First, choose an important passage (short) from your book.  Choose one that points to what the book is all about.  It might come at a point where the main character learns an important truth or makes an important decision.  It might be a passage that gives a clue to the title or is beautifully written.  Remember quotation marks and citation (author’s last name and page number).  Here’s the passage I chose from Football Hero by Tim Green.

” ‘It’s not over until it’s over,’ Thane said, speaking slowly, the way he did when he wanted Ty to remember.   ‘You want to be a champion, you have to think that way, in everything you do.  You never stop.  You let yourself start to think that way, then the one time you could pull out a win because of some freak luck, you’re not ready for it.  Maybe it’s only once in a lifetime, but that’s one win you’d never have, and who knows what that one win could do.’ ‘ (Green 289)

Once you quote the passage, explain what it means to you.  Tell me what you’re thinking and support it with examples from the rest of the story.  Here’s what I think about the quote above:

Ty remembered this conversation with his brother in the middle of a football game.  Ty was racing to catch the ball.  He had already outrun three defenders but the fourth had just tipped the ball out of reach.  Even though it seemed impossible, Ty kept going for the ball.  But more than that, throughout the story Ty never gave up.  Even when things seemed the most hopeless, he kept trying.  Sometimes he kept trying on the football field–running barefoot when his cheap sneakers wouldn’t do the job.  He also kept trying to stay in contact with his brother Thane.  At first Uncle Gus tells Ty he can’t visit his brother then weekend of the NFL draft.  Then when Lucy, the bar owner, sees a way to use the brotherly connection to his advantage, Ty asks him for permission to play in the football spring scrimmage, too.  When the school bully won’t leave Ty alone, Ty stalks him on the football field, earning the respect of his teammates.  When he realizes that Lucy is out to hurt Thane, he rushes to warn his brother and shoves Lucy down an  escalator.  One of the things I like best about Ty is that willingness to never say never.  I think Tim Green wants his readers to come away with that message, too.  Don’t ever give up, no matter how hard or impossible life seems, because you never know when that one time will pay off for you.  Keep trying so you will be ready for it when it comes.