life, Raymond has loved tennis. As a toddler, his parents took him to the neighborhood tennis courts frequently. Watching the ball hit the pavement and the sound of the racket as it hit the yellow ball, was something Raymond enjoyed. His parents eventually bought him his own small racket which he played with all the time, forgetting all his other possessions. When Raymond was six, he had become quite a tennis player, still needing experience. Many tournaments were won by Raymond, against kids who were three to five years older than him. Soon Raymond only played one sport, tennis, all his time taken up by tennis.
One experience in particular, made Raymond love tennis even more. It was at a tennis court, when Andre Agassi had completed a professional tennis match. At the time, Raymond was ten, and was in a local youth tennis organization, in which the professional generously helped with. Agassi had been entertaining the large crowd during his match. Then, when
Raymond’s turn came up to play with him, Agassi made his famous 150 mile per hour serve to the far right corner. Immediately, surprise lit Agassi’s face as a ball bounced back to his feet. Talented Raymond had returned his serve! Showing so much astonishment on his face, the crowd laughed with Andre. After the “fun match”, Agassi gave an encouraging comment to the excited Raymond. “You are better than I was at your age”. Today, twelve year old Raymond lives by this statement, pushing him on to reach his goal of becoming a professional tennis player.
In Raymond’s tennis accomplishments, he has traveled all over the place for matches and tournaments alike, mostly playing against older kids. A common example, Raymond came in second as a ten year old in a twelve and under tennis match. Everywhere he goes for matches, his family goes with him. They even traveled to Africa once, where a huge recognition was headed towards Raymond because he placed third out of twenty-three countries represented. Talent takes Raymond all around the world.

Tennis is his priority because he loves it. He is known by his friends and family to never give up and to work hard. Work barely describes Raymond’s three to four hours of practice each day. Even Raymond’s coach, Blake Ross, says that he is one of the best tennis players his age that he has ever seen. Many sacrifices were made by Raymond, like home schooling and missing social time, so he could play more tennis.
I believe Raymond will become a well-known professional tennis star when he grows up. Raymond most certainly deserves it for sacrificing what average kids do. The beginning of his lifetime journey, has taught him that his dreams can lead him to something he loves and enjoys. This story made me think hard about softball. Would I ever sacrifice the same things that Raymond did? Perhaps so, if a professional softball player told me that I was better than they were at my age. This is why Raymond is a star of America.

Posted by Mrs. Abrams at 3:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Language Arts-3rd Period
February 5, 2006
4th Rough Draft

Sleep Disturbances

No one can live without sleep. Sleep is caused when the body is low on energy. Life can be hard for people who have sleep disturbances. While most can just lie down and fall asleep, others with sleep disturbances might lie in bed all night without even getting a wink of sleep. Since such people do not get any sleep at night, that could leave them feeling tired during the day. This could be dangerous if someone falls asleep while driving. Sleep is something that most people take for granted. Sleep is needed to allow the body and its cells to rest and recharge. Sleep helps the brain to be able to concentrate during the day. However, natural sleep does not always come easily to people with sleep disturbances.

Description of Sleep Disturbances
There are many types of sleep disturbances and several ways in which to describe them. Disturbed sleep usually occurs when a person wakes up many times at night. Sometimes disturbed slumber comes when an individual is afraid to go to sleep. For instance, if someone just had a nightmare or even worse a night terror the person might be too scared to go back to sleep. Insomnia, or an insomniac, is a person that does not sleep at all or does not get enough REM sleep. Sleep apnea is when people stop breathing while asleep. Other descriptions of disturbed sleep are bedwetting and sleepwalking. All in all, there are many types of sleep disturbances.

Causes for Sleep Disturbances
There are multiple causes for sleep disturbances. The most common type of sleep disturbance is waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to fall back asleep. To be able to stay asleep the body needs to stay at a comfortable temperature. Asthma medicines, the medicine methylxanthinces, and high amounts of ethanol are thought to cause sleep disturbances. Nasal congestion, sleeping pills, smoking, and drinking alcohol all affect breathing and could make sleep apnea worse. Large amounts of stress can interrupt sleep. Kids that stay up all night do not get enough sleep and will most likely feel tired during the day when they must stay awake. Fatty neck tissue can press on the airway and makes it harder to breath. In fact, breathing problems when asleep are one of the biggest causes of sleep disturbances.

Effects of Sleep Disturbances
Effects of disturbed sleep are dreadful and can sometimes be dangerous. Some people with sleep disturbances go days without even feeling tired; however, the brain will eventually shut down. People affected by sleep disturbances for long periods of time cannot rest well during the night. Therefore, exhaustion is felt during the day and during working hours when there is no opportunity to sleep. This could be extremely dangerous if the person falls asleep while driving. Also, during the day the person might be in a bad mood, or feel depressed. Others might wake up with a stomach ache, or just feel miserable. Not resting well not only affects a person’s productivity and relationships with others, but can also affect their health. Little sleep lowers the resistance that the body’s cells have in fighting viruses and harmful bacteria, which may cause sickness. As a result, sleeping disturbances can drastically alter someone’s life.

Solutions for Sleep Disturbances
There are numerous solutions for disturbed sleep. Some are easy things that anyone can do like lose weight, especially around the neck, and do not eat right before bed. There are also medications to put a person to sleep and keep them asleep. Other solutions are a little more involved such as stopping smoking and drinking alcohol. If these methods are not helping, go to a sleep clinic where doctors can suggest a treatment. Some treatments involve surgery such as jaw surgery to enlarge the jaw to make the air way larger, surgery to remove the uvula which will open the airway, and surgery to open the nasal passages. There is a device that is called the tongue restraining device which pulls the tongue towards the teeth and opens the airway behind the tongue. Many people wear a device called the CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) which is a mask that blows air in to keep the airway from collapsing. So far there are only a few treatments for disturbed sleep that actually work permanently. Many drug companies are looking for new treatments to sleep disorders. Always keep in mind when taking sleep medication that most are not for long term use and some sleep medicines can be addictive.

Summary
There are many causes and effects for disturbed sleep. There are also many solutions. Sleep disturbances can have a big impact on people’s lives. Without sleep, people could not live. Therefore, sleep is required for life, yet people with sleep disturbances cannot get the sleep that the body requires and sleep does not come easily. Help is available and anyone suffering with a sleep disturbance should talk to a doctor right away before something serious happens.

Works Cited

Bradbury, Jane. “Common Drugs and the Pursuit of a Good Night’s Sleep.”
The Lancet. 12 January 2002:2. eLibrary. 18 January 2006.
.

Linder, Doug. Sleep Apnea Treatments. 1995-2006. 19 January 2006.
.

Nordenberg, Tamara. “Tossing and Turning No More.” FDA Consumer.
1 July 1998:6. eLibrary. 18 January 2006.
.

Parker, Steve. Dreaming in the Night. New York: Franklin Watts, 1991.

Silverstein, Alvin, and Virginia Silverstein. The Mystery of Sleep. Boston:
Little Brown and Company, 1987.

Silverstein, Alvin. Sleep. New York: Franklin Watts, 2000.

“Sleep.” World Book Encyclopedia. 2000 ed.

Posted by at 5:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Road to the Majors

In Road to the Majors, Scott Blumenthal and Brett Hodus make a tremendous story about Jimmy and his struggles through baseball. As Jimmy is being robbed, he thinks of memories that he had in his childhood. He should just feel grateful that he ordered pizza one night. For that reason, he ended up saving his life. Finally, as Jimmy goes though many countless troubles, he keeps on getting at a higher point and achieving more in his life.
Jimmy Hanks was a very happy camper; he had just been invited to AA baseball. But, when he decided to celebrate he ran into a lot of trouble in his Florida condominium. He ordered pizza in hope for an amazing time, but no more than 10 minutes later, the doorbell sounded. To Jimmy's surprise, it wasn't the pizza guy, but instead, numerous robbers who attacked the young baseball stars. At this point in Jimmy's life he was thinking of the oddest memories considering the fact he was being robbed. This might be his only chance for survival.
Once again, Jimmy hears the sound of the doorbell, and sees the pizza guy waiting outside. When Jimmy finally gets up to answer the door he is ordered to just get the pizza, then close the door, but before he slams the door closed with frustration, he silently says the word, "HELP" to the stranger at the door. While Jimmy is being duct-taped to the floor, and in much pain, he remembers this time in High School and Collage baseball. "Jimmy, you truly are an amazing baseball player," those words motivated Jimmy to keep on going, despite having many troubles along the way. Being forced to move to a new school out of Jimmy's hometown of Ocean town was very difficult for Jimmy. Here he is bullied and no one, not even his baseball teammates, believe that the "surfer boy" knew anything worthwhile. After three lengthy years of hate, Jimmy finally gets some respect for baseball and gets a letter from the collage of his dreams. San Diego University wanted Jimmy, for he was a solid hitter, was exceedingly strong, and knew how to truly play America's Pastime! The first year of collage at the university was tough, very tough. Jimmy was never going to the out of state tournaments and barely ever got the chance to play. Then, one day, when he did get a chance, he made four errors in o new game, ouch! Finally, just as in High School, at Jimmy's last year, he is basically the captain of the team, and ends up winning the collage World Series.
"Now it is time for the fun part, the robbers announce that they are ready to execute Jimmy and his friends. But, right before Jimmy wished to say his final words, BAM, the door slams open and the cops are there. Now Jimmy and his friends are safe thanks to the pizza guy. All the while Jimmy is thinking of the time he was in A baseball. Single a baseball was know longer a sport played for enjoyment, Jimmy had to move on and eventually become a professional ball player. Learning rapidly, Jimmy now knew that that bus rides were extensive, and ball players, as old as twenty-eight were better than ever before.
This is where time meets reality, and Jimmy hears three words from the manager of his new professional team, "You're on deck." Throughout his life, Jimmy learns that nothing, not even baseball, is more important than the opportunity to live. He is more aware of reality, and has grown up in and around baseball and his memories.

Posted by Mrs. Abrams at 3:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

THE KID FROM COURAGE

In The Kid From Courage, by Ron Berman, Bryan becomes outstanding in tennis. All thanks to his coach, he makes it to the big-time in his tennis career, The Kalamazoo Tournament. Only the best players from the United States play there year round.
Bryan finally learns the fundamentals of tennis. He meets an old, dusty, coach who starts intense training and gets a lot better skills. Eventually, Bryan gets a few new techniques which change him to an awesome player.
He finally won The Courage Opens but a tragedy happens. His coach dies. Bryan gets a new coach named Mike Skully. Finally, Bryan makes it to the Kalamazoo Tournament, and Mike Scully is really excited for him. Bryan feels a lot of confidence in himself because he has gotten the farthest anybody has ever gotten from Courage County.
Bryan wins a few tennis matches but has problems winning the final match. He can't stop thinking about his dad and coach. Eventually, after a long, rough match, Bryan loses in the tiebreaker in the third set. Even after that, he loses in the finals and becomes a local tennis star. But hey, with that kind of attention, 2nd place in the U.S isn't all that bad.
The Kid From Courage teaches you to beleive in yourself and that you have two chances in life, just like your second sere. This book would be rated a nine out of ten in my opinion because of the time that some tragedies happen and the good events that happen to Bryan during his tennis career.

Posted by Mrs. Abrams at 9:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In The Kid from Courage by Ron Berman, Brayn is very passionate about tennis. He loves everything about it. He puts forth all the effort and consent practice that is needed to be a successful player. He acquires some professional coaching from a washed up tennis coach named Henry Johnson. Brayn wants to be a tennis superstar but he has to start in Courage, Kansas.
Brayn plays a exceptional match of hard-core tennis but has many flaws. He loses most to all of his matches. Henry is a washed up tennis coach who used to be a big-timer in the major tennis world. Braryn starts intense drilling combined long and hard practice. He started to win all of his matches by applying what he learned on the practice court with Henry. He wins a tournament (called the Courage Open), that he thought he couldn’t even make it to the semi-finals.
Henry starts to show many signs of weakness and is revolting medical care. He tells brayn to start drilling with a old friend named Mike Scully. Coach Henry Johnson has a tragic ending i.e. his death. It takes a positive toll on Bryan. He makes a national tournament called "Kalamazoo" where the top players with the best skill, knack and attitude compete for the number one spot in the USA.
First he is nervous about being beaten and losing his dream about of winning that is so close to him. He faces many heated matches with some exceptional players. His family has even become subject to local newspaper , TV shows, and even pauperize. His fans start to continue to show love a support for him.
Coach Henry Johnson edifies Brayn to become the best he can be and overcome his fear of losing on the courts. He loses his match but he understands that winning isn’t everything. Brayn looks forward to next year.

Posted by at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Serious health problems and peer pressure can occur if a person is a teenager.
15% of teenagers are overweight. All though many teens cause their own obesity, many were born with it. Obesity is an excessive accumulation of body fat that results from the storage of excess food energy in the body’s fat cells. Since 1999 overweight teens have increased from 11% to 14%. Fortunately there is hope for these teenagers....
What is the Description?
Many people don't know what is healthy for their height and weight as a teenager.
160 pounds for a person that is 5'9" is healthy. 25% of teenagers are obese or at risk of being it in the United States. Obesity is when you store excess food energy in the body's fat cells and gain pounds of weight. If you are a teenager and you are over 30% body fat that is considered overweight or obese. Though they do, most teens shouldn't fret about their weigh, because many teens were born over weight, they still think that they let them selves go and wish there was a way to lose the excess body fat.

What are the Causes?
"What causes obesity"? It might be from eating too much or overeating. Sometimes it might be a lack of exercise. Snack foods can do a lot of damage to the body if you eat too much of them. If there are a lot of calories and fat taken in weight will not be lost, in fact weight might even be gained! Low-self esteem might make weight be gained without even eating food. Excess body fat is gained around hips and stomach, or it might be from peer pressure from school. For a teenager, school can really be a giant pain. With their peers calling them names like "fat" and saying "go drink a Slim-Fast" it doesn't help them any with their problems. Many teens parents are getting divorces and it will hurt the teen a lot, physically in weight gain and mentally if their parents split up.
What are the effects?
"So what’s the problem''? It causes an extremely high blood pressure to be at risk. Some teens may turn to an awful way of salving their problems with smoking. Smoking can cause an even larger risk of high blood pressure. Many teens have low self-esteem because people make fun of them because they are fat. If they feel stressed they might commit suicide! Speaking of death, Obesity can and will cause premature death. Obesity can cause type-2 diabetes, pediatric hypertension, coronary heart disease, and clogged arteries. Type-2 diabetes is diabetes that is cause by basically being over weight. Coronary heart disease is when your heart gives up because it has been working too hard. Some of these things might even result in nursing homes.
What’s the Solution?
There is hope for teenage obesity! There are some simple and easy ways to lose the weight and there are some drastic ways. Basically, just start eating healthier. Eat fruits and vegetables instead of potato chips and hamburgers. Try to cut back a little on the fat intake. Also, cut back on the calories too. "How do I know where to find the fat and calories and the fat?”. Look on the back of the box under Nutrition Facts. The other way to shed the weight is by exercising. Get into an exercise group. Try doing aerobics and yoga. Aerobics can get a work out that will make the body a skinny body and maybe have a little muscle. Yoga is a combination of meditating and stretching that will help lose weight and calm the mind. Most teens love sports. Sports are a good way to have fun and exercise at the same time. Many teens watch plastic surgery shows on Television, and they all say I got gastric by-pass and look at what a great job it did! Gastric by-pass is a procedure where they staple your stomach closed. So instead of your stomach being the size of a football, it will be the size of an egg. For many teens it's a bad idea to get gastric by-pass at their age. The other way few teens lose their weight drastically and unhealthily is by crash dieting. This is were they do not eat at all or they shove their finger down their throat and through up whatever the just ate.

Obesity can give serious damage to a person’s body and the way it functions. Many teens are disappointed with their-selves for getting the way they are. Some teens that are fit don't realize that they could be harming obese teens, too. Many teens don't know that there is hope for their disorder. They can go out and exercise. Or go out and start eating healthy. You can get serious health problems as an obese teen. In conclusion, teenage obesity is a huge problem, but there is a solution for the problem thankfully.
Work-Sited
3
N/A. Childhood Obesity.1987.1/16/06.www.kidssource.com/kidsource/content2/obesity.html
4
Dr. McKusic, Victor A. Understanding Childhood Obesity. Jackson, MS. University Press of Mississippi: 1999.
3
Fitness and wellness week Editors. "More of American Children and Teens are Overweight". Adolescent Health.3/31/2001:6.7
2
N/A. Teenage obesity. 4/7/03. 1/18/06/www.departmentds.edu/owl/_disk2/ 00000017.htm
1
Vask, Peter D. "Obesity". Academic American Enclopedia. 1995.

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Teen Smoking

Why do teens and other adolescents smoke? They know it's dissatisfactory, so why try it in the first place? Well peer pressure has a lot to do with it. Smoking is an addiction and when someone stops usually around 9 days they pick up the habit again. Teen smoking should be stopped because it has caused a many deaths. Over 6.4 million adolescents die due to a smoking related disease. Smoking is, in some places, an illegal act that damages one self and others close by.

Causes
Many people wonder what causes other people to smoke. Social influences are the key problem to teen and adolescent smoking. Being influenced by peers do to pressure is the number one influence. Second is being influenced by a parent at a young age. Some children will watch their parents smoke and copy them, usually using a pen. Most kids start at age 13, when they are just starting middle school. Some kids are born "addiction-prone" meaning that their mother smoked when they were pregnant with the child. People say that smoking relaxes the body, that it’s cool, and that it brings relief to them. Watching an older sibling smoke is a major influence because younger children look up to their elders including brothers and sisters.

Effects
True or false? Lung cancer has been around for forever. False! 50 years ago lung cancer was rare and was hardly a problem, but now that teens and adults smoke lung cancer is seen every day. Smoking causes a egregious amount of effects to the body other than lung cancer. It might cause heart disease, chronic lung disease, memory problems, nausea, restlessness, loss of appetite, and your heart beats 60% faster than a normal heart. Smoking also makes you look monotonous and decelerate along with being confused. First time smokers don't get high right away but regular smokers suffer ill effects. Smokers aren't the only ones hurt; the people around smokers are harmed too.

Types
Pipes, cigarettes, and cigars these are the main substances used for smoking. Cigarettes are made from shredded tobacco, left from making cigars, and rolled into a tubular procastinate burning device. Cigars are made from taking a tobacco leaf and rolling it up into a cylinder form while on the other hand pipes are exasperated out of cutting tobacco up and putting it in an end then is smoked up a tube connecting to the mouthpiece. A cigarette includes tobaccos, which there are 60 kinds of used in drugs and more. There are three main drugs that are around you everywhere in the world. To start with, tobacco is a drug that when associated with an adolescent gives a range of health-compromising behaviors. Such as: getting included in allot of fights, wanting to carry weapons, and high-risk sexual behavior. Next, there is marijuana, a drug made from a hemp plant, which is also called "Mary Jane", "pot", and sometimes "grass”. 400 chemicals are in the marijuana substance. Not least but last, nicotine. Nicotine is more of the thing that causes addiction that being a drug itself. Nicotine has two important things in commercial manufacturing nicotine tobacum along with n. rustica. These aren't the only things smoked by adolescents. Stuff like heroin, morphine, codines, opium, methadone, barbiturates, methadqualone, mini tranquilizers, cocaine, and amphetamines were and still are used too.

A little history
Cigaretts became popular in the mid 1800's. Believe it or not stuff like pipes were used over 1600 years ago. These pipes were even used by Mayas and Mexican priest. Europeans didn't only come over from Europe to be free; they came to also find land for growing tobacco plants. When searching they found the present day states Maryland, Delaware, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, And South Carolina. Soon tobacco industries were making over 120,000 cigarettes a day but only trained people could make them. An interesting facts is that tobacco can be made as far north as Norway and Canada and as far south as Argentina. Tobacco was first grown in France in 1556 and in England in 1558. These are the substances that harm adolescent smokers.

Surveys and percents
Numbers, numbers, numbers. Numbers could describe teens and smoking alone. First, we should talk about middle school students. In 1999 15% claimed to be using some form of drugs at least once a month. Cigarettes were most common with the smokers, then cigars. Second, we should chat about high school students. In 1980 there was a survey that said 60% percent of all high school students had tried marijuana before. In 1997 37% of high school students smoked. Currently 28.5% smoke now. In 1999 2/3 of high school students had tried smoking (70.4%) but in 2001 63.9% had tried it, almost 6% lower. In 1999 17% of high school smokers smoked regularly but in 2001 14% frequently smoked. In 1980 2/3 of high school smokers used illicit drugs. 93% claimed that they had tried alcohol. 7% made the right decision. It is a fact that males smoke more than females because men have been smoking the longest. Of high school smokers 25% were males that smoked cigars while 10% were females that smoked cigars. 6000 adolescents (under 18) try smoking every day, 2000 of those kids become regular smokers. 4.5 million (US) adolescents smoke cigarettes. 90% of them smoked before age 21. 20% of 12th graders smoke, 12% of 10th graders smoke, and 5.5% of 8th graders smoke. If you smoke 100 cigarettes it feels impossible to quit. A teen smoker has just a impenetrable time of quitting as an adult smoker. Adolescents are chief support in tobacco industry. Clinics are helping to bring down these high rates.

Treatments
Are there people who want to help smokers quit? Is there a substance that helps reduce the smoker’s nicotine? Yes, and yes. Nurses, psychologists, and physicians all help smokers attempt to quit. A nicotine patch gives a steady amount of nicotine through the skin into the body to reduce risks. Also detoxification is a substance that rids the body of poisons or the effects of poisons. In 2003 the % of clinics helping addicts was 21.6, in 2005 it was 25.2. States are trying to prevent smoking and now Kentucky with 27.6%, Virginia with 26 %, and Oklahoma with 26 % are the leading states in preventing smoking. Sadly Utah with 10.5%, California with 14.8%, and Idaho with 17.5% are doing the worst job of preventing teen smoking. There are proficient programs that help reduce smokers like ACS Guide Materials for Teens Against Tobacco, and ACS School Health Initiatives, and ACS Comprehensive plan for community control. If you let a child smoke the will have a supereminent chance of getting lung cancer. Those were only some. 6.4 million teens and kids die due to a smoking related disease. Smoking must be stopped.

Now people can see that peer pressure is not the only reason for smoking teens. That lung disease is not the only symptom. Or how many teens smoke, what they smoke, and why it’s reprobate. Even that cigarettes aren’t the only drugs used by adolescents or that there are treatment centers for addicts. The most important thing learned is that smoking is, in some places, an illegal act that damages one self and others close by and has a consummate deal of effect on the world. So help stop it before even more adolescents get hurt.

Where all of this information came from- the book Addiction by Gilda Berger (1982), the magazine Atlanta Journal Constitution the article “smoking rate creeps down” (2006), the encyclopedia Collier’s Encyclopedia number 21 (1997), the web page www.health.yahoo.com/centers/smoke_free/17 by yahoo inc. (2006), and the website www.lungusa.org/site/pp.asp?c=dvluk9o0E&b=39868 by lung association (2005). NOTE TO OTHERS! If you know someone that is smoking or may start smoking please contact the nearest addiction center to help stop their addiction. Teen or adult, no matter the age, they need you.

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