Toby Wheeler 8th Grade Benchwarmer

  One important conflict in the book is friendship. In the beginning of the book Toby was really close to his best friend JJ. Then JJ started hanging out with his new friends, Stephen and Valerie, and started spending less time with Toby.Whenever JJ was with Stephen and Valerie, he would act like a jerk to Toby. Soon JJ barely hung out with Toby. Since JJ barely spent any time with him, Toby decided to join the school basketball team since JJ was already on it. When Toby joined the team, JJ hardly ever spoke to Toby during practices and games. At the end of the book Toby and JJ became friends again. 

  Another important conflict in the book is parents pressuring kids to do good in sports. In the book JJ's dad pressures him to do good in basketball. He made JJ practice all the time and watch tapes of games when he was not practicing. Whenever JJ had a bad game, his father would yell at him and make him watch tapes of old games. The pressure eventually led to JJ quitting basketball and leaving the team. At the end of the book JJ came back to the team and helped them win the championship.

Toby Wheeler 8th Grade Benchwarmer

The book Toby Wheeler 8th Grade Benchwarmer is about an 8th grader named Toby Wheeler who joins his middle school basketball team only to become a benchwarmer. He only joined the basketball team to spend more time with his friend J.J. When he goes to the team practice he expects to immediateley become a starter or sixth man, but he ends up becoming the 12th man. In the beginning of the season he was always at the end of the bench and never got to play, but as time went on his role increased and he started playing more. His team eventually won the championship at the end of the season.


The authors purpose is to show that it takes a whole team to win in basketball. His purpose is also to show that if you work hard to become a better player, it will pay off in the end. For example, in the beginning of the book Toby was a benchwarmer, but after practicing hard to become a better player, it paid off and he started to perform better in games and in practice which led to him getting more playing time.

Sonnet # 1

Basketball is dribbling up the court

Boxing out to try and grab a rebound

Playing hard to win but coming up short

Basketball is the best sport ever found

It is watching the ball swish through the net

Shooting the ball high over outstretched hands

Basketball is the best sport you could ever get

Hearing the screaming and cheering of the fans 

Playing tough defense on the opponent

Trying to block the opponents lay-up

Shooting a free throw while your knees are bent

Waiting before the game so it starts up

Going for a steal from the other team

Making the game winner as the fans scream

Paul Cezanne

  Paul Cezanne was born in 1839 in Aix-en-Provence, in South France. As a child he was strong, lively, wild, and showed an interest in art. His early paintings were often dark and nightmarish and painted in dark colors. As time went on his paintings started to show a calmer mood. At age 47, he married his girlfriend Hortense and they had their son, Paul Cezanne Jr. On October 22, 1906, at age 67 he died of pneumonia.

  His style of painting has changed a lot over time. His early paintings were violent, and nightmarish, painted in dark colors. He painted with thick layers of paint applied with a palette knife. As time went on, his paintings started to show a calmer mood. Throughout his life he studied and copied works by famous artists before him. It took a long time to complete his paintings. He worked very slow. He liked to paint portraits of a lot of people, including himself.

One of his paintings is called Kitchen Still Life. It is a painting of a bunch of different fruits on his kitchen table. There is also some fruits sitting in a basket on the table. There is also a white cloth and some pots sitting on the table. In this painting, he made colors and shapes in different areas interact with one another.The color and shape of the fruits is echoed in the background. This is a very calm painting compared to his earlier, violent paintings.

Miracle on 49th Street

  An important symbol in the book is the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. Throughout the book Molly Parker and Josh Cameron are at the tree sharing a special moment. For example, when Molly and Josh start spending time together for the first time, they are walking down the streets of New York City and stop at the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. Then Josh tells Molly the story of him in college, when he met her mother at the tree hours before his NCAA Championship Game. This is the first time that Josh really acts like a father to Molly.

  Another time when Josh and Molly are at the tree sharing a special moment is at the end of the book, when Molly goes to New York to see Josh play in the Knicks and Celtics Christmas game. Hours before the game she goes to the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree hoping that Josh would come pick her up so she could live with him and not move to California with her mothers friend, Barbara. After waiting for a long time she decides he is not coming and prepares to leave disappointed. Then Josh finally shows up and they leave with each other.

Miracle on 49th Street

The book Miracle on 49th Street is about a girl named Molly. Molly's mother, Jen Parker, died of cancer and now she wants to get to know her real father, which happens to be the star point guard of the Boston Celtics Josh Cameron. Throughout the story she tries to get him to accept her as his daughter, but he does not believe her. But as the story goes on, he begins to believe her and starts to act like her father.

The main conflict of the book is molly trying to convince Josh Cameron he is her father. After she first told him he wanted to take a DNA test but Molly wanted him to believe her himself. When Josh finally started spending time with Molly he was really just trying to find a nice way to get her away. Then as he kept spending time with her he began to truly act like a dad. By the end of the book he accepted Molly as his own daughter and took care of her.

Jim and Me

  In the book Jim and Me I think the authors purpose is to show that you can't change history. Many times throughout the book they try and change the past but fail. For example, they went back in time to 1912 to try and prevent Jim Thorpe's medals from being taken away. But by the time they got there it was too late because the Olympics were over and the medals already got taken from him.Another example of how you can't change history is when Bobby got the idea of taken Jim Thorpe home with them so he could start his life over. But since Jim Thorpe was Bobby's great grandfather, if they took him to the present day then he wouldn't have kids which means his kids wouldn't have kids which means when they get there Bobby wouldn't be born. So they decided not to take Jim Thorpe to the present day with them and realized there was nothing they could do about Jim's medals being taken away.