Due at End of First Reading Day
Title of novel: Running Loose
Author: Chris Crutcher
What clues did you get about the novel from the cover design and the blurbs on the book jacket? The book was going to be about a football player who had his life changed by a girl named Becky.
Write a detailed summary of the first 30 pages introducing the main character, setting, and plot.
Louie Banks is the main character. He is a football player that's not very good at football. It takes place in Idaho. Louie is scared of Boomer the football team star because Boomer hates Louie for something that happened when they were younger. Louie and his friend Carter spent their whole summer working out so they could be ahead of everyone else for football season.
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Due At End of Second Reading Day
Write a page character analysis of an interesting character you have met so far. It doesn’t have to be the main character although it may be. What is the character like and how does the author reveal the characterization to you?
My favorite character so far is Dakota. Dakota lives above the tavern that Louie works at. Dakota also holds up the flags during the football games. He really believes in Louie. Whenever Louie says anything bad about himself to put himself down Dakota gets really angry when Louie puts himself down when it involves football. Louie says that Dakota actually cares whether people are doing good in the game instead of caring about winning and losing.
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Due at end of Third Reading Day
Choose two significant quotations from what you have read so far. Write the quote below falong with the page number and explain in a well-developed paragraph the importance of the quotation.
Quote 1 "you don't have to have sex to make love"
Explanatory paragraph
I really like this quote because its a really significant quote. Most people think that if people aren't having sex that they aren't in love. Two people can love each other without having sex and still be making love.
Quote 2 " Boomer wouldn't be allowed to carry his worn out sweaty jock from the locker room to the garbage can"
Explanatory paragraph
This is talking about Washington's jock strap. I think that this quote is really funny because Boomer always thinks he's all that.
Due At End of Fourth Reading Day
Choose any scene from the novel and take on the point of view of another character in the scene and rewrite the scene from that character’s point of view. This is from Carters point of view.
It was our first day of practice and me and Louie were in the best shape. Louie especially. When it came time to run the mile Louie got real cocky with Boomer. Louie and Boomer decided they would race to see who finished first. The deal was that if Louie won Boomer would carry his bags on and off the bus for the rest of the season. Louie was keeping up real good with me when we were running and Boomer was about 10 yards behind. I wanted to get done so I started sprinting leaving them both in the dust. As I watched the rest of their race Boomer ended up winning by just a hair.
Due At End of Fifth Reading Day
By now you should have a good idea about the novel’s conflict. Explain the conflict giving enough details so I can get it. Then make a prediction about what you think will happen in the novel.
The conflict is that Becky died and Louie is having a conflict with god.
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Due at the End of the Sixth Reading Day
Choose any character you have encountered in the novel so far. Choose five objects that this character would put in his or her pocket, purse, bag, or suitcase. In other words, these are objects that help define the character. For example, if someone were to write about me, he would probably list a bottle of water as an object that helped define me and then would go on to explain that I was never without a bottle of water and that it was necessary for me to drink lots of water because of my kidney and so on…Whatever you choose explain why these objects are appropriate for the selected character. Then if the person were to carry a bag, what kind of bag would it be? Describe it and explain why.
I think carter would have running shoes at all times since he works out a lot. Also he would be carrying a football for his exercises he does with them while he is working out. Carter would be carrying water in some type of container because since he is always working out he needs water. He would have a football uniform in a duffle bag for his football games.
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Due at the End of the Seventh Reading Day
Write a quick book review following the 5 W format. As you work through your response you can label each paragraph with the journalist’s question that it explores.
Paragraph 1: WHO is the main character of the novel? How does the character change over the course of the story? How would you describe this character’s personality?
The main character is Louie Banks. In the beginning of the story it's all about football and how Louie was getting in shape and fit for football all summer because he wanted to be good. He ended up falling for a girl, Becky. He also stood up to many people that he said he would never be able to. Also people he was terrified of. Becky ended up driving off a bridge and drowning which turned Louie's world upside down. He decided to go out for track instead of football. He runs the two mile.
Paragraph 2: WHAT is the novel about?
The novel is about a kid, Louie, who overcomes many things in his life. Before the events in this book happened Louie Banks was not very good at football, not in shape, scared to say what was on his mind, and bad with girls. All of that changed and he became good at football because of working out all summer, he stood up to many people he was afraid of that could kill him, and he got the girl everyone dreamed of having.
Paragraph 3: WHERE does the story take place? What is the setting(s) and how does it add to the novel. How does the location relate to the characters and theme? What time period or era? How can you tell? If the novel involves more than one setting, choose the most important one and explain why.
This story takes place in a small town called Trout, Idaho. It takes place in the mid 80's which makes the story very good because it doesn't talk about the kids talking on their cell phones or driving everywhere. The story actually showed that the kids were bored and gave the "football town" bigger meaning. The location shows that it's in the middle of a bunch of other small towns with basically, nothing to do. The fact that everyone's bored and there aren't many towns around that area shows that the football games are actually a really big deal to Trout. It takes place in the mid 80's because there's a spot in the book where Louie says " This probably will get me Mr. Congeniality '85-'86. I think the most important setting would be at the spillway. That is a really significant spot because this is where Louie goes and thinks about things. It's also places he has gone with Becky and Carter.
Paragraph 4: WHEN does the climax of the novel occur? Tell me about it.
The climax of the story is when Becky dies. Becky had gotten into a car accident by running off the bridge and drowning. Everything was going wrong before Becky died so her dying made everything worse. At the funeral Louie had all these emotions built up from everything going on and he just exploded at the funeral. After everything with Becky was done and Louie was feeling better about everything he tried other things like track.
Paragraph 5: WHY did the author write this story? What point is the author trying to make? Link your why response to a theme.
The author wrote this story because he wanted to show that you can actually do what you want. Like how Louie became a really good football player and got the girl of his dreams. It also shows that you can and should stand up for what you believe in even if it is against someone you are scared of.
Paragraph 6: Rate this novel on a 1-10 scale with 1 being low and 10 being high. Then explain why. Make a recommendation about the novel one way or another.
I would rate this novel a 8. I think it's an 8 because there was a lot of parts that I just really couldn't get into. I don't know much about football so at the parts of the games when it would talk about what was happening I didn't really know what was going on. Also I like books that I can relate to and much of this I've never dealt with.