Falling Short by Ernesto Cisneros
Hi my name is Kire. I love to read, play volleyball and play my viola.
I listened to Falling Short for the Idaho Battle of the Books and found it interesting. The book is a fiction novel about many aspects of middle school, mainly basketball. It follows and is written with the point of view of two boys, Marco and Isaac. They are neighbors and best friends even though their personalities and strengths are quite different. This book is about these two conquering the challenges of school and family problems.
This year, Marco, who is academically gifted and always gets straight A’s in school, wants to impress his father by making the middle school basketball team. His father has never been there for him, and he hopes that by making the basketball team, he will be able to win his father’s approval. The only problem is that he has never played basketball. Isaac has different hopes for the year. He is naturally good at basketball, but unlike Marco, he struggles with his schoolwork and grades. This year he hopes to change this as his parents have often argued about Isaac and his work. His mom thinks that school is the most important thing, but his dad has drinking problems and thinks that basketball is the most important. Isaac hopes that by improving his grades, he will be able to mend his parents’ arguments about him and fix his family. Through helping each other, Isaac and Marco are able to overcome their struggles and continue their middle school year.
I found this book very interesting and fun to read. There were many jokes within the book that made it hilarious. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a funny and interesting book. Overall, I found this book to be one of the better books that I have read this year.
