Payback Time - Entry 1

Summary 

(Sections 1 and 2)

   

        Payback Time follow's a high school student who tries to survive all the horror's of  teenage life such as fitting in and obesity while trying to fulfill his life long dream.Daniel True, an obese teenager, has a dream of becoming an award winning journalist for the New York Times. It is Daniel True's final year to become lead editor at his school as he is in his senior year at Lincoln High. Unfortunately for Daniel (or "Mitch" as the other students call him) he loses the job to someone who he considers lesser in talent and was given the role of sports writer.Daniel is left to write previews and game recaps for the football and volleyball team.
           
     Lincoln High has a very successful football program lead by Daniels ex-best friend and star quarterback Horst Diamond.On the first day of football practice Daniel, and his new photographer Kimi Yon, notice a new guy on the football team wearing a Philadelphia Eagles jersey.They figure out his name is Angel Marichal and they realize that Angel is very talented but looks overage to be on a high school football team.Despite Angel's talent,Coach McNutty doesn't play Angel until the fourth quarter. Every time he gets put in he makes a immediate impact and is a key contributor to the victory. Daniel and Kimi grow suspicious towards Angel and believe that with some heavy investigation they could uncover a story that would rock Lincoln High.Kimi believes that Angel is a undercover cop looking to solve Lincoln High's drug problem. Daniel believes that Angel is overage and Coach McNutty is using non eligible players to win the state championship. 

                            Analytical Paragraph

        This novel is written from the point of view of the protagonist Daniel True. He is an 
five foot four inch, wimpy, seventeen year old struggling to fit in and make friends at Abraham Lincoln High .Many students call him "Michelin Man" because of his short and chubby physic.All of the teasing he gets from other people makes him insecure about himself and made Daniel not join any sport teams even though he enjoys playing sports.He's attempted many times to get back in shape but is always sidetracked because his parents own a catering company and his mother always brings back lovely treats for Daniel to eat.Daniel is a very hard worker as he loves to spend hours and hours writing excellent articles for the school newspaper.His dream is to be a award-winning journalist for the New York Times.

Interactive Response

          So far this novel has really caught my attention which Is surprising because I rarely read books. The beginning of this novel really provides a sense of humor as Daniel True reveals some pretty hilarious things such as how he got the nickname "Michelin Man". I'm a big fan of realism and so far this book has many realistic features such as it being placed in Seattle and the school Lincoln High. I'm really familiar with the Seattle area and its cool that Carl Deuker incorporates real places into the story. So far, the events in the story have come together nicely and the plot is definitely interesting.  I think its cool how Deuker creatively incorporates sports to this novel as he makes the protagonist commentate the game with much detail.