Bel Air MD, 21024
September 3, 2010
Dear Leah,
My name is Erin H. and I really liked reading about your story in Going for the Record by Julie A. Swanson. I am in 9th grade at John Carroll and I love to play sports, just like you. I live in Forest Hill Maryland. My summer has been fun and exciting, and I hope yours was too. My basketball team went to Orlando to compete in a National YBOA tournament. I also went to Florida, North Carolina, and Deep Creek Lake with my friend Alex and her family.
I really liked reading Going for the Record, actually my friend had read it before and she said it was a really good book, so when I saw it on the list I was very excited. I really liked it when you thought you wouldn’t be able to play soccer anymore, because of your dad, you still tried to play because you love it. When you father was in his bed and you stayed with him the entire time, I thought that was very brave of you because I don’t think I would be able to stand to see my father like that and not cry all the time.
I think that Julia A. Swanson writes very realistically and it is full of details “Tweet! They play a quick touch forward and boot it long. It ricochets between several players before settling at a blue defenders feet. We’re in possession.” You can actually see the soccer game in your head. I also really like the way Swanson puts the dates in the beginning of the chapters and throughout the book. These dates helped me realize how much happened in a short amount of time.
Why did you get so mad at Clay when he asked if you had talked to any college coaches? Then when he wrote you that letter you got even angrier when he signed it “Love, Clay”. Was it that you were so upset about your dad you had to let it out somehow? But in the end I was very happy when you forgave him.
This story definitely made me really think about the issue of cancer. It’s amazing what cancer can do to a family, it can bring them closer together or it can tear them apart. One thing for sure is that cancer is a very frightening thing to go through. In our society today with all of the new technology and medical advances, we still don’t have a cure for all cancers, which is very surprising. Sometimes the inventors and doctors just need funding to get there cures tested to see if they work. So a good thing to do is to raise money for cancer. You could do a lot of things like a yard sale, ask a restaurant to give you some of their money from one day, or even just go around asking for money to support a certain type of cancer.
I hope that you are on a soccer team again and that everything is ok between you and Cay. Also I hope that your family isn’t taking you fathers passing to hard. I know how you felt during this difficult time when your dad had cancer. My mom had breast cancer but she fought through it and is now a 1 year survivor. So I know that you will be strong for your father and make something good out of this horrible tragedy.
Sincerely,
Erin H
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