Characters


The characters in my book include Ben Slovak, and Griffen Bing, Darren Vader, S. Wendell Palomino, Savannah Drysdale, Antonia “Pitch” Benson, Logan Kellerman, Tom Dufferin, Melissa Dukakis, Mr. Eli Mulroney, and Detective Sergeant Vizzini. Ben Slovak is a kid who is a short and small boy who suffers from a narcolepsy and is Griffen’s best friend. Griffen Bing is a kid who is Ben’s best friend and is known as “the man with the plan”. His family is on the edge of going bankrupt. Darren Vader is a kid who bullies all of the kids in the school. The day that Ben and Griffen organized the first group meeting to get the card back, Darren spied on them and threatened that if they did not let him join the group, he would rat everyone out. Griffen and Ben let him join. S. Wendell Palomino who’s nickname from Ben and Griffen is “Swindle” is a sleazy man who rips people off on collectibles. He owns the own collector store in which Ben and Griffen brought the Bambino card to. He bought it for $120. “Swindle” went on TV and announced that this was a very valuable card that could be worth as much as one million dollars. Savannah Dysdale is an animal whisperer helps calm Luthor, the vicious attack dog, down during the card heist. Antonia “Pitch” Benson is a girl who’s family rock climbs. She helps Griffen and Ben get the card back by assisting them with her wall climbing skills. Logan Kellerman is a kid who is known for his acting skills. Griffen and Ben use him to distract Mr. Eli Mulroney, the next door neighbor, from catching them during the break in. Tom Dufferin is the assistant manager of Palomino’s collector store. Melissa Dukakis is a girl who is very shy. She has wonderful computer skills. She is used by Ben and Griffen to hack into Swindle’s email and disable the door alarm system. Detective Sergeant Vizzini is a cop who is trying to get the location of the Bambino card from Griffen.




Antagonists

The antagonists in this story are Darren Vader and Mr. Palomino. Mr. Palomino is an antagonist because he rips people off on collectibles. He ripped off Ben and Griffen on the Babe Ruth card. Darren is an antagonist because he is a school bully. At the beginning of this story he was the school bully until the kids let him join in by force on the heist. He then started acting as the good guy until they found the card. He asked if he could look at it, and immediately ran off with the card. He was just pretending to be nice all along. All he wanted was the Babe Ruth card.





Protagonists

Ben and Griffen are the Protagonists in this story because they are just two kids who want their card back. They are upset and mad at Mr. Palomino for being ripped off. They just want some respect from adults and the rights to protest. They want to be treated fairly. Other Protagonists in this story include Logan Kellerman, Savannah Drysdale, Antonia “Pitch” Benson, and Melissa Dukakis. These characters are considered to be protagonists because all they want is for Palomino to get what he deserves for ripping people off.



Flat Characters

The flat characters in my book are Tom Dufferin, Mr. Eli Mulroney, and Detective Sergeant Vizzini. Tom Dufferin is a flat character because all we know about him is that the works for Mr. Palomino as the assistant at Palomino’s collectible store. Mr. Eli Mulroney is a flat character because all we know about him is that he is Mr. Palomino’s next door neighbor and spends almost every hour on the porch. That is why they needed Logan to distract Mr. Mulroney. Detective Sergeant Vizzini is a flat character because all he does in this story is keeps an eye on Griffen and later arrests Griffen. Some other fat characters include the kid’s teachers and parents. All we know is that Griffen’s dad is an inventor.



Dynamic Characters

The dynamic characters in this story the dynamic characters are Ben and Griffen because the whole story basically revolves around them. The story revolves around all of their problems with “Swindle” and people like Darren. The story is shown by Griffen and Ben’s point of view. They tell about their plans or ideas to accomplish something. They also state their feelings on subjects like Palomino ripping people off or all they want from adults is a minute of their attention or some respect.




Setting
The first setting in this story is the old rundown Rockford House. The reason the first setting takes place here is because that is where Ben and Griffen were hanging out for the night. Their plan was two get the entire sixth grade to show up to help protest the destruction of this house in the morning. Ben and Griffen were the only ones there. Ben falls asleep very quickly while Griffen stays up. Griffen wanders around for a little while until he comes upon a desktop drawer. He opened one of the drawers and was amazed at his findings. There it was a 1932 Babe Ruth baseball card. Griffen quickly slipped the card in his pocket and went to sleep. When he woke up he heard demolition teams getting to work. He woke up Ben and they both sprinted out of the Rockford House. The other setting takes place at Palomino’s collector store. This is the place where Ben and Griffen went to after they left the destruction sight. They went p to Mr. Palomino and asked him about the card. Palomino said that this was a reprint made in the 60’s. He had a funny look on his face. Griffen asked how much it was worth. Palomino said it was worth about 100 dollars. Griffen negotiated it to 120 dollars. They left the store and later returned after they saw Palomino on TV saying he had found one of the most valuable collectibles. They asked Palomino about the card. He said that this was somebody else’s card. Griffen knew he was lying, but left anyway. Ben and Griffen later returned to the store in their first attempt to get the card back. Hey had Ben hidden in a giant wooden crate labeled for Mr. Palomino. Tom Dufferin took it in and then closed the store for the day. Once he was gone the plan was in affect. Ben got out and looked for the safe where the Babe Ruth card was placed. The safe was nowhere to be found. Seeing that it was not there the boys figured that it was at Palomino’s house. That is where the next setting takes place. It was the evening. The boys had put a ticket to tonight’s hockey game in the mailbox. When Mr. Palomino opened the mailbox, he grabbed the tickets and left. That is where their plan started. Logan was distracting Mr. Mulroney. In the mean time the kids climbed Darren’s ladder and got onto the roof. “Pitch” opened the skylight window and lowered the whole group in. The group searched everywhere for the card. Melissa disabled the alarm system on the door so the group could leave the house. They finally found it hidden in a bag inside a turkey. Darren asked if he could see the card. He snatched the card and ran. He dropped it outside and it got stuck in a tree. Darren went to get his ladder to retrieve the card. Griffen ran home and grabbed his father’s invention the Smart Pick. The Smart Pick was designed to pick things from hard to reach areas. He activated it and retrieved the card. Unfortunately Darren’s ladder fell and smashed Palomino’s window, setting off the alarm system. The kids managed to escape the sight leaving “Pitch’s” ropes and Darren’s ladder. Griffen hid the card in the Rockford House’s mailbox, which was still standing. The last setting in this story is at the school where Griffen and Ben planned all of their attempts to get the card back and especially the plan too break into “Swindle’s” house. This is also where the group to retrieve the card was formed.



Exposition

The exposition of this story is when Griffen and Ben dared the entire sixth grade to sleep over in the old Rockford House. Ben and Griffen were waiting for them. A half of an hour passed. No one showed. Ben fell asleep while Griffen wandered around the house. He came across a desk and opened it up. There it was. The Babe Ruth card. Griffen fell asleep and was woken up in the morning by destruction equipment. He woke up Ben and they both ran out of the house as fast as they could. On the way down Griffen showed the card to Ben. They ran to the nearest collector store to ask about the Ruth card. A man by the name of S. Wendell Palomino waited on them. He told them it was a reprint made in the 60’s. He offered 100 dollars and Griffen bumped it to 120 dollars. Griffen was watching TV later and saw Palomino announcing that he had found a grand treasure. He said that it could be worth over 1 million dollars. Griffen was furious. He told Ben about it. B en agreed that Palomino had ripped them off big time.


Inciting Incident

The inciting incident was when Ben and Griffen sold the Bambino card to Mr. Palomino. Swindle told Ben that it was a reprint made in the 60’s. After some negotiating, Ben sold the card for $120. Later that day Ben was watching TV and saw “Swindle” announcing that he had found one of the most valuable treasures out there. It was the Bambino card that Ben had sold Swindle earlier that day. Swindle said that the card could be worth over one million dollars and is up for grabs at the International Sports Auction. Ben was furious. That moment is what set off all of the problems to later follow.




Conflicts


The conflicts in this story included man versus man, man versus nature, man versus technology, and man versus himself. The man versus man conflict was when Ben and Griffen were trying to get the Babe Ruth card back from Mr. Palomino. This conflict also has to do with Ben and Griffen against bullies in their school like Darren Vader. The man versus nature has to do with Ben, Griffen, and the rest of their group against two viciously trained guard dogs during the break in at Swindle’s house. These two dogs are trained by Swindle to attack anyone who is an intruder. Their friend, Savannah Drysdale, who is a huge animal lover, calms down one of the dogs named Luthor. She had no idea that there is another guard on the loose. The man versus technology conflict involves the security system that the group of kids have to get past to enter Palomino’s house. It also involves their friend, Melissa, hacking into Palomino’s email. The last conflict in this story is man versus himself. This has to do with Ben thinking to himself that the heist cannot be pulled off. He worries that something will go terribly wrong. The man versus himself also has to involves Griffen. In the end of the story Griffen has the Babe Ruth card hidden in a mailbox. The cops are questioning him everyday about where the card is. He plans a date to go to that mailbox to take the card and hide it somewhere else. That whole day he worried what would happen to him if he were to get caught.


Climax


The climax of this story occurred during the break-in, which took place at Swindle’s house. It occurred when Darren’s ladder fell off the tree smashing Palomino’s house windows, which set off “Swindle’s” high tech alarm system. Sirens from the house were going off. You could hear police sirens in the distance. The group of kids took off leaving Darren’s ladder and Pitch’s ropes hanging from the skylight. They were all running as fast as they could. The cops were right behind them. Griffen hid the Bambino card in the old Rockford House’s mailbox, the same place where they had found it. The other climax occurred when Ben and Griffen attempted their first try to get the card back. It was when they put Ben in a carte labeled for Palomino. Tom Dufferin took the crate in and left it in the walkway. It was almost closing time so Tom closed the store up. Once he left Ben came out of the box and looked for the safe. It was nowhere to be found. Ben and Griffen then came to a conclusion that the safe was at Palomino’s house.



Resolutions



The resolution to the man versus nature conflict occurred when Savannah Drysdale calmed Luthor down and gave a piece of meat to the other dog. The man versus technology conflict was solved when Melissa Dukakis deactivated the alarm system rigged to the door. The man versus himself conflict was solved when Ben and Griffen both came together and agreed that they could accomplish this card heist. The man versus man conflict was solved b y the police when they returned the card to the real rightful owner. In the end of this story all of the conflicts were solved and no one goes to prison.


Denouement



In the end of the book, Griffen goes to retrieve the card from the ail box he put it in. The minute he takes it out of the mail box the cops point a searchlight at him and arrest him. The cops brought him back to the station and told him that he was free to go home because they found the true rightful owner of the card. The rightful owner of the card was an 84 year old woman who owned the Rockford House. Turned out this lady was related to Darren Vader, so she gave the card to him. The card was sold off at the International Sports Auction. It sold for 973,450 dollars. His parents made him donate the money to the city museum. The skate park that Griffen had proposed at the beginning of the book was built. Swindle’s collectible store was shut down do to bad business.


Theme



The message that the author is trying to get across to the reader is that you should always be honest and truthful. The author wants you to be supportive of your friends. What he means by supportive is to not let your fiends get down on themselves. Don’t let a bully get in your way. Tell your parents about any problems you are encountering.