At the beginning of the book both Arthur and William are scouted playing basketball on the courts in their neiborhood to play at basketball powerhouse St. Joseph, that is a private Catholic school in the suburbs of Chicago. Both Arthur and William were very surprised to think that a school of that caliber would want them. If they decided to go to St. Joseph it would mean that they would both have to commute a very long way in the morning on the way to school, keep their grades up, and this would

I think this story showed a good image on the American Dream. Both boys had to go through very hard times. It was not given to them free. William worked hard to earn it and went to college on a free ride. Arthur thought basketball and slacking off would get him through life when all it got him was a job at McDonalds flipping burgers. You work hard in life, and you will be rewarded. Slack off in life and you will have to work hard the rest of your life.

cause a big financial strain on both of their families. At first the both sets of parents seemed shocked that a school like St. Joseph would want two kids from the ghetto to play basketball for them. Mrs. Agee said, "I have heard of stories like this before where the school would suck the family in and when they could not keep up with tuition they were kicked out of the school." (p. 43) St. Joseph said that they could not promise that this would not happen, but they could give scholarships if their sons were willing to work for them and keep passing grades. Both families said that they were willing to give up a lot of time

Some common words found in the essay are:
St Joseph, St Joes, Chicago's West, American Dream, Marshall Arthur, Saint Joes, Arthur William, William Gates, st joseph, Ben Joravsky, st joes, playing basketball, arthur william, life hard, hoop dreams, play basketball, school grades,
Approximate Word count = 735
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)