Junior Forms / You are required to join either the internal or the external competition.
Format of Entries:
- Type out your work in the entry form (Softcopy of the form is available online in the Web-based Classroom)
- Fill in all the blanks and rate the book by blackening the stars
- More capable students are expected to interweave the story plots and their thoughts and feelings together
1.Entries should be legible, tidy; the number of pages and the total number of words must be marked
2.Type out your work in standard A4 size paper
3.Do not write the name of the student and the school in the entry
4.List the titles of the book, author and publisher in the entry
Junior Division (S1-S3):
(Not exceeding 1,000 words)
Senior Division (S4-S7):
(Not exceeding 2,000 words)
Senior Forms / This competition is optional for senior form students.
Format of Entries:
- Type out your work in the entry form (Softcopy of the form is available online in the Web-based Classroom)
- You can write a book report / speech / letter to the Editor / editorial / feature article to comment on the issue you read or express your views. You may read from:
A Magazine*
A Newspaper*
*You need to attach a photocopy of the reading material if it is not a book
(Approximately 400 words)
Deadline / Feb 26, 2010 Feb 5, 2010
Prizes / Winners will be awarded book coupons or gifts for the best entries in each form (if any):
Each Form:
Champion
1st Runner up
2nd Runner up
/ Winners will be awarded trophies, certificates, Macmillan English-Chinese Dictionary and book coupons:
Champion / $3,000
1st Runner up / $1,500
2nd Runner up / $1,000
Merit Prize / $ 300
Black Cat English Readers Award $1,000
(For winners choosing books on the series of Black Cat English Readers)
Guidelines on Writing a Book Report (External Competition)
Book reports can take on many different directions. Three types of effective book reports are plot summaries, character analyses, and theme analyses. However, you should always include the followings:
the title and the author of the book
when and where the story takes place
the names and a brief description of each of the characters you will be discussing
Plot Summary
When you are writing a plot summary for your book report you don't want to simply retell the story. It is the way you analyze the plot that will make this a good report.
Explain what your opinion is of the story
Why you feel the plot is so compelling or unrealistic etc
Use plenty of examples from the book to support your opinions
Character Analysis
If you choose to write a character analysis, you can explore the physical and personality traits of different characters and the way their actions affect the plot of the book.
Explore the way a character dresses and what impression that leaves with the reader. explain what your opinion is of the story
What positive characteristics does the character possess?
Does the character have a "fatal flaw" that gets him/her into trouble?
Try taking examples of dialogue and analyzing the way a character speaks. Discuss the words he/she chooses and the way his/her words affect other characters.
Finally, tie all of your observations together by explaining the way the characters make the plot move forward.
Themes
Exploring the themes (or big ideas that run throughout the story) in a book can be a great way to write a book report because picking a theme that you care about can make the report easier to write. Try bringing some of your thoughts and feelings as a reader into the report as a way to show the power of a theme. Before you discuss your own thoughts, however, be sure to establish what the theme is and how it appears in the story.
Explain exactly what theme you will be exploring in your book report.
Use as many examples and quotations from the book as possible to prove that the theme is important to the story.
Make sure that you talk about each example or quotation you've included. Make a direct connection between the theme and the example from the book.
After you have established the theme and thoroughly examined the way it affects the book, include a few sentences about the impact the theme had upon you and why it made the book more or less enjoyable to read.
After all, whether your book report is excellent or not depends on the followings:
clarity and expressiveness of writing
summarizing skills
comparing and contrasting skills
making predictions and connections
considering different perspectives.
quoting examples to support your opinions