Mike Lupica

Report by Ethan Cha

Early Child HoodBorn on May 11, 1952Born in Oneida, New YorkSon of Benedict and Lee LupicaBenedict (dad) is personal managerSpent child hood in Nahua, New HampshireChildhood heroes; Jimmy Breslin and Pete Hamil

Graduated from Boston collegeBecame sports author because:Loved sports growing upJimmy Breslin and Red Smith tell him he was doing a good jobStarted writing books in mid-1980s

AccomplishmentsYoungest columnist ever at New York Daily news at 23Novel Dead Air nominated Edgar Allan Poe AwardAuthor of 20 booksTravel Team, Heat, Bump and Run, and Wild Pitch; best sellersTim Murray Award; given from National Football Foundation

My Personal FavoritesMillion Dollar Throw: haven't finished it but…Travel Team: very well-written, and…Safe at Home: heart-felt…

Authors CraftLong Shot Literary Elements Safe at Home

Suspenseful, sad Atmosphere Sad, humorous, suspenseful

Pedro, Ned, Dave, Jeff, Jamal, and Joe

Character(s) Nick, Jack, Gary, Coach Williams

“Ned was a small forward, even though he was tall enough to play center and a good enough shooter to play guard”

Direct characterization “…but what set Nick apart from the other kids was this: Nick Crandall had an arm.”

“Pedro could see how excited his father was, saying these things, and it made Pedro happy too.”

Indirect Characterization

“Nick might not be small for his age, but he’s to small to catch for varsity.”

(cont.) Authors CraftPedro decides to focus more on basketball than being elected school president

Climax Nick decides to work harder to become a better baseball player

Pedro doesn’t focus on basketball and starts to play bad so the coach pulls him out of the starting lineup

Conflict A lot of Nick’s new teammates don’t like him because he isn’t playing well

“…you act like you missed more than 10 shots yesterday just because you got benched” Joe said.

Dialogue “I cant do anything” Nick said “I should just quit…”

“Pedro smelled the beautiful fresh air of the cloudless blue sky”

Imagery “Nick could smell the snack shack’s fresh doughnuts as it mixed in with the sunny day”

(cont.) Authors Craft“Pedro felt sad and beaten down as if one of his relatives had died”

Metaphor “Nick felt as if he had just got straight A’s as his whole team carried him on their shoulders”

Pedro’s dad got a raise so he got to quit one of his jobs, which meant he could see Pedro play. Pedro didn’t want to let his dad down so he worked harder

Motivation all of Nick's teammates hated him and always teased him so he worked harder so they would stop.

Present-Day, mostly at basketball gym, school, and Pedro’s house

Setting Present-Day, Baseball field, School, Nick’s home

(cont.) Authors CraftLong Shot is

about a poor kid named Pedro who

is trying to be elected school

president, and to be a leader of his basketball team. He doesn’t know

which one he should focus on.

He decides to focus on

basketball.

Plot Safe at Home is about a kid names Nick who is on the JV baseball team. When the varsity’s catcher gets hurt, he has to play for the varsity team. Many of the varsity team’s don’t like him cause he plays bad. He decides to work harder

(cont.) Authors CraftAll-Knowing point of view

Point of View First person point of view

I think the theme of this book is perseverance because even though he was playing bad he kept working hard

Theme I think the theme of this book is courage because even though Nick could’ve stayed in JV he had the courage to move up to varsity

BibliographyKu, Kim. "Mike Lupica's Official Website." Kim Ku, 2008. Web. 1 Jan. <http://www.mikelupicabooks.com/mikelupica.html>. "Author Biography." Book Browse, 2008. Web. 1 Jan. <http://www.bookbrowse.com/biographies/index.cfm?author_number=535>. "Mike Lupica." Wikipedia, the free encylcopedia, 2010. Web. 4 Feb. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Lupica>.

Malinowski, Scoop. "Column on the Columnist: Mike Lupica BioFile." New York, New York: TheBioFile.com, 2006. Web. 1 Jan. <http://www.thebiofile.com/news/biofile/1159304541.php>.

(cont.) Bibliography"Biography of Mike Lupica." Spiritus-Temporis.com, 2005. Web. 1 Jan. <http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/mike-lupica/>. "Michael Thomas Lupica." Gig Salad, 2009. Web. 1 Jan. <http://bookthebest.com/profile/mike_lupica/biography>. "Mike Lupica." Penguin Group USA, 2010. Web. 1 Jan. <http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Author/AuthorPage/0,,1000009423,00.html>.