Payback Time - Entry 3

                                                 Summary
                      (Section 5)

      They figured out that Angel was a star quarterback in Philadelphia and that in his senior year disappeared after winning their first five games. With all the information collected Daniel wrote a article about Angels past and Coach McNulty.  Kimi convinced Daniel that it would be right to show Coach McNulty the article and get his side of the story. Coach McNulty and Daniel meet up and McNulty reveals that Angel is actually a good guy and they are trying to hide him from a gang looking for revenge after Angel testified against them in a murder case.Daniel knew he was in trouble as he realized that he released information to the gang that could lead them to Angel. Daniel was now in the middle of a gang related event.


                           Does the gang find Angel? 
         That's something for you to find out.


                     Analytical Paragraph 
                  Daniel's character is definitely a dynamic character as he has changed as the novel progressed.He's gone from a wimpy nerd with no friends to a courageous genius who although is not popular still has made a couple friends who he could trust. At the beginning of the novel Daniel tells shares some events that notify you that he is a wimp.However that all changes as he finds the courage to confront drug dealers to protect one of his friends. Daniel also changed physically as he goes from an obese teenager to a slightly fitter teenager. We were always notified about Daniel being obese and he eventually found a source of motivation to lose weight. As I was getting deeper and deeper into the book I realized that Daniels self esteem started to improve as he was losing weight.


                                     Interactive Response
    As I expected Carl Deuker has written another amazing sports fiction novel. I don't really read   books but when I do they are usually written by Carl Deuker.Carl Deuker is a genius when it comes to putting together real life problems and sports Overall, the novel was well written and realistic and actually made me not wanting to put it down as I wanted to find out more about Angel. The book was just right in terms of length and provides some humor and thrill.If you love sports and are looking for a mystery novel to read you should definitely read Payback Time and I guarantee you wouldn't want to put it down 

Payback Time - Entry 2

                                                   Summary 
                  (Section 3 and 4)

      As Kimi and Daniel continue to work with each other to create amazing articles they get closer as friends and Daniel becomes motivated to lose weight to impress Kimi.Their work is starting to get noticed by the Seattle Times and have been offered fifty dollars for every article written.As they continue writing for Seattle Times and the school they still are trying to find information about Angel. Trying to find some information they get caught up in two life threatening situations involving drug dealers and gangs.Kimi gets bewildered and decides to back out of the investigation in concern for their safety.Daniel then figures out that the school has student files which has information about each student. Daniel convinces Kimi to join back into the investigation as he comes up with a safe plan to obtain Angel's student file.


       After successfully obtaining Angels student file they come to learn that coach McNulty has removed multiple things from the file. Things such as Angels birth certificate, vaccination history, and high school report cards.The only thing they could recover from this file was a phone number. The football season continued and Lincoln High was being lead by their star quarterback and star middle linebacker Angel. Daniel tried multiple times to get an interview with Angel but coach McNulty always refused.He began writing about Angel in his Seattle Times report and he noticed that they were taking out the parts where he talks about Angel.Soon enough with the phone number they recovered they figured out that Angel was from Philadelphia.They found out that the phone number lead to a high school in Philadelphia. With some good leads and research they collected multiple articles with information about Angels past.Daniel comes into contact with a former student from the Philadelphia high school and begin to trade information about Angel. 




                                           Analytical Paragraph
                       In the novel, Payback Time, Carl Deuker tackles various problems such as gangs,drugs,obesity, and trying to fit in. Throughout the novel they always emphasize about Daniel being obese through teasing from others and his own thoughts.The book always mentions if Daniel eats something or prevents himself from eating something to continue his weight loss goal. Gangs and drugs come up multiple times through out the novel. Daniel and Kimi get themselves into some sticky situations as they try to find information about Angel. Daniel gets beat up as they get caught taking pictures of drug dealers.There are many flashbacks to Daniels past as he always talks about times where he was left out. Through out high school Daniel has tried to fit in but is never successful as he always finds a way to humiliate himself.
                      


                                              Interactive Response
                         At this point in the novel we come to figure out that this a an sports-mystery novel  and so far it has a good mixture of the two. The story could potentially incorporate a sport scandal into it and that makes the book more interesting to me because I'm familiar with real life sports scandals. Daniels character definitely seems realistic to me as he deals with the same problems that any normal teenager would deal with. His thoughts are what really him realistic as he thinks about certain things similarly to how many teenagers think. The book does a good job of surprising you which completely changes your prediction of what could potentially happen. 

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.