H.o.r.s.e - Christopher Meyers

H.o.r.s.e. is an awesome picture book written by Christopher Meyers. This book tells a story of a boy and girl who challenge each other to play the game H.o.r.s.e on the basketball court. However, the two kids are so worried about beating each other, that they don't even begin to play the game at all in this story.

Is this a good story?
I became very frustrated with this book becasue they actually never began playing basketball. However, it served a good purpose. It showed that sometimes we are so concerned about being better than someone that we miss out.


Is the story something that could really happen?
In the story the boy says, "I will shoot from over the ocean, past Europe, over Africa and Asia, back through North America, one jump clear around the world." These moments in the story would not be something that could truly happen. However, a situation like the one in this story (trying to out do someone else) is something that can happen with students.

Did the characters seem real?
The character's seem very real. They appear to be typical students playing basketball and want to be deemed as the better player.

What did the author want to tell me in this story? 
The author wanted to tell readers that if there to busy trying to out do someone else, they may miss out on opportunities.

Lexile Level: AD605L

Allusion- The text on the book swirls and bounces along with the pictures, it shows the reader the motion of the ball as it goes into the hoop.
Imagination: Imagination is a big theme through out the book. Both characters use their imagination when coming up with the ways they will shoot the basketball, that will make them better. (such as going on the top of the sears tower and throwing a basketball from up there)
Analogy- In the beginning of the story, the girl says the game is called H.O.R.S.E but the boy says it's named ghost. They both agree that it is the same game, and continue to play.

Mini Lesson: I think a great mini lesson for this book would be for students to design an allusion with words similar to the ones in the book. For an example, they could right a poem about the wavy lake, and have words going up and down in the motion of a wave.

Meyers, Christopher. (2012) H.O.R.S.E, Egmont.