Megan Moruzzi

Megan Moruzzi
Sticks
Joan Bauer
realistic fiction
Just Right
p. 77


1. I am currently reading Sticks by Joan Bauer. It is about a boy named Mickey who loves to play pool. He lives above his family owned pool hall. He wants nothing more then to beat Buck Pender in the Nine-Ball Championship. He would have his dad coach him if only he was still alive. He died when Mickey was only a couple months old from Cancer. Instead he is trying to convince his mom to get Joe Alvarez, his dads best friend. Mickey wants Joe as a coach because his dad taught Joe how to play pool and Mickeys dad won tons of metals. I can tell that Mickey really misses his dad and wishes that he could only remember him. I can also tell he wishes that he was as good at pool as his dad was. The only reason that Mickey's mom doesn't want Joe to be Mickeys coach is that he made a promise to Mickeys dad that he would check in on his family if he died. After he died Joe moved away, never called never wrote and never dropped in, he broke the promise. And then one day he just decides to show up almost 13 years later. She doesn't want Mickey to get his hopes up just to get disappointed.


2. So far it has been really hard to connect with the book. I feel like I can connect to the characters but not the plot. It must be really hard to learn to play pool without his dad being there to teach him. I have read another book by this author Close to Famous. I don't really see a connection between these two books. Its not that I don't like this book its just that I feel like maybe I just haven't got that far into the book. I liked the other book I read because there was a cliffhanger at the end of each chapter that made me want to keep reading. I do think that the plot is interesting just a little hard to to follow. I like the fact the Joe is acting like a father figure that makes me have a Little respect for him. I also like how involved poppy is in there life. I do see some connections between the two books. For example Mickey's mom makes him cook her breakfast every Saturday so that he learns to be a good cook because she feels all men should know how to cook.

3. I feel the theme in Sticks is fear of failure because Mickey has a huge fear that he is going to loose to Buck Pender in the pool championship. I think that he wants to prove to everyone that he is just as good at pool as his dad was. I think that he also wants to prove to his peers and himself that it doesn't matter how old you are as long as you have determination. I also think that it is really important for Mickey to believe in himself because I can tell that the everybody has a high standards for him and he also has a high standard for himself. I can tell this because he always gets really upset with himself when he doesn't do something to his standards. I also see this theme because Mickeys mom has fear that Joe will fail her son just like he did to her family.

4. My favorite character in this book is Arlen. Arlen is Mickeys best friend. I like him as a character because he is so encouraging to Mickey and always pushes him to do his best. I also think that he is really funny because he always is forgetting his book bag and other school materials and his mom and dad hate and when he does. Arlen really wants a tree house and so his parents say that if he remembers his book bag for the whole week they will work on his tree house with him for a hour on Saturday he uses different things to help him remember that actually help him. When he sees wood he immediately thinks of his tree house then his book bag and then rushes off to go find it where he left it. He also has a pet pig named Mangler who I also think is very funny. Arlen is very good at math. he uses math to help Mickey play pool better by the angles and 90% shots. I find it interesting that Arlen and Mickey are best friends because they seem so different, Mickey loves pool and Arlen loves math and his pig.

5. My least favorite character is Buck Pender. I don't like him because he is really mean to Mickey and Arlen and he thinks that he is so much better than them. he is also a huge bully he is always calling them names and putting them down. He's behavior makes me want him to loose and want Mickey to win. Mickey wants Buck to go to Military school. the thing that confuses me is if he goes to there school or not because there other friend Francene is always describing what he is doing in school as if they don't got to the same school. Buck also has a professional coach to help him with the Championship.

6. My predication for Sticks is that something will happen with Joe and Ruthie (Mickeys mom) and they will become friends again. I think this because Joe seems to be really persistent. I also think that Mickey will win the pool championship. I think that he will learn to play pool better. I also think that him and Arlen will win all the jelly beans at the mall. I think this because they were really accurate with their calculations and the math that they executed. I think that Ruthie will graduate school and get a teaching job. She seems to work really hard and shows that she's good with kids since she is such a good mother.