The main character of 'The home-made ball' is a boy called

Kevin. Kevin and Mike are good friends who play soccer with

heir home-made ball every day, but when Kevin gets new sneakers

and a soccer ball, things change.

Friendship is an important theme in this short story. The author,

Jerry Johnson, uses the old and new things, like the old home-made

ball and the new soccer ball, and the old bench and the new sneakers

As symbols. The old things symbolize the most valuable thing,

friendship, which needs to be cherished.

I think this story is really good and I give it a rating of four out of five.