The Theme Of Beyond Lucky By Allah Aronson

In Beyond Lucky by Sarah Aronson, the theme of ‘violence and arguments don’t solve problems’ is developed through the main character Ari being lied to and betrayed by his friends. At the beginning of the story, the book says how Ari wants a rare All-star Soccer trading card that has Ari’s hero on it: Wayne Timcoe. One day when Ari and his best friend, Mac were opening one of the card packs, Ari actually got the card! Ever since Ari obtained the card, he kept on getting lucky. Such as, when he was goalie in a soccer game, he blocked every shot, and at school, there were substitute teachers and the assignments were easy. Later in the story, Ari unexpectedly loses his card, and everything breaks down from then. A girl on Ari’s soccer team named Parker, who was better than her original league so she joined the boy’s league, blamed Mac

The winner. The hero. He says, ‘I promise you, Ari, it’s there.’ (in Parker’s bag) Then he starts to walk away. I don’t believe him … He looks at me like I’m speaking another language. ‘...I never took that card. I never needed it. I never wanted it.’ He points at Parker, who is sitting on the ground next to her things. ‘If you had thought about it, you would have realized that only one person wanted what you had.’” (Page 174) What Mac told Ari made him fuming, and out of rage, Ari threw a punch at Mac. But, Mac dodged, and swung right back at Ari and hit him in the jaw, knocking him out. A few days after this commotion, the entire team met up, which is (in my opinion) the most jaw-dropping part of the story. Mac says to Parker that she stole Ari’s card and that she had it in her bag, like before. Parker refuses to open her bag, and everyone starts getting suspicious about Parker. Eventually, the bag was opened to reveal a Wayne Timco trading card. Then, Parker