Heat is a fiction book. Michael Arroyo is a twelve year old Cuban immigrant. His father, his brother, and he live happily in New York till the father poops. Carlos, Michael’s brother, and Michael try and keep it a secret till Carlos turns eighteen and can take custody of Michael. Michael is extremely talented at baseball (pitching) and has a dream of playing to the Little League World Series. Michael’s fantasies look promising until one challenging opponent asks for Michael’s birth certificate which, unfortunately, the Arroyo brothers cannot find. Michael needs find his birth certificate and keep their father’s death a secret if Michael wants to keep his dreams alive.
tI thought was book was pretty well written. Mike Lupica described all the characters and how they relate to each other to make inner conflicts, which made the book more exciting. I thought that he built up to the climax by using most of the book with necessary but a tad bit bland. Once you got into the climax, it started getting really good. I thought one of the themes was poverty. Mike Lupica portrayed how hard it is for an immigrant to survive is. It requires a lot dedication and determination to keep working two tedious jobs.
tI would recommend this book for very few people. For baseball players and fans, such as me, this would be a very good book. For people who do not like baseball or sports in general, this would probably not be a very good choice. (252)

This book was OK I mean the book had a good story and was very descriptive of the problems and the characters and it left cliff hangers at the end of every chapter witch were solved in the end but I thought they were just to cheese.This book could have been so much better and the book also got rely dum when the main characters broke the fourth wall witch made the book confusing and when I pictured this book in my head it did not make sense and the book was a lot like other books like how the dad dies and the kids struggle so it was not the best book and think it is OK for another audience,and if you read the book and you don't like my review well I hate this genera I like other types of fiction.

Michael Arroyo is a star, he can throw 80mph and is only 12 years old people think his future is up. But nobody knows that he and his 17 year old are alone no parents, nobody. There plan was to wait until his brother turned 18. But this plan got blown open when he beats a team that questions his age, with nothing to prove his age he is not allowed to play baseball .When this leads to them to his dad's death he drowning in a sea of worry.

“Heat” is a fictional book written by Mike Lupica. It starts out with Michael Arroyo, a twelve year old Cuban immigrant, who recently moved to New York with his father and brother. His father passes away soon after they arrive and the brothers are forced to live alone. His brother works two jobs and Michael becomes a part of the local baseball team. Michael is an amazing pitcher in baseball and has dreams of winning the little league world series and becoming a major league pitcher. The only problem is most of the coaches don’t believe he is twelve years old because he can throw 80 miles per hour. When his team reaches the playoffs for the world series, other coaches make the league directors question his birth certificate and demand he can't play until he shows one. While that is happening, it draws attention to the foster care programs in his city. During the playoffs he meets a girl, Ellie, and little did he know she is the daughter of his favorite Yankee player, El Grande, who is also of Cuban descent. Up until the finals of the world series, Michael has been coaching his team along with his coach until, unknowingly, El Grande contacts some of his family back in Cuba and gets Michael’s birth certificate right before the championship game. Michael dreams come true when his team ends up winning the championship and he gets to throw the first pitch in the next Yankee game. The title, “Heat”, is good because it describes Michael’s hardships and helps with the understanding of how fast Michael can pitch.

The characters in the book are: Michael Arroyo, El Grande, and his daughter Ellie. Michael is the main character that the book revolves around throughout the story. He also is an outstanding pitcher for his age. El Grande is a star Yankee pitcher at the time that Michael looks up to. He ends up helping Michael fulfill his dreams. The reason Michael gets to know El Grande is because he meets his daughter Ellie first. She is noticed watching Michael pitch one day and that's where it all began between her and Michael. The author describes the characters very vividly, which helps paint a realistic picture.

The setting is in the South Bronx of New York City in the late 1990’s. The author describes the setting very well whether on the baseball diamond or at Michael's home. The author nails the setting perfectly in all the scenes in the book no matter where they are. He paints a perfect picture and seems like you are there watching.

I would recommend this book to any sports fan interested in reading a great book. Even though this book is about a sport I would still recommend it to any person look for a great book to read and anyone would enjoy it. It shows that anything can happen in life if you play your cards right. This book is a great one to just sit down and enjoy.

Heat by Mike Lupica
The book Heat by Mike Lupica is a fictional baseball story based on Michael Arroyo. I expected this book to be one big game where Michael hits a home run to win. While I was partially correct, Michael must do much more. He tries to grasp the tough reality of being a parentless twelve year old with a dream of playing baseball. Carlos, Michael’s brother, works hard, extended hours to take care of the two of them but they’re still falling behind financially.
tEarly on, I did not find this book intriguing, but my opinion completely changed. Towards the end of the book, Michael has issues with his birth certificate and cannot play until he acquires it. This time in the book was tense and dramatic. I can somewhat relate to Michael because I, too, am focused on sports: however, I do not have as many problems at home. This book helps me understand that other people are going through much more rough times than me and that I should appreciate everything I have. The author’s style of writing is easy to comprehend and imagine Michael Arroyo’s life. This book is a great read and is very entertaining, as well.

I would highly recommend and rate this book 5 stars because the book has a great plot that never becomes boring. I admire the moral of the book, no matter how bad things are they will work themselves out. When something bad would occur with the main character ‘Michael’, he never gave up and in the end he had a wonderful outcome. Michael was an all-star baseball pitcher, throwing eighty-miles per hour, but when he moved to America he faced issues. However he pushed through his biggest issues, not being able to play because he didn’t have his birth certificate from Cuba. Michael had faced a tragedy since his father had passed away months prior, and his mother had been dead for years. Although he was only left with his brother that didn’t stop him from having hope that in someway whether it was nearly impossible he’d find a way to get his birth certificate. The theme itself is portrayed when Michael’s has to end up sitting out an entire season because everyone thought he was older than he claimed, since he was pitching at such amazing speeds for being only 12. It’s not until the end he receives a wonderful outcome when his favorite Cuban baseball player gets his birth certificate from Cuba for him, this proved to everyone he was a young truthful all-star.

This story called '' Heat'' by Mike Lupica is a really interesting book. This book is about a kid called Michael Arroyo that lives in Cuba and is having a really hard time. In Cuba it was really hard with the wars and killings. So this kid decided to come to the US and play baseball. He has to be hiiden until his brother is 18 because Michael does not have his birth certificate. Than he could play baseball and possibly make it to college and play college baseball. I like this book because it is about baseball and i really like baseball.

Heat by Mike Lupica is the story of a young and orphaned Cuban boy, looking to make it as a big-league (or, for this book, little-league) pitcher. He wants to do his very best in order to make his dead father proud, and hopefully not get caught by child services for living alone with his underage brother. The story goes on about baseball and heroes and bullies (both child and adult), and blah blah, happy ending with girl and hero and birth certificate and friendship. All I really have to say is that the only thing more boring that watching baseball on TV (watching live is fun and exciting), was reading this book. Not very impressed.

Ryan Gregory
Ms.Nagel
E202
October 7 2016
Book Review of Heat by Mike Lupica
Heat is a story about a cuban boy named Michael Arroyo who came to the U.S illegally on a boat. Michael lost his dad shortly after he moved to New York and he is now living with just his brother. His dad always told him that he had the arm in baseball. Michael’s dream is to make it to williamsport Pennsylvania with his little league team as their star pitcher. His little league pitching career is nearly ended when a coach calls him out saying that he is not 12 but michael does not have his birth certificate in the country.
In Heat mike lupica gets and keeps the reader hooked from the start to about midway through the book. Mike lupica loses the reader on and off in the middle of because he was giving extra information about legal matters that were not interesting. Mike Lupica shows the struggle of finding out the age of a star little league baseball pitcher. The reader becomes very emotional at the end when they see how people come together just for one person. Mike Lupica takes the reader through moments of despair and moments of kindness from strangers. Mike Lupica also gets you on the edge of your seat and makes you excited to see what happens at the end of the book. We are also kept in suspense during the story to see if Michael and his Brother Carlos are taken away by child services. In the story there should have been a larger focus on baseball instead of legal matters and the police throughout the story.
Overall, I really liked this because the michael and his brother try as hard as they can to live on their own. The best part about it was their baseball journey to get to the little league world series and how michael overcame his problems regarding his age. I would recommend this to children and adults from 12 up. I gave this book 5/5 stars on GoodReads.

The kind of person that would like this book is an athlete or someone who just enjoys sports in general. I personally don't play baseball yet I play many other sports so I was able to relate to the ups and downs the main character Michael Arroyo went through throughout the course of the book. Not only was this an interesting story from an athletes perspective but also enjoyable by anyone else because of the sadness and excitement and many other feelings you get throughout Michael's struggles with his father being dead and the constant worry of getting deported.

tThe plot of “Heat” shortened up is a kid moves to New York City from Havana, Cuba to be free and to play baseball. Michael, the main characters, father dies from a heart attack trying to help a woman from her boyfriend who’s mad at her. The only people that know about are Carlos, Michaels brother, and Mrs. C their neighbor.
During the summer Michael is playing baseball for the Clippers, a local baseball teams in the Bronx. As the season goes on they keep winning and Michael can pitch around 80 miles per hour. About half way through the season the other coaches think that Michael is over the age 12, which is the age limit, so he needs to have a birth certificate to prove how old he is. But all he has is a certificate that says when he was baptized, so he is suspended from play.
There was Mr. Gibbs an “Official” person they called him, he worked with foster kids and he also made sure to help kids so they didn’t get into foster care. Mr. Gibbs knew something was up with Michael and Carlos, he just didn’t know what. Michael’s idol, El Grande, is a superstar baseball pitcher for the Yankees that Michael picked up all of his technique from by watching him on television.
One day Michael and Manny, Michael’s best friend, were playing catch at the stadium where the Clippers played their games and practiced at, and there was this girl watching them from a distance. Michael tried talking to her bust she laughed and ran away. Then a few weeks later she was there again and she actually came and talked to him this time, and when Michael first laid eyes on her, he really liked he. The only thing he didn’t know was that she was El Grande’s daughter, Ellie.
Michael still couldn’t play and Mr. Gibbs and a few other people were trying to pull some strings and try to see if they could find Michael’s birth certificate in Havana, Cuba, but they were not having any luck. One day before a Yankee’s Game he went and tried to meet El Grande so he could give him a note to give to Ellie because he had made Ellie mad and wanted to make up for it. El Grande arrived and Michael was waiting and yelling out for him, but El Grande wouldn’t answer until he started singing this song about a cat that was from Cuba. Then El Grande answered and Michael told him everything that was going on.
It was the game to win their conference to go to the District 22 Championship game which was Michael’s dream to do and he couldn’t play. This game was against their arch rival Westchester South, and the coach from the other team was the one that got the petition to prevent Michael from playing. The Clippers were down 5-7 at the top of the last inning, and then El Grande, Mr. Gibbs, Michael’s family, and some guy who was the head person in charge of all the games that got played. El Grande made some calls in Havana and he got Michael real birth certificate and then Michael got to play. The Clippers won and went on to Yankee Stadium to play in the District 22 finals.

The main character was Michael, then there was Manny, Papi Michael’s deceased father, Carlos, and Mrs. C. They were some pretty important characters that came up in the story a lot. There’s Mr. Gibbs, Mr. Minaya the baseball coach, Ellie, Ramon a criminal Michael stopped. There is also less important characters names that isn’t that relevant.


“Heat” took place in the Bronx in New York City. It was usually at Michael's apartment building or Macombs Dam Park where the baseball field where the Clippers played was. The time is modern time everything is basically the same as it is this very day except it was in the summer. The setting impacted the story because it was in a bigger city and there was a lot more competition than there would be in a smaller area.

I would recommend this to boys or girls from sixth to twelfth grade. It is more for people who like to read sports books, otherwise I don’t think you would like it very much. I recommend it because at some parts it makes you laugh. It also makes you question if Michael will ever be able to play again or not by the end of the season.

This book was very good. What kept me reading was knowing that Michael and his brother Carlos were living on their own and Michael nor Carlos are 18 yet so it's illegal for them to be living without a guardian. Because they lost both their Papi about 3 month ago. Michael is a star pitcher on the Clippers, he is one of the best in the Little League, his brother Carlos has multiple jobs trying to have enough money to pay the bills. But since Michael is so good one of the parents on the other team complained that he was older than 12 years old. This part really kept me reading because I didn't know if he was gonna play baseball again or not. So him and his best friend Manny still go to the field and play baseball. They go to the field about everyday and it is right next to Yankee Stadium. They always see this girl watch them play and one day Manny and Michael met her. She was a good baseball player as well. But what they didn't find out till later is that she is the start pitcher on the Yankees, El Grande's daughter. Then Micheal gets mad at her for not telling him. But at the Yankee game Michael finds El Grande and gives him a note that says sorry to Ellie. While he is waiting he is also waiting for his birth certificate so he can play baseball. While he is coaching one of the games El Grande and a bunch of other people go to one of the Clippers game, all attention goes to El Grande, and so does Michaels. Once El Grande goes up to Michael, he hands him his birth certificate. After that he is able to play baseball again. He plays in that game he was juts coaching, they were losing but they came back and won and ended up going to the championship.