Dragon Road

Author: Laurence Yep

Pages Read: 140/288

Genre: Historical Fiction

Report Section

Calvin woke up that morning excited, with lots of energy. It was the first time Ah Lee acted nice to him, probably because he was leaving for four months. Today is the day when Calvin leaves his family and friends and goes around the country to play basketball with his new friends. His friends picked him up with an old rusty car, and they all were sitting like sardines. They all headed for their first game, which was in over the mountain. When they started getting up the mountain, no one taught they can do it, but somehow they succeeded. When they got in the small town, they all saw posters of the opposing team, which made them think that they are much stronger. When  they got into the gyp, Calvin and Barney, two rookies, needed to serve tea for their teammates. When they went out to get some tea, they stopped in the store to buy some postcards to send them to their families. Behind the store, they saw some houses and sea, so, of course, they went in. When they walked a little bit, they saw Uncle Quail.  Barney never met him, so it was pleasant for both of them to meet each other. When they talked for a while, Calvin warned Barney that game is starting and invited Uncle Quail to the game. When game started, Calvin was sitting on the bench as usual. He noticed that opposing team is much slower then their team, so when Calvin got in the game, it was easy for him an his teammates to win the game. When game finished, Uncle Quail gave Calvin some food, and some people even came to him to get an autograph. He was very surprised. When they celebrated long enough they headed for the small town, for their next game. The town was full of cows. There were more cows than humans. The team that they played against was much better than the last team they played, but still they won the game with minor difficulties. They headed for their third game. The gym there was so old, that ball barely bounced off the ground, and also referee was friend of the opposing team, so he played for them. In the first quarter, Calvin's team had many fouls, while at the same time, the opposing tam had no fouls, but Jack had a plan. He wanted the team to fake the fouls and jump on referee, and that it will teach him a lesson. They did so, but referee needed few jumps to learn the lesson. At the end they won the game, and headed for their next game.

Response Section

I really liked what I've read so far. The book is about basketball, which I love, and it teaches life lessons, like how to play under pressure, and how to get people to love you in a new environment. It teaches reader everything about basketball in old times. How was it played, what you needed to win the game, and also how to act on the court. Calvin is a guy, that loves to try new things out. He loves getting into the trouble, and he loves having fun, while Barney is a "good" guy, that tells Calvin whats good for him, and what's not. Topper is Calvin rival and always competes with him in many ways, but especially in basketball. Jack teaches Calvin what he needs to do on the field to surprise Topper, and also he teaches him what he needs to do to be better than Topper, to get jersey with number 1. My recent reading has fulfilled my expectation. Nothing unexpected happened, but it might happen in he future in the book. I think that Calvin and Barney will get in some kind of trouble for stealing something, and maybe he'll get kicked out of the team, but still we don't know.  am really satisfied of what I read so far.

Passage Section

"As He shook hands afterwards, one of them even asked me for and autograph."

"It's for my little girl,"he shrugged. 

Tat was the time when Calvin's fame began, when he gave his first autograph away.