Oskar Changes

            I have never been this happy to finish a book.  I have just finished reading Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer.  I didn’t like this book because it was so confusing to read.  It is written in a train of thought which means it follows the way of Oskar’s thinking so it was more like an unfinished book.  It seemed at times to be rambling of thoughts rather than a story.  This book did get a little better at the end as Foer started to wrap things up.

            While I didn’t care for reading the book much, I did like to see the character, Oskar, change a lot during it.  During the story he goes from a depressed boy to a mature young man.  In the beginning of the story he appears depressed and misses some school, doesn’t want his mom to love again, seems to always be feuding with his mom and he is afraid of what might happen next.  I bet many people who lost someone on 9/11 very close to them felt the same way as Oskar did.

            During the book he matures and realizes that life must go on.  He goes back to school and thinks it will be okay if his mother finds someone else to love.   He starts to live the way he thinks his father would want him to live.  I think his travels through New York, looking for the owner of the key, helped him a great deal to mature.  If nothing else he learned to think things through before he acts and have a plan and he should have done his search systematically.  This could be a lesson everyone should learn at one point or another.

            Life is like a roller coaster, there are ups and downs.  I am glad that Oskar didn’t let this down ruin his whole life because after life goes down it must go up again.  Even though I am happy to see Oskar grow and change, I don’t think I will be reading, Everything is Illuminated, another book by Foer.

Not A Good Read

            I am reading a book I don’t like very much, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Foer. I think what I don’t like about the book is Jonathan Foer’s style of writing, I find it very difficult to follow.  The first paragraph of the book is talking about tea kettles and the next paragraph is talking about microphones.  I don’t see the connection between the two things and it wasn’t clear in the book either.

            Another aspect of his style that makes it difficult for me to get into his story is that he doesn’t use paragraphs.  His writing seems to be like a person’s thinking, a person who has lost their mind.  I have been taught that paragraphs are for a new idea or topic, so a reader can take a break.  In his style of writing a topic seems to change at random with no reason or connection.  He also doesn’t use new lines for dialogue.  This style of writing goes against what I have learned in grammar.

            I prefer to read a book that follows one storyline from beginning to end in time order.  In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Foer jumps from one storyline to another.  In no time at all he goes from a little boy telling a story to an old man telling a different story.  This book reminds me of the way Ender’s Game was written.  I had a hard time following that book too because it’s time frame jumped around a lot.  Opposite to this style I enjoyed the way Peak because it was a continuous story and easy to follow.  I am only going to finish this book because my group is reading for class.  I am so unhappy with this book I will not read any other books by this author.

I am Not A Mountain Climber

            Before reading Peak by Roland Smith, seeing the world from the top of a mountain seemed pretty interesting.  I have been able to have a view of the land from an airplane but from the top of a mountain would be completely different.  I think it would feel like standing on top of the earth.  The book has helped me realized that this is not a trip I would like to take.

            I don’t think I would have enough patience to do the climb properly.  I am a person who likes to move forward trying to reach my goals.  To reach the summit of Mount Everest, Peak climbed up one day, stayed there to acclimate himself to the altitude and then the group had to return to camp for a few days to recovery.  I know this is necessary to do but I don’t know if I would have enough patience to do the climb up and then down repeatedly.

            I can understand the need to adjust to the thinning air because I have been in altitude and felt the thin air.  My family and I went to Colorado to ski.  We skied the Colorado Rockies; the mountain not the baseball team.  After we got off the chair lift, I had a hard time catching my breath.  The summit of Mount Everest is about 29,000 feet above sea level and I noticed the difference at only 1000 feet.  Although the view would be great, Peak has already been working on the climb for 7 weeks and is only at stage four.

            During Peak’s 7 week experience he has already learned a lot about himself and he hasn’t reached the summit.  Peak has learned how to take care of himself since he has spent very little time with his father.  His father had taken responsibility for him to keep him out of jail but then did not help him much during the climb.  Through these seven weeks Zopa’s opinion of Peak’s effort has changed.  Zopa now thinks that Peak will reach the summit.  Since I do not have the patience to be a climber but I am enjoying the experience of reading this book.  Roland Smith’s style of writing is very descriptive and I often have the feeling of being on Mount Everest with Peak and the rest of the climbers.

Peak and His Challenges

            Reading Peak by Roland Smith has made me realize how secrets, sickness and the weather can affect one person’s life.  During Peak’s challenge to be the youngest person to reach the summit of Mount Everest he faced all these obstacles. Peak faced these obstacles in a short amount of time but reading the book made me think about the times I also was affected by these things.

            Peak finds out the pain of secrets when he learns that his father didn’t rescue him because he wanted to help his son.  Peak’s opportunity to spend time with and get to know his father comes with a price.  He feels used by his father when he finds out that his father rescued him because he wanted Peak to be the youngest person to reach the summit because the climb would help Josh become rich.  The secret that hurt me was when a team mate stole my brand new ipod and blamed it on a stranger.  I think both Peak and I were shocked when we realized we were lied to.  In both cases it worked out fine, I got my ipod back and Peak stayed in camp and was determined to complete the climb.   

            In another challenge Peak questions whether or not he will be able to make it to the summit when he starts to get sick.  He wakes up one morning to find his throat very sore and while trying to give an interview he finds he has no voice.  I remember when I was in the first grade and got pneumonia.  Not only did I have to stay out of school for a week and I liked school then, I was sick for Thanksgiving and didn’t get my feast.  For both Peak and I these sickness were due to getting tired and run down.  I know I learned from my mistakes and I look forward to seeing if Peak can stay healthy enough to complete the climb.

            Sometimes challenges come from things outside of our control, like the weather.  During the climb a blizzard hits and Peak has to go searching for his father and two other people.  The search team finds Josh and the other two after a long search.  For me the blizzard happened on my seventh birthday and my family wouldn’t drive to my house to celebrate.   My mom invited some friends and neighbors over and I had a good time.   Since Peak found his dad and I had a good time I guess good things can happen when you don’t expect them.

            The events of Peak’s climb bring back memories to me.  Both Peak’s and my life have been affected by secrets, sickness and the weather and I think everyone’s would be.  Do you have any memories of secrets, sickness or the weather and how they changed your day?

Peak and His Dad

            I am sure glad that my parents were not Joshua Wood and Teri Marcello.  If they were I could have had a strange name like: track, run, teach, math or gym.  Well I guess Gym would not have been bad until people realized how it was spelled.  Peak Marcello of Peak by Roland Smith was given his special name because of his parents’ interest in mountain climbing.  My parents did give me a special name but at least it was just my father’s name.

            I would like to be like Peak Marcello in other ways though.  I think it would be great to go on an adventure with my dad.  Peak got to climb Mount Everest with his dad.  When he made it to the top he became the youngest person to ever climb Mount Everest.  Although I may not have had such an adventure with my dad, I have been lucky enough to spend a lot of my first 14 years of life with my dad and go a lot of places with him.  Peak hadn’t seen his dad for several years before the court allowed him to go live with him.  Peak missed his dad and didn’t feel like he knew him.  I know my dad and he knows me.

            It is more than just not knowing his dad that I found strange.  As they are getting to know each other, Josh tells Peak to call him Josh and not dad.  I think that this makes him more like a big brother than a father.  I can’t imagine what it would be like now to try and get to know my dad. 

            Reading Peak has pointed out that not all families are alike.  Each family has good times and bad times.  It took Peak getting arrested and an injured faced in order for him to get the opportunity to get to know his father.  But because of his difficulties he has the opportunity of a life time, a chance at an adventure and a father.  I enjoy reading the book and think I would like to do a mountain climb one day, maybe even with my family, but I will skip the arrest and plastic surgery on my face and keep my sometimes annoying sister and parents.

Peak: Jail or Mt Everest

             I just started reading a book named Peak by Roland Smith.  The title or cover didn’t look very interesting to me but I was wrong.  Peak doesn’t start like a traditional book that goes in chronological order.  It starts with a hook; an exciting part that will catches people into the book, and then fills in the middle.  I started off with a 14 year old boy climbing up the outside of the Woolworth Building, like it was a mountain.  Seeing the skyscrapers of NYC every day I couldn’t imagine climbing up one.

            The main character’s name and the names his parents almost called him may give a clue to why he climbed the building.  His name is Peak but his parents also considered calling him, glacier, abyss or crampon.  His parents were both climbers and his dad is even a very famous climber.  This is one case where being famous could be good for you, his dad being so famous helped keep him out of jail.  Sometimes being famous is not good, Prince William of England would rather not be as famous as he is.

            Peak was arrested for climbing the Woolworth building while the mayor was in the building.  It was possible that Peak would spend time in jail after being arrested.  It was not only his father’s fame that saved him but also that the judge was a graduate of the school that Peak attended.  I realized how much his arrest affected the rest of the family, his mom and his twin sisters.  It also shows that the media can go too far by sensationalizing his story another young boy tried to copy him and ended up dying.

            Peak is given a great opportunity.  Instead of going to jail he is going to go live with his dad, who he hasn’t spoken to in seven years.  He gets to spend time with his dad and get to know him.  I can’t imagine not seeing or talking to my dad for seven years.  Another reason it is a great opportunity is because he is going to get to climb Mt Everest and be the youngest person to ever do it.  I am looking forward to finishing Peak and seeing how Peak’s homework assignment turns out, after all writing his adventure down is so he can get credit for his year of school.

Ender: The Small Package

            It is often said that “Good things come in small packages”.  Andrew Wiggins, aka Ender, of Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card could be an example of this.  He was taken from his family at the age of six and placed in Battle School.  The Colonel of the school felt that Ender would be ready to be the Commander when the next invasion of buggers occurred.  Most people would not like their future determined when they were only six.  Physically he may be a small package but there is a big powerful mind in it.

            Ender’s mind is like a super computer.  He learns from any source he can.  He watches the videos of earlier battles so he can develop new strategies to win his battles.  He is not afraid to share information with the other commanders because he doesn’t think they will be able to use it against him.  He has sleepless nights because he is often thinking and cannot shut his mind off.  To many people a mind that works like a computer would be a good thing.

            Having a mind that works like a computer isn’t enough to have to make a life happy.  Because of his battle success, Ender had no friends on his level and the other commanders were jealous of him.  His success also leads to quick promotions so he doesn’t get to spend a lot of time with many people.  The pressure for Ender to be the next great commander is also great.  It is surprising that a six year old boy could be giving so much responsibility and handle it this well. 

            Even though this is a science fiction book, there are many parts of it that are real; the bullying, sibling rivalry and pressures to succeed.  My plans for the future have changed many times since I was six and I couldn’t imagine having someone else plan my future or having Ender’s fight to be successful.  But having a brain that worked like a computer wouldn’t be bad because then I could have 100% in all my classes.

Judging A Book By Its Cover 2

            A well known saying is “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”  I think this is wrong.  The book my mother is reading has a boring two colored cover.  The book doesn’t look interesting for me to read at all and my mother agrees that I probably wouldn’t enjoy the book.  The book that I have chosen to read next, NERDS 2: M IS FOR MAMA’S BOY has a funny and colorful cover.  The cover shows five of the characters that seem to be having a good time.  This cover makes the book look good to me.

            Also I think a book’s title can help draw you into that book.  This book is the second book in the NERDS series and I think I am going to enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed the first book. Also the subtitle has something to do with my life.  Some people call me a mama’s boy because my mom does this, that and the other thing for me.  I think she is just being helpful and showing that she loves me.  My friends think that they are teasing me but I don’t let that bother me.  Are you a mama’s boy or have you ever been called one?  I can’t wait to see how the title fits into the book. 

            In writing a series it is important to have the same characters in the following books.  Once a reader becomes attached to a character they are more likely to read the next book. They are going to want to find out what happens to the heroes and the villains.  I think Duncan Dewey, Ruby Pette, Julio Escala, Matilda Choi, Jackson Jones, and Heathcliff Hodge are going to be the same as they were in NERDS.  I think Heathcliff is going to cause havoc and the nerds are going to have to stop him.  I wonder how the characters are going to change from NERDS to NERDS 2.

            After reading two nonfiction books about personal tragedies and hard ache: Lou Gehrig’s battle with MLS and Matt Long’s struggle to overcome being run over by a bus, I look forward to reading a funny and meaningless fiction book.  I hope NERDS 2 is just the book to read and enjoy.

http://louisvazquez.blogspot.com/2011/02/judging-book-by-its-cover.html

Life Lessons in Ender's Game

            In Ender’s Game, author Orson Scott Card, puts many of life lessons into a futuristic science fiction book.  Card takes six year olds away from their families and gives them more independence then most teenagers are given.   He takes six year olds and gives them the responsibility of being the one to save the world.  In the search for the right leader the kids learn valuable life lessons, like be careful what you wish for and how to find comfort in difficult situations.  The students also learn that adults don’t always have the right answers and can be mean.  In the search for the right leader, the adults chose many kids to attend Battle School but most find it too difficult and drop out.  In their attempt to train the kids the adults are mean and unfriendly to the students.  They want the students to be able to rely upon themselves in difficult situations, another life lesson.

            While Ender is living with his family he doesn’t seem to enjoy his life.  He is bullied by his brother, Peter and a big kid in school, Stilson.  He proves he is tough when he beats up Stilson.  He continuously plays buggers and astronauts with his brother to show his brother that he is good.  What he truly enjoys at home is his sister, Valentine and his mom and dad.  When given the opportunity to go to battle school Ender sees it as his chance to get away from the bullying and studying school. He quickly finds out that bullying can happen anywhere and that he misses Valentine and his parents.  He learns that you have to be careful what you wish for it may not be any better than what you have.

            Ender’s experience can also teach us about finding comfort in hard times.  At dinner he imagined his mom and dad just as they would be at home.  He was even able to put Valentine into the scene.  This helped him get through the difficult time of being lonely and feeling unaccepted by the other kids.  To find comfort, he was able to leave his brother out of his imagination.  Ender’s example can help us through times we find difficult.

            Ender has taught a lot of life lessons.  I wonder how many more Ender has to teach before the book is over.  Will he be the one that proves that adults can make good decisions?

Ender's Game The Way It Might Be

            The Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card is the futuristic science fiction book I am now reading.   I didn’t care for the beginning of the book.  It seemed like it started in the middle of a series.  It is confusing because it starts with someone reflecting on the past, but the reader doesn’t know what has happened in the past.  It took some reading to figure that the book is going to be about Andrew “Third” going off to battle school to prepare to save the human race. 

            I think it is interesting that the characters of a futuristic science book have some of the same issues that people face today.  In the future society families are suppose to have only two children.  The Wiggins family was granted special permission because they thought that Ender would end the war that they expected in the future.  The taxes on a family increased greatly when they had the third child and only two kids got a free education.  In our society people have only one or two kids because of the expense.  Bullying is still present in the future.  Third gets bullied by Stilson and gang and even his own brother, Peter; because he is the third.  Competition will still exist between siblings in the future.  Peter the other brother is jealous of the fact that Ender is being selected for the training school.  In the future kids will still play some of the same games.  Nowadays kids play, cops and robbers, in the future they will play buggers and astronauts.  The battle stills exists between the good guys and the bad guys.

            Orson Scott Card doesn’t keep the future exactly like the present.  In the Ender’s Game, children are taken away from their families at six, to go to school to learn to battle.  They have monitor placed on their necks so that can be evaluated constantly.  The first two child of this family, Peter and Valentine, were tested for battle school and came close to being accepted.  They were not accepted for opposite reason; Peter was too aggressive and Valentine was too mild.  The Wiggins family was given permission to have a third child; the officials hoped that their third would have the best qualities of both siblings. Nowadays parents don’t need permission to have a third child.  I am looking forward to seeing what other similarities and differences Card has planned for the societies and if Ender is the leader they hope his is.

Losing Abilities

            NERDS 2 M: is for Mama’s boy by Michael Buckley is an enjoyable fiction book.  Many of the characters have special abilities which they call upgrades.   For example, Duncan has the codename gluestick because he can stick to walls.  After trying to stop a bank robbery all of the NERDS have to lose their upgrades, be without them for three days and try to live as normal kids.  I saw the frustration they must have felt firsthand when my best friend broke his ankle and lost his “super speed”.  He broke his ankle right before national that he could have won.  Now that he has healed, he has to train with the regular kids on the team.  No more “super speed” for him for now but it will return just like the NERDS will get their upgrades back.

            This part of NERDS makes me think of another friend of mine who likes to run every day and train regularly.  Last year, he got a case of tendonitis.  He lost the ability to train daily and then got slower.  He was also very frustrated about not being able to run.  My friend, unlike the NERDS lost more than three days, he lost the rest of the season and part of the summer.  He came back this fall just as well and I think the NERDS can return just as well if they stay focused. 

            Another part of the book that makes me think about my life was when two of the NERDS saw their neighbor’s son for the first time.  Duncan had seen the bank robber and gave a description to his supervisor and then he saw the neighbor’s son.  Duncan recognized him right away as the bank robber.  I have a friend who is very very skinny and not that tall.  He would talk about his father and refer to him by his nickname “Little”.  One day I met his father; unlike Duncan I would never have thought that this man was “Little”.  My friend’s dad is 6 feet 4 inches and anything but little.  He could easily play football or Santa Claus.   Reading this scene made me laugh because you can’t always recognize someone from a description.

An Uncommon Book With Common Things

            Nerds 2: M is for Mama’s Boy is an enjoyable book to read, especially after finishing the two heavy books I just read.  The emotional books I just read were the nonfiction biographies Long Run and Luckiest Man.  Nerds 2 is a fiction book that is a sequel to Nerds, also by Michael Buckley.  The first Nerds book ends with Heathcliff “Choppers” Hodges becoming a villain.  I think Michael Buckley planned on making Choppers a bad guy so that he could have a sequel to Nerds.  So far Nerds 2 is just as enjoyable as Nerds.

            Nerds 2 begins after Choppers has become a villain and the Nerds think he is dead, the reader knows that Choppers is alive and this set up the conflict between good and evil.  In Nerds 2, Choppers joins forces with a bunch of squirrels to rob banks.  The NERDS, fulfilling their role as the National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society, investigate and soon find out that Choppers is responsible for the bank robberies.  This good versus evil conflict is very popular in books.  I suspect that in this book the heroes will prevail because in most books the hero prevails.

            Each of the members of the NERDS has a code name, which helps reveal something about their personality and their superpower.  For example, Duncan Dewey’s code name is “gluestick” because he loves to eat glue and his superpower is that he sticks to walls.  Michael Buckley gives the characters codenames like people give other people nicknames.  A nickname often develops because of things people do.  Michael Buckley also takes something else from our everyday lives, having objects that have more than I purpose; cell phones are not just for making calls anymore.  I hope I enjoy the rest of the book as much as I enjoyed the beginning of the book.

Blog Review

            I could never imagine rereading a book; I don’t like to read books the first time.  I agree with Eamon that the books we most like turn out bad.  One of the books that I didn’t like the ending of but liked the book was The Giver.  It ended with an open ending.  I don’t like open endings because it leaves you wondering what happens to the character.  Then, the second book of the series, Gathering Blue, didn’t really connect to the first book. It didn’t have as big as an open ending but the end was still pretty bad.  Then, the third book in the series, Messenger, had the worst ending because the character that you get to know very well dies.

            I agree that people reread books because they want the book to end happily.  If I were to reread those books I know that I would get to the sad parts and want it to end happily even though I knew it wasn’t going to happen.  My brain couldn’t take the sad parts either.  I would also throw the book at a wall if I didn’t agree with a plot.

            This post gets me to think about life and if it’s like one of these books with a poor ending.  Life doesn’t always take the right path and we might get mad about it, but we can’t change it.  The ending of people’s life won’t be happy because it ends with death.  Since life ends in death we should live life while we have it.  You should also be happy so that when the tragedy of death comes you will know that you had a good life.  Also, you will be remembered longer if you were good during your life than if you were bad.

http://respondhard.blogspot.com/2011/02/story-endings.html

Judging A Book By Its Cover

            A well known saying is doing judge a book by its cover.  I think this is wrong.  The book my mother is reading has a boring two colored cover.  The book doesn’t look interesting for me to read at all and my mother agrees that I probably I wouldn’t enjoy the book.  The book that I have chosen to read NERDS 2: M IS FOR MAMA’S BOY has a funny and colorful cover.  The cover shows five of the characters that seem to be having a good time.  This makes the book look good to me.

            Also I think a book’s title can help draw you into that book.  This book is the second book in the NERDS series I think I am going to enjoy this book. Also the subtitle has something to do with my life.  Some people call me a mama’s boy because my mom does this, that and the other thing for me.  I think see is just being helpful and showing that she loves me.  My friends think that they are teasing me but I don’t let that bother me.  I can’t wait to see how it fits into the book. 

            In writing a series having the characters in the other books is important.  Once a reader becomes attached to a character they are more likely to read the next book. They are going to want to find out what happens to them.  I wonder how the characters are going to change from NERDS to NERDS 2.

            After reading two books about personal tragedies and hard ache I look forward to reading a funny and meaningless book.  I hope NERDS 2 is just the book to enjoy.

Lou Gehrig and Matt Long

            The two books I have just read The Luckiest Man by Jonathon Eig and The Long Run by Matt Long with Charles Bulter are both inspirational.  Also the characters are both good role models.  They accepted all the bad things life threw at them and made the best of it.  Their lives were not identical.  Lou Gehrig troubles started as a young boy and continued through life while Matt’s started after the accident.

            Both Matt Long and Lou Gehrig were dedicated athletes.  They both weren’t natural athletes to the sports they loved.  Lou Gehrig had to work hard all through high school to get good at baseball.  Matt Long had to work hard one summer to make his college’s basketball team.  To get better at triathlons he joined training groups but he didn’t only train with these groups.  He would run races without the group. He wouldn’t only take the train to these races he would run from his place in Manhattan to Prospect Park.  Then he would run the race and run back to his place in Manhattan.  Both of them became accomplished athletes because of their dedication.

            Their accomplished athletic careers were destroyed by illness.  Lou Gehrig’s was taken away by a terrible disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or ALS.  This disease is now known as the Lou Gehrig’s disease.  Matt Long’s career of ironman’s, marathons, and fire department basketball team was changed forever by the bus accident.  His many injuries made it hard to work never mind finish an ironman and a marathon.

            They both did their sports even with the challenges that faced them.  Lou Gehrig continued to play baseball for as long as he could with the disease.  Matt fought through physical therapy and many hours of training to finish the 2009 Lake Placid Ironman.  Since Matt Long is a family friend I can’t wait until the day I meet him and tell him what I think of him.  I wish I could have only met Lou Gehrig.

Matt And Me

            Matt Long’s story The Long Run makes me aware of a connection between Matt Long and me.  Some of the connections have to do with siblings while others have to do with hard work.  Family is important to both of us but we also love to play our sports.  We both don’t like only one sport we both like multiple sports.  Matt likes basketball, running, biking, and swimming.  While I like baseball, track, cross country, and ice hockey.

            Even though he has 8 siblings he feels closest to Jimmy because they are only 14 months apart.  Even though my sister and I are 5 and half years apart we have the same relationship as Matt and Jimmy.   Matt and Jimmy had the same interests in sports, they both played basketball on the same team.   My sister and I both played soccer and ran track but since our ages are so far apart we couldn’t play on the same team.  When Matt and Jimmy went to different colleges it was the first time they were separated.  They called each other every night and went to visit each other whenever they could.   When my sister first went to college it was the first time we were really separated.  We talk to each other whenever we could and I tried to visit her a lot.

            Both Matt and I worked hard at a sport we wanted to get better at.  In order to make his college’s basketball team, he worked out every day the summer before his senior year and made the team.   Last summer I went to a track camp 4 times a week.  In the beginning it was just so that my sister wasn’t lonely but then I started to get better.  Now on my track team instead of being the number 4 man, I am the number 3 man.

            I hope our lives don’t go parallel where I have a near death experience.  If I do I know I will fight like Matt Long to stay alive and come back in sports.

Matt Long: A Fighter

            Before I started reading this book I was really looking forward to reading The Long Run by Matt Long with Charles Butler.  I wanted to read this book because my family knows him.  Two of my uncles went to college with him.

            The Long Run is the story of Matt Long’s near death experience and his recovery from it.  He was riding his bike to the Rock because of a transit strike.  Also, the bus that hit him was only there because of the transit strike.  The bus was making a turn didn’t see him and then hit him.  This is where his long run to recovery begins.

            I think he had a very good and athletic life before the accident.  He competed in many triathlons, including the Ironman, and many marathons.  He was a firefighter as well as a bar owner.  I know how hard he trained because he trained with my uncle. 

            An accident of this magnitude is a big, big life changer.  I think he was very lucky having his family’s support going through the many operations he went through.  It had to be very hard on his family getting the news that he might not make it.  In one way he was lucky to have a big family because they were there to support each other and him. 

            My family saw him finish his post accident triathlon and therefore I know his body and mind must be very strong.  He again proves how powerful the mind is and that no goals are impossible to reach.  He will never be the athlete he once was but he is determined to be the best athlete he can be.

Lou's Life Lesson's

            Lou Gehrig’s life is made up of a lot of life lessons.  His life lessons started early.  When he was born into a poor family, his mother earned money by cleaning other people’s houses and his father worked long hours and Lou Gehrig rarely saw him.  Lou Gehrig learned from his parents what it means to work hard.

            He also learned to handle heartache and disappointments at a very young age.  He was the only child of his parents who survived childhood.  He became determined to be the best he could be.  He used this determination in becoming the great baseball player he was.  In high school he wasn’t the best fielder on the field but his determination and his hard work paid off.  Even when he made it to the major leagues he got sent down to the minors and then taken up to the majors and back down before he got the call to play in the majors for good.  Many people would have quit trying to reach their dream, but Lou Gehrig strongly wanted to accomplish his goal of playing in the major leagues.

            His life could also teach people that the right attitude and hard work can make you successful in something you like to do.  In high school he played soccer, football, and baseball and continued playing football and baseball into college.  From there he decided to sick to baseball even though he wasn’t the best at it.  We should all realize that we are more successful at something we are happy doing.

            Lou Gehrig led a life that people should try to follow.  You don’t have to follow the baseball part but pursue your dreams of what you like to do.  Lou Gehrig’s life lessons influenced the way he fought his disease.   We can all learn to fight with all our might to overcome obstacles, like Gehrig did.

Luckiest Man

            I learned a lot about Lou Gehrig, in the biography Luckiest Man by Jonathan Eig.  Even Lou Gehrig, Hall of Fame baseball player for the New York Yankees didn’t always have an easy life.  Gehrig didn’t have siblings because they all died very young and his dad wasn’t around very much.  Growing up and throughout college he was bigger than everyone else but growing up he got made fun of because of it.  He also wasn’t born with baseball talent and it didn’t help that no one else, he played baseball with was a lefty.  His dad then got him a mitt for the right hand and it was a catcher’s mitt.  Gehrig’s family was also poor so when Gehrig was in high school he tried to get jobs to help out the family. 

            Lou Gehrig started to play baseball seriously in high school.  He played for Commerce High School in New York City.  He started to work out and become a better player.  In his senior year the Giants’ manager wanted him to play for them.  His parents wanted him to continue his education and go to college.  The manager told him to come to the tryouts anyway.  Gehrig did this and hit bombs when they told him to hit.  When it came down to the fielding though, he let a ball go right through his legs and the coach didn’t want him anymore.  The coach would rather have people who could field, then hit a lot of home runs.

            Without going pro that year he went to college.  He went to Columbia University and didn’t play the first year because of an incident.  He then played in his sophomore year and by the end of it he was offered a contract by the New York Yankees.  The decision was pretty easy because both of his parents were sick and couldn’t work.  Even though the decision was easy he went to a teacher and the teacher looked at his grades.  He told him that he should stick to playing ball.  I look forward to reading the rest of this book and learning about his road to stardom.