The book Game Seven by Paul Volponi. This book was a sports fiction about a boy named Julio Rameraz Jr who always dreamed of playing shortstop for the national Cubas team. Throughout the book the overall theme was shown clearly through the message of to not give up. Julio Rameraz Jr. was a sixteen year old boy whose whole life was baseball. He grew up with the love of baseball in the Dominican Republic just like his father, Julio Rameraz, who went on to become a major league baseball player for the Miami Marlins. Julio was ashamed of his father due to the fact that he had abandoned his family to get to where he was now and was viewed as a tractor by the Dominican Republic. At the start of the book we see Julio winning his baseball game and catching the attention of a scout who then offers him the opportunity to play in an all star game. Although Julio was excited, he began the constant reminder about his wonder of his father and how his life was now. With the thought of finding his father still on his mind Julio continued to work hard for his spot in the all stars high school baseball game. Because Julio's father was in America, Julio always saw his Uncle as his father figure. “El Fuego has trusted in me to help his family,” (Volponi 73). Throughout the game Julio was eager to insure his own fame and show that he could be just as good as his dad. Although Julio ended up playing very well at the game his hopes of being greeted by many scouts turned out to not be true showing us the true reality about how some things don't turn out the way you hoped or expected. Through his disappointment Julio seized the opportunity to talk to his uncle to which they made a plan to move from the Dominican Republic where they grew and loved, to Miami in the goal to find his father. Julio, his Uncle, and his cousin Luis, were faced with many obstacles along the way including being stopped in their boat by the United Coast Guard and having to dive in the water to get away, “I'm not taking any chances, i'm going to swim for the beach,” (Volponi 166). Julio finds out about the truth of what it's like to be in America and away from everything he's known, and starts to wonder if this is all really worth it. Will they get caught? Will his father remember him? Will he find him at all?
This book really caught me by surprise because at first I thought the book would be just some baseball book but in the end there was a deeper meaning to it.
I think this book is very interesting with many twists and turns including a very wholesome ending and I would advise that if you are a sports fan and are looking for a book, this is the perfect one for you.
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