Gary Paulsen Or Dirk The Dog

Paul and his family move from Houston, Texas to Tangerine, Florida. He has a brother named Erik who is a place kicker for the football team at Lake Windsor. On Paul’s first day at Lake Windsor he meets a kid named Joey Costello. When Paul finds out their is a soccer team he automatically thinks he is going to be the starter goaltender. He can’t play for Lake Windsor because of the IEP(his is blind). Then a sinkhole happens,and Paul is happy about that because Erik just lost all of his fans. Paul’s mom wanted him to go to St. Anthony’s,but Paul wanted to go to Tangerine so he could play soccer and be the starting goalie. On the first day of school Dr. Johnson had Theresa show Paul around. Paul met Victor, Tino, and Henry D. Paul and Joey were

Pete Maravich was one of the greatest basketball players of all time. His spectacular moves and awesome footwork helped him to get better everyday. His incredible passes and being able to control the court caused his teammates to like him even more. “His playground moves, circus shots, and hotdog passes were considered outrageous during his era” (NBA Encyclopedia Playoff Edition). His love for basketball was instilled by his father Peter “Press” Maravich.

He plays until it gets dark and starts as soon as the sun comes up. His mom dyes and he doesn’t tell anyone. So he’s living on his own, stealing things to get by. One day he decides he needs a new pair of sneakers for the season and goes to the Footlocker on the other side of town. When he try’s to steal them he gets caught. This forces him to either go to a group home, or get adopted right away. The Lawton’s adopted him. They are very nice but Jayson isn’t accepting them like he should. He starts off hating his new school and his new teammates. Soon he gets along with them and meets a friend named Zoe. Zoe is really nice even when Jayson is mean. Soon Jayson and Zoe are dating and Jayson finds out that Zoe’s parents want her to be perfect. A couple of weeks later Jayson over hears Zoe’s mom talking about how Jayson is a thief and a drug dealer. The thief part was right but the drugs were not. Zoe didn’t talk to him again. This made Jayson focus on basketball just so he didn’t think about Zoe. He won the league championship against his old team in the final

characters of this story is Max and Kevin. Although Max and Kevin may be good friends, they have

TJ gets himself in trouble with R.W. and Melvin Simms, two white brothers. The boys only want TJ around so they have someone to put the blame on and make fun of him. When TJ wants a very nice handgun at the Barnett Mercantile, the Simms brothers fool him into thinking that his dream is about to come true. RW and Melvin convinced TJ to try to steal the gun. They were caught in the act and the brothers punished TJ horribly. TJ tapped on the Logans door in the middle of the night. Stacey and Cassie answered the door. They knew they had to help him despite the negative acts against their family. “Stacey? I whispered afraid of what he might do. As far back as I could remember, Stacey had felt a responsibility for TJ I had never really understood why. Perhaps he felt that even a person as despicable as TJ needed someone he could call “friend”, or perhaps he sensed TJ’s vulnerability better than TJ did himself. Stacey, you ain’t goin’ are you?... You go on back to bed Cassie. I’ll be alright.” (pg. 249) This quote is a prime example of Stacey’s courage. Stacey knows that helping TJ could get him in trouble or even killed. Stacey is a true friend, and a brave one too.

Sam who is weirdly nicknamed Marshall, kept distance from Rameck and George. He walked the streets where the community thugs would rob them of money and stuff that costed something of value like jewelry. Sam had a job at McDonalds to help out at home, even though he was young he changed his birthdate so he fit the age to work there. The older boys in the neighborhood would often lead him to trouble, by his junior he was smoking or drinking and doing stuff that wasn’t really good for him. They used his car for a crime and now--- Sam is in trouble with the law

“The Transformation of European Society” by Gary B. Nash talks about the economic, social, and religious changes that took place in the British colonies in the eighteenth century in North America. The author discussed that the people of a once strict hierarchical society of Europe now had a more democratic and individualistic American view. The vast land, which distinguished America from Europe, allowed people to get rich fast and climb the social ladder. Unlike America, in Europe there was a large disparity between the rich and the poor. If you were born a blacksmith's son, you would die a blacksmith. However, the vast amount of land in America offered great opportunities for growth. Poor farmers could become rich businessmen in no time in the northern colonies, which helped to develop an

The entire story centers around three main characters: Uncle trash and the two brothers. Although the boys’ mother and father are mentioned briefly in the beginning, the mother comes off as unstable and out of her right mind, causing her to run away and the father going after her, both leaving the kids behind not taking into consideration that they are too young for the responsibility of independence, much less their living conditions are barely enough to support a decent quality of life. Despite Uncle Trash being given the responsibility to look after the boys, he’s not necessarily one to care for much of what goes on outside of a bar, especially the boys well being since upon his arrival his first

However, they also have strong differences. Bryon is a big hustler. He tries to get money by playing pool at bars. Mark, on the other hand, is a thief. He sneaks around picking pockets and stealing money from people. Even though both boys have fun fighting and stealing, Bryon starts to see that fighting people for no reason is wrong. Mark still thinks stealing is enjoyable and amusing. Mark is very conceded and only care about himself and his feelings. Unlike Mark, Bryon cares about other people's emotions and thinks before he acts. For example, when Mike Chambers, a boy in the hospital, told his story of how he got beat up, Mark said he would hate that person for the rest of his life. Bryon understood why the person might have done such a terrible

I found it difficult to relate with the book, The Pact, for near the first half of the story. The three boys, Rameck, Sam, and George all grew up in impoverished neighborhoods in New Jersey. They were surrounded by drugs, violence, theft, prejudice, and death. None of the 3 had a father figure within their home while growing up and discovered that it was extremely difficult to find any positive role models within their area. As kids, Sam and Rameck both caved under the peer pressure and became entangled in immoral activity. Rameck had even let adrenaline take over during a fight and stabbed a man in the thigh with a switchblade. As a result he spent 4 days in jail, some time on house arrest, and faced attempted

Hirshi and Gottfredson also say that criminals have disciplinary problems during childhood, i.e. Gary’s father. That is one distinct trait Gary possesses. Hirshi and Gottfredson also say that the traits a criminal has during adolescence and adulthood include: analogous behaviors such as drinking, doing drugs, and promiscuity, and poor social outcome such as a bad education, bad relationships, and difficulty with jobs. Gary once again possesses all of those characteristics. Despite the fact that Gary had a high IQ and an affinity for drawing, he couldn’t succeed more socially. He frequently skipped school at age 12 to go drinking and dropped out of school at age 14. Because of Gary’s impulsiveness, he spent most of his life in jail. His offenses ranged from murder to con scams. Gary killed people he didn’t know at all for what would seem like no reason. All of the offenses ended in Gary being sentenced to the death penalty.

His father John was a veteran who participated in World War I and worked as an auto repair machinist, but the father wasn’t as innocent as everyone thought it seemed. He also had a terrifying temper and was a very abusive alcoholic that mistreated and “berated” his family but Gacy was his main target. He didn’t have a good relationship with Gacy at all. The mother tried her hardest to protect john from his father but it was only so much she could do, he abused her as well. childhood was very ruff for someone his age suffering deeply from being molested by a family friend, along with his ill health which prevented him from doing well at school. he lacked good behavior and was overweight and was often mocked at by his neighboring bullies. Gacy family issues interfered with school. He dropped out of school his senior year leaving his family home and fleeing to Las Vegas working as a mortuary attendant in Nevada where he came upon a strange incident that happened one day while working--- he hugged one of the dead bodies and was very terrified and confused all at

The main character Trevor is a very reserved young man that seems to be burdened by life. Being the late comer to this band of street brothers, Trevor, which will soon be known as T, quickly moves up the ranks. This young man with what seems to be a very laid back and reserved demeanor, shows his leadership qualities very quickly. T/Trevor plots out a plan to demolish, from the inside, a neighbor’s home. It does not take him long to get his street brothers to join his disastrous plan. Through many twist and turns in the story, the young boys pull off a feat that seemed impossible. In comparison, the story

As I have previously stated, I never lived in the streets in a bad part of town. My life has consisted of farmland and dairy cows for as long as I can remember. Despite these differences I can draw a clear parallel to my life from the book. During their high school years the boys go through many travails. In one of these Rameck starts hanging out with a tough crowd and he ends up being charged with attempted murder. The charges were eventually dropped. After all of this drama Rameck learns who his true friends are. I have never been accused of attempted murder, but we all go through a stage where we hang out with people that we shouldn’t. For a short period I started to hang out with some of the wrong types of kids. Through a lot of drama I got myself out of that situation and learned who truly had my best interest at heart. I learned who my true friends were just like Rameck.

The main character's name is Stanley Yelnats. At first, you see stanley as an alright kid who has made a bad decision stealing. “ I stole some sneakers” (pg 22). Throughout the rest of the story you find that stanley is nice and always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. “He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time all thanks to his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather” (Pg 7). At school before camp Green Lake he was bullied and treated bad. “he didn’t have any friends at home, he was overweight” (pg 7). At camp Green Lake Stanley made a new friend, his best friend “Zero”. He get’s along great with Zero and teaches him how to read. “I’ll try