Boost
by Kathy Mackel
Literary Element: Protagonist
Savy, the main character is the protagonist because her older sister is in a big problem in the cheerleading squad. She is too heavy to be the flier. She and her friend then go to the gym but the guy there gave her steroids. Its up to Savy to stop her. Savy is the 8th grade school team basketball star. she is already at 6'2 and still growing.
Genre: Sports fiction
Quote: "BAL-CO-ho"
Savy is the protagonist because she is the character that is framed with steroids. When she and her sister move to Rhode Island to her aunt's farm, they have a hard time making friends and getting comfortable with the natural environment. Then one evening her aunt is severely injured by coyotes(she's fine after a couple of months). She asks Savy to take care of the farm. But at 6'2, she wants to play basketball instead taking care of the farm. But she takes care of the farm as her aunt asked her to do. As this happens, Callie, Savy's sister, is told that she is too heavy to be the flier on the cheerleading squad. She goes to the gym but instead gets steroids from a guy there. She slips then into Savy's basketball bag because that's where her parents won't look. Someone finds them and calls the police. Savy gets suspended from basketball until the mess is sorted. Later, Callie is fine but she got a good talk about what's right and what's wrong. "Balcoho" means steroid taker in media language, and Savy's basketball team's rival's players are yelling that when she plays in the championship. This means that she is known as a cheater and a lier.