The Horse with No Fear

Author’s Note:  This piece is based on a picture shown to me in Language Arts. In the following creative piece I will set the scene for you to see what was truly behind this picture.  Please look for voice and how it sets a scene in your mind.

I was taking Billy, my horse for a little walk in the dark woods.  Many things that night were feeling weird, but I just didn’t know what.  The wind was whistling past my ears, like a ghost screaming.  After about an hour of riding my horse around, I felt  that something or someone was moving in the woods. It  looked liked Paul Revere on an invisible horse, but I wasn’t certain.  As I came closer to the object, I thought my mind was playing with me and nothing had occurred.

Still not certain of what I saw, something moved again and I was certain that the object was running right toward me. In disbelief, Billy and I just stood waiting to see what  was going to occur. As the ground rumbled like a little earthquake, a large figure on an invisible horse came straight at us and we knew nothing was going to stop it.

Billy turned to run, but fell on a log in the process.  The invisible horse slashed right through Billy and kept running on into the woods until we lost sight of them.  As I turn to see the dark bloody wound, there wasn’t one; all you could see was an invisible line taken off of the horses neck and upper stomach.  In disbelief not knowing what to do, Billy just stood there tall, just like nothing happened.  Is my mind just playing with me or what?

Never blame until you hear both stories

Author’s Note:  In this creative writing piece for point of view, I will show you the point of view of another character in the book, Calico Joe by John Grisham.

On a cold Saturday night of baseball, Joe Castle drives a homerun over the fence and shows off, Warren Tracey the pitcher knows what his move is next.   Calico Joe, by John Grisham, is a book that talks about how one stupid mistake of a pitcher affected the career of a young promising baseball player.  This novel  Calico Joe, is written in first person which isn’t the best because you can’t see the point of view of the other characters.  During this piece I will explain the point of view of Warren Tracey, son of Paul Tracey, to see why he did some of the things he did.

John Grisham wrote Calico Joe in first person from the view of Paul Tracey, because of this the reader is affected by only knowing one person’s side of the story. For example, when Warren Tracey was pitching Paul was thinking that his father was making a dumb decision and was trying to ruin somebody’s life.  Also, when Paul was playing baseball, he thought his father was trying to embarrass him.  This is because we only hear the point of view of the child, which makes us think that Warren Tracey is the bad guy.  If Calico Joe by John Grisham was written in the point of view of Warren Tracey ,father of Paul Tracey, people would think different about him.  In the creative story I will be writing a piece about when Warren Tracey was pitching against Joe Castle and how he felt.

Wow!  Why is Joe Castle showing off? I thought we were friends.  While not anymore, by the way he is showing off to me.  Okay, I will just relax and throw a strike, here I go. As I wind up, I am thinking fastball, fastball, fastball.  I will put a little more force on this one. Then I  rear back  and release the baseball in the direction of the plate.  Whoosh! The ball was going 95 mph straight at the batter’s face. Bang, Joe was down.  Oh my gosh, what did I do?  I never hoped to cause this much misery.

Growing up and Bravery

 Author’s Note: Throughout, Fighting Ground by Avi you will learn how to be brave and how to grow up.

Saving a child from a house fire, fighting for your country, and protecting your family are all examples of courage and valour. Many genres of books included the themes growing up too quickly and bravery, but in my thought action and adventure have the best evidence of themes.  In the book, The Fighting Ground, by Avi, readers will learn how it feels to be brave, which helps you become a strong person, but if you mature too quickly and  think you are invincible, it can hurt you in different ways.

Although bravery is an important aspect to carry in life, being too brave can actually hurt you in multiple ways. Jonathan, a 13 year old, fighting in the Revolutionary War has a lot of evidence of his bravery in the story.  For example, Jonathan was fighting, he took the big role of shooting a musket at the British during war.  Also he saved a little boy that was scared. However, Jonathan was too daring; after the war he finally noticed that war wasn’t fun and games.

Well bravery is a big part of the book, the other theme, growing up too fast is equally as important.  Growing up too quickly is not a great trait to have because Jonathan, barely a teenager, hasn’t lived through his childhood yet, and he still wants to take adult responsibilities. At the age of 13, Jonathan is joining the soldiers to fight for what is right. After almost his death and his close call with getting captured, he finally notices at the end of the book that he was too young for war.

Bravery and growing up too fast isn’t only discussed in Fighting Ground: these themes were also discussed in The Hunger Games.  Katniss, the main character in “The Hunger Games”, took adult responsibilities by providing food for her family and also showed courage by taking her sisters spot in the games.  Both of these characters share many traits, but are still different in multiple ways.

While bravery and growing up too quickly were huge factors of the similarities in both of the books, determination is what brought the two books together.  Being brave and maturing too fast ,both have their pros and cons.

New Life

Author’s Note: This piece is a prediction, please look for great vocabulary and creativity.

Depression, guiltiness, and sadness all went through Cody’s brain after walking out of the dark woods.  Cody knew he had to do something about it, because it was wrong to disobey the old man. Not knowing what to do, Cody walked home with tears spilling from his face with guilt. 

After opening the brown, old door to his house, Cody looked into the woods and knew this wasn’t the type of person he was.  With the attitude that he had at that moment, Cody rushed into his garage  looking for his shovel. “I got it”, Cody whispered.  He gripped the shovel and sprinted into the woods, to the spot of where Clarence was buried. As Cody started to shovel, he smiled thinking, I am going the right thing.

As the hole started to get bigger and Clarence’s body was uncovered. He put the gold piece in Clarence’s arms, and as doing this he knew this was the start of a new life.

Joe Castle learned his lesson!

Author’s Note: I am analysing the main character in “Calico Joe”, Joe Castle. Please look for the interesting content in the following paragraphs.

Imagine being in the situation when you are in the Minor Leagues of baseball, battling it out will other people that want to be a star in the Major Leagues as much as you do.  Would you keep on trying to get there?  And how long would you try?  That is what Joe Castle had to decide. In the book, “Calico Joe” by John Grisham you will learn to live life to the fullest and to give it your all every chance you get.

Although not everyone gets a chance that could change their life forever, Joe Castle did.  The Chicago Cubs first baseman was out with an injury, so they called up Joe from the Minor Leagues to be their first basemen.  Joe seized the opportunity by bombing twenty-one homeruns in thirty-eight games. After a couple of games Joe started to get cocky by walking the bases after each other of his home runs.

During his first at bat against Warren Tracey, a pitcher from the New York Mets, Joe hit a homerun and again walked the bases. Tracey was getting frustrated and angry by the way Joe celebrated. At Castle's next at bat Tracey wound up and aimed at Joe’s head and hit him right in the head and Joe was down for the count. Joe wasn’t able to play baseball again. He learned to be confident but not cocky and to live every moment to the fullest because you never know what will happen.

Within the book, “Calico Joe”, Joe changes just like Katniss Everdeen, but not in all of the same ways. Katniss Everdeen, the main character in “The Hunger Games”, was a brave person that didn’t care how long she lived.  After her experience, she transformed into a confident person that wants to live life to the fullest just like Joe Castle.  Although these characters are different, in many ways they still hold some similar traits.

In “Calico Joe” by John Grisham, I learned to live life to the fullest and be confident not cocky. Well, reading  “Calico Joe”, you learn that your actions affect other people in good and bad ways.

Founding Fathers Were Great People!

Author’s Note:  In the following essay, I will talk about what I would say to the founding fathers.  You will read about my thoughts regarding the laws and better ways to change one of them.

In the late 1700s, the founding fathers came together to make the main laws for America. The key founding fathers included John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington. I will talk about what laws I would change and the conversations I would have with the Founding Fathers.

Although the founding fathers made most of the laws, not all of them are necessary.  In this paragraph I will state the main law that should be changed and why.  The one that I would change with is voting. The current law allows individuals that are eighteen or older the right to vote. I disagree with this law. It should be changed to ages twelve and older because for some teens politics matter and affect their lives.

Even though the founding fathers made some bad choices for laws, overall they did a pretty good job.  If I could talk to the founding fathers in person the main thing I would tell them is about all of the laws that I agree on. Also I would like to talk about the rules I would like the change and why.  Overall the founding fathers did a great job summarizing the important laws.

Other than creating laws and rights, the founding fathers signed many of the most important documents that are still in effect today.  The Declaration of Independence a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4th, 1776 was one of the documents signed by the founding fathers. Other documents signed by the founding fathers include the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.  If the founding fathers didn’t sign these documents, who knows where we would be.

Within this essay I talked about the one law I would change and then I gave an explanation why.  The founding fathers were great people, even though they created some ridiculous laws. Without the founding fathers, today wouldn’t be the same because they signed important documents and created some exceptional laws.  In the previous paragraphs I talked about the voting law, what I would say if I had a conversation with the founding fathers themselves, and what important documents they signed.

Mistakes,Mistakes,Mistakes!

Author’s Note: In this short cause/effect response, I will talk about one stupid mistake I made in a baseball game and what happened because of the mistake.  While reading the response please look for the interesting content.

In the following paragraphs, I will talk to you about one of the big cause and effects that happened in my life.  The one I will be talking about is when I was up to bat when we were losing by two runs and we had base runners on second and third.  The count was three and two, I should have been looking for the right pitch, but I was just too eager.

When the pitch from the two and two came in they called it a ball. After the pitch I got out of the batter’s box and took a couple of practice swings. I went back in the batter’s box with my head high, maybe too high.  The pitch was a low and in that got me swinging as if I was a logger cutting down a tree with an axe, I struck out and left two base runners on base for the end of the inning.

Although striking out is miserable; it was not as bad as it would be when my teammates and coaches would tell me when I got in the dugout.  They were like bees, they were stinging me every  they said something inappropriate .The main part of the story is that I let my team down, because they needed me and I didn’t produce. Our team resulted in losing the final game four to one, because of a few errors and bad mental mistakes by other teammates. "Baseball is 90% mental, the other half is physical." said Yogi Berra.

Within the paper, I am telling you that because of mental mistakes and my struck out our team resulted in losing.  That is because they were depending on me to bring in a few runs, but I just couldn’t do it. The main point in the story is that no one is perfect at everything, and you will always make mistakes playing the game and watching the game. "You can observe a lot just by watching." said Yogi Berra.