by Tamara Cufrin

illustrated by Laure Fournier

 by Tamara Cufrin
illustrated by Laure Fournier

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ISBN 10: 0-15-351522-8

ISBN 13: 978-0-15-351522-4

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 At the basketball court in the park,
Benito Juarez dribbled the ball and
stared calmly into the eyes of his
opponents. “Who’s going to stop
me?” Benito asked confidently. He
scanned the defenders, looking
to see which ones he could
pass between.
Just then four players surged
forward, forming a wall. “Ha!”
Benito said and then responded
swiftly. He sped to his right,
taking his defenders with him,
and then cut back to the left.
He was far too quick for any of
them, and he easily moved to
the hoop and laid the ball into
it. “Two more points for
Benito!” he yelled.
The other players looked down,
defeated once again. “Hey guys,
how about improving your
skills so that I can have
some decent competition?”
Benito laughed.

3
 “I’ve had enough, Benito. I’m going home,”
replied Raul, who lived in the neighborhood.
“Oh, tired of losing to Benito, Raul?” Benito asked
with a smile. Raul didn’t smile back. He realized that
Benito was an excellent basketball player. Like others
who played with him, Raul was getting tired of
Benito’s constant bragging. “Hey, Raul, how about I
let Jaime play on your team so it’s all of you against
me? Then will you play some more?”
“Sure, Benito, because that gives me a better
chance of beating you,” replied Raul.
They started a new game, this time five against
one, but it didn’t take Benito long to defeat the other
team. As the others walked off the court, Benito
snickered, “No one beats Benito!” His words
resounded throughout the park.

4
 Benito headed home, dribbling his basketball
and feeling really good about himself. It was a lovely
spring day, late May, and Benito was looking forward
to a long summer of winning countless basketball
games on the park’s courts.
As he turned down his street, he spotted his
Uncle Carlos sitting on the front step with his
mother. “I wonder what Uncle Carlos is doing
here?” Benito thought to himself.
Uncle Carlos was a forest ranger at Redwood
National Park. Benito walked toward Uncle Carlos,
who turned and looked at him. “There he is,”
Uncle Carlos exclaimed.
“Hi, Uncle Carlos,” replied Benito, and they
shook hands.

5
 “You’re late for dinner again,” said Benito’s mother.
“Sorry, Mamma, I was winning again at the park,”
Benito declared proudly. Uncle Carlos held out his
hands for the basketball, and Benito flipped the ball
to him.
“You’re good?” Uncle Carlos asked, gazing at
the ball.
“I’m the best, and, in fact, I just beat five guys all
at once,” Benito boasted. Uncle Carlos tossed the ball
back to Benito.
“So, you can dribble and score?” asked Uncle
Carlos.
“You’ll have to come and watch me play,” replied
Benito. He pretended to shoot the ball as Uncle Carlos
watched quietly but did not smile.
“Let’s go eat,” said Benito’s mother.
“Benito needs fuel so that he can play more great
basketball!” said Benito.

6
 As Benito’s mother served the food, she glanced
over at Uncle Carlos and asked, “How’s everything
going up there with the redwood trees?”
“Do you just ride around in a truck all day?”
asked Benito.
“So, you think my job is easy?” Uncle Carlos
asked Benito.
“It seems like it, I mean, I can probably do it,
and I’m not even a forest ranger.”
“Well, now you’ve got me thinking, Mr. Great
Benito. I believe you have a summer vacation coming
up, and maybe you’d like to spend part of it with me
doing my ‘easy’ job,” said Uncle Carlos.
Benito’s mother and uncle talked about the
arrangements and the trip was all set.

7
 When the day came for Benito to go to Redwood
National Park, he was not in a particularly good
mood. “I was planning to spend my entire summer
on the court,” he said somewhat grumpily.
“You’ve had plenty of time on the court, and you’ll
have more time when you return,” his mother replied.
As they unzipped Benito’s bag to make sure he had all
of his supplies, Uncle Carlos arrived.
“Ready to go, Benito?” he asked, striding up the
sidewalk to the house.
“I guess so,” replied Benito as he picked up his bag
and the basketball that was next to it.
“Oh, you’re not going to need that,” said Uncle
Carlos. “There aren’t any basketball
courts in the middle of the
woods.” Benito frowned and then
kissed and hugged his mother
good-bye.

RXENL08ARD4A07_ALR.indd 8 4/25/07 5:26:54 PM

 On the flight from Los Angeles to Redwood
National Park, Benito and Uncle Carlos listened
to music and had some small conversations. “You
know, there’s more to life than playing basketball,”
Uncle Carlos commented.
“Not to me,” replied Benito as he stared glumly
out the window.
“Well, what else do you like to do?” wondered
Uncle Carlos.
“Nothing else, really, just listening to music,
going to the movies, stuff like that,” said Benito.
“Have you ever actually been in the woods?”
asked Uncle Carlos.
“No, but I’m not scared because I can handle
anything,” said Benito proudly.
“We’ll certainly see about that,” replied Uncle
Carlos. Benito didn’t reply. He just gazed out the
window and thought sadly about all of the
basketball games he was missing at home.

9
 Benito and Uncle
Carlos finally arrived at
the park. Uncle Carlos
decided that the best way
for Benito to experience
the redwoods was for them
to camp out for a few days.
They were unloading the
trunk when a swarm of
mosquitoes attacked them.
Uncle Carlos smiled
calmly and suggested,
“Here, put on some bug
cream and try to ignore
them.”
“There are hundreds of them!” hollered Benito,
slapping the bugs off of his arms and legs.
“Hey, I thought you could handle anything,”
Uncle Carlos commented, but Benito didn’t bother
to reply. As Benito kept slapping at the bugs, Uncle
Carlos built a campfire. “Sit here and let the smoke hit
you, and it’ll keep the bugs away.” Benito did as his
uncle suggested, and soon he was free of bugs.

10
 After sitting by the fire for a few minutes, Uncle
Carlos announced, “I’m going to take a little hike
to get more firewood, so please set up the tent.”
Benito began to work on the tent, but it was
certainly no easy task. He accidentally got the ropes
all twisted up and had to stop to untangle them.

When Uncle Carlos finally returned with a load

of wood, he inspected the tent. “Uh, Benito, it looks
like you had some problems here,” he said. Benito
just hung his head and said nothing because he felt
really embarrassed.
Then he realized that if he pulled the ropes taut
the tent would not be rumpled anymore. Finally,
the tent was up and looking good!

11
 The next morning, Uncle Carlos woke Benito up
incredibly early. He told him that today they’d see
the big redwood trees.
They ate a simple breakfast, packed a small bag of
supplies, and began to hike through the brush. When
they stopped to take a rest, Benito thought he heard
something lurking in the bushes.
“What is it?” he asked anxiously.
“Why don’t you go see?” asked Uncle Carlos.
“No way!” said Benito, and Uncle Carlos laughed
out loud.
“Benito can do anything! Remember when you said
that?” asked Uncle Carlos, still chuckling. Benito was
reluctant to admit that he said that because, if he did,
he knew that Uncle Carlos would make him
go into the bushes to prove his words.

12
 When they finally came to
the base of a huge redwood tree,
Benito couldn’t take his eyes off
of the massive tree.
“Now that is something great,”
declared Uncle Carlos. Benito thought
about what his uncle said and realized
that his “great” victories on the court
didn’t seem so great compared to
this tree.
“Uncle Carlos, I agree with you
completely,” replied Benito. Uncle
Carlos smiled, knowing that Benito
was starting to understand.
“Now let me ask you a question,
Benito, and please listen closely. Do you
hear that redwood tree telling everyone
how great she is?” Uncle Carlos inquired.
“Not at all,” Benito said, without
hesitating. He realized that Uncle
Carlos had just taught him
another important lesson:
it’s not good to brag.

13
 Two weeks later, Benito Juarez returned to
Los Angeles a new person. His mother noticed the
change in him the moment he walked through
the door. He didn’t walk like a show-off. Instead he
carried himself more like Uncle Carlos, and there
was a new look of pride on his face.
“Benito, you look terrific!” she exclaimed,
hugging him.
“Mamma, the great Benito of the basketball
court no longer exists!” he declared, looking
directly into her eyes.
“Well, then who is this strong young man in
my house?” she asked playfully.
“It is Benito of the redwood forest. The strong
Benito who no longer needs to boast or brag!”
he said proudly. Benito, his mother, and
Uncle Carlos all laughed out loud.

14
 Think Critically
1. What problem did Benito have? What helped
him solve the problem?

2. What words would you use to describe Benito

at the beginning of this story?

3. Why was Raul tired of playing basketball with

Benito?

4. Why do you think Benito’s mom invited Uncle

Carlos to visit?

5. What would you do if you had a friend who

behaved like Benito did?

Social Studies
Use a Map Look at a map of California. Locate Los Angeles
in southern California and Redwood National Park in northern
California. List some interesting places you might fly over if you
flew from one of those places to the other.

School-Home Connection Tell a family member

about this story. Then talk about some positive things
that Benito could have done with his talent for basketball.

Word Count: 1,489