Characters: “ I”- Emma, Jamal, Nikki, Greg
Setting: from winter to spring
Plot: Emma loves baseball.
Perspective: first-person perspective
Genre: Realistic Fiction
The story There’s Nothing Like Baseball written by Angela Johnson talks about a girl named Emma who loves baseball so much. She is in a family of baseball. She and her best friend Jamal are on the same team. They play together happily. Both Emma and Jamal want to be the shortstop. But only one of them will be shortstop. Emma is unhappy because in the dream, she got the position but Jamal didn't and she feels sorry for Jamal. The coach decides that Nikki is the perfect one for shortstop after the tryouts. They are all happy again because there’s nothing like baseball.
Baseball is important but friendship is more important than baseball. Baseball is fun, but baseball is not enough. The friendship between the players is more precious. In the story, Emma loves baseball so much, but she feels awkward because both she and her best friend Jamal want to be the shortstop. In a dream, she gets the position but Jamal doesn't, and she feels sorry for Jamal. She is unhappy and doesn’t enjoy playing baseball anymore. Because she wants her friend to be happy. If her friend is not happy, she even feels bad about baseball. They feel happy again at last because their friendship is not affected. Friendship can make people happy and more valuable than anything.
The belief of sports is to try your best, and everybody gets a chance. Everybody in a sports team should try their best to win the game and get a chance for fair competition. In the story, everyone tries their best at tryouts, and Nikki plays shortstop because she is better at shortstop than anybody on their team. She can always jump the highest and make the best plays. The coach decides Nikki plays shortstop through fair competition at tryouts. It makes sure everybody gets a chance. Sports spirit is to make your greatest effort and make sure that everyone has an equal and fair opportunity.
I learned a useful writing skill—indirect description from the author. Indirect description means to make a detailed description instead of telling directly. In the story, the author describes “Baseball was coming when the ice dripped drops from the roof and the tulips in the park poked through the ground.” instead of saying spring directly. The author wants the reader to guess. He wants to connect with readers and let readers think. The reader will know it from winter to spring because the ice is melting and it’s getting warmer. The detailed descriptions make the sentences longer. Longer sentences are more beautiful.
This story talks about Emma the girl who loves baseball very much. She is in a family of baseball. She and her friend Jamal are on the same team. Both Emma and Jamal want to be the shortstop. Emma is unhappy because she feels sorry for Jamal if Jamal doesn’t get the position. After the tryouts, the coach decides that Nikki is the shortstop. It makes me cherish friendship because baseball can’t make you happy without friendship. It teaches me sportsmanship is to do your best and fair play. It also teaches me indirect description the useful writing skills.
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