Honors English 9, Mrs. Broome
2016 Book Report Alternatives
Directions: Choose at least one option from the menu below to prepare for the independent reading book you have read this quarter. Points available are listed for each assignment. You may choose to combine projects in order to earn up to 75 points for your Independent Reading Novel Project. Note that up to 10 extra credit points can be earned; it may be wise to strive to earn more than the 75 required points in order to increase the likelihood of earning full points for your project(s).
College application [80 points]:Createthe application that a character youhave just read about or the author of your nonfiction IR book could write andsubmit to a college. *(This would be a good opportunity to visit the CCCC to learn about resources there as you strive to choose a best-fit or a reach college for your character or author!)Use all the informationyou know about the character, as well as inferences you can make from text evidence; you may also take a limited amount of creative license tofill inwhat you cannot know or infer from the text.On the application include Name,Academic Rank in Class, High SchoolCourses Taken and Grades, Extracurricularand Personal Activities,and Work Experience. Chooseone of the following questions to answerin a two-page essay from thecharacter’s point of view:
- What experience,event, or person has had asignificant impact on your life?
- Discussa situation where you havemade a difference.
- Describe yourareas of interest, your personality,and how they relate to why youwould like to attend this college.
School counselor’s recommendationletter [75 points]:Write a summaryappraisal from the school counselor’spoint of view that assesses the character’sacademic and personal qualitiesand promise for study in college. You may adapt this assignment for the author if you have read a nonfiction text for IR this quarter. Note that the college will be particularly interestedin evidence about character, relativematurity, integrity, independence,values, special interest, and anynoteworthy talents or qualities. Whydo you feel this student would bewell-suited to attend this college? *(Again, visit the CCCC to do a bit of research about colleges that might be a good choice for your protagonist or author.)
Chat room conversations [60 – 75 points depending on length and content]:Imagine that your character/nonfiction author hasfound other people to talk withwhile in a chat room he or she foundwhile surfing the Internet. Describethe chat room your character/author was inand why he/she would bedrawn to the kind of group that operatesthe chat room. Then constructthe conversation your character hadwith others while in the chat room. Your explanation and script for this conversation should be a minimum of 3 pages and follow the conventions for formatting a script. While it may not be authentic for your character, you need to follow the conventions for Standard English, i.e. no textese/chatspeak.
Title acrostic [25 points]:Take a sheetof construction paper and write thetitle of the book down the side of thepaper. For each letter in the title,construct a sentence that beginswith that letter and that tells somethingsignificant about the story. Your acrostic should cover the elements of fiction (setting, character, plot, theme) or the main ideas of your nonfiction text.
Cartoon squares [50 points]:Createa series of at least six drawings in sixsquares that shows a significantevent in the novel. Under each pictureor cartoon, write a few lines ofexplanation. Your explanation needs to go beyond summary to include analysis of the significance of this event to character development and theme.
Word collage [75 points]:Write thetitle of the book in the center of asheet of paper. Then look throughmagazines for words, phrases, andsentences that illustrate or tell somethingabout your book. As you look,think in terms of the theme, setting, and plot line, as well as characters. Workto get fifty such words, phrases, orsentences so the whole sheet ofpaper will be covered. The visual impactof the collage should tell a potentialreader a lot about the book.
Letter exchange [50 – 75 points depending on number and quality of letters]:Create aletter exchange (2 – 4) between a characterand the author or write a series ofself-reflective letters from severalcharacters on what the characterlearned about himself, others, andlife. This assignment can be adapted for nonfiction.
Awards [45 – 50 points]:Create an awardfor each of the main charactersbased on their actions in the novel.One might be awarded “most courageous”for fighting peer pressure,another might be awarded “wisest”for the guidance he or she gaveother characters. For each award,write a paragraph that explains whythis character deserves this award.
Talk show on issues in the novel/nonfiction text [75 points]:Create a talkshow around one of the major issuesor themes in the novel. For example,after reading The Crazy Horse Electric
Game by Chris Crutcher (1987,Dell) you might want to discuss theissue of running away from home.Include people to represent severalpoints of view on the issue. Your script for this talk show should be a minimum of 3 ½ pages and follow the conventions for formatting a script, including stage directions to reflect what would be happening as characters in your script interact on stage. While it may not be authentic for your characters, you need to follow the conventions for Standard English.
Scrap book [75 points]:Think about all the kinds of mementos youwould put in a scrap book if youhad one. Then create a scrap bookfor your character, cutting out picturesfrom magazines or drawingthe mementos he or she would havein a scrap book. Think about Williein The Crazy Horse Electric Game byChris Crutcher. He would probablyhave something in his scrapbook to
represent his baby sister, his love ofbaseball, his accident, his experiencesin L.A., and so on. Your scrapbook should have 5 – 7 pages with captions to explain the significance of each picture/memento. This project can be adapted for nonfiction texts by including pictures and mementos that reflect topics covered in book.
Poetry [up to 75 points]:Write three poemsin response to the novel. The poemscan be about the characters, setting, and plot events. At least one poem must address themesin the book.
Talk to the author [50 points]: Write aletter to the author of the book explainingto him or her why you thinkhe or she wrote the book and whathe or she was trying to show throughthe book. Be sure to explain whatyou got out of the book. *If the authoris still alive, consider sending the letter to the authorvia the publisher of the book or the author’s website.
Point of view column [50 points]: Write an opinion column like those that appear on the editorial page ofthe newspaper. Choose a theme or topic from the book you just readand write the column from the pointof view of one of the characters or the author of your nonfiction text.
Current events [75 points]:Select fivecurrent news or feature stories fromtelevision or news magazines/websites thatyou think your character would beinterested in. Then explain howyour character would respond toeach of the stories and the opinionsyour character would have about
what was happening in the story.
Found poems [30 points]:Select achapter from the IR book you have justread that you consider powerful orinteresting. Then select words, lines,and phrases that you think project
strong images and show the impactthe chapter makes. Arrange this materialinto a poem.
The following example comesfrom Chapter Twenty in Spite Fencesby Trudy Krisher (1994, Delacorte):
Violence at the LunchCounter Sit-in
Fist slammed into George
Hardy’s face
Glasses slid to his chin
Shattered into a spider’s web.
River of red blood
Running from his nose.
It was the red color of the fence
The red color of the earth
on which I stood
It was red
The color of my life this summer
The color of Kinship.
A character’s fears [up to 25 points each]:Oneway we get to know characters is tothink deeply about them and makeinferences based on indirect characterization (their thoughts, words, actionsand what others sayabout them). Through indirect characterization we can learn what characters fearand what they want to avoid themost. Select several characters fromyour novel and write short essays (3/4 – 1 ½ pages) onwhat you believe they fear the most and what evidence you used to come to this conclusion.
Draw a scene [45 points]:If you areartistic, think of an important sceneand draw it the way you see it. Placethe characters in the scene too andthen figure out where you were inrelation to the characters when youread the book. Then write your explanations of why you drewthe scene the way you did and whyyou think you were where you werein the scene. What does it tell youabout who you related to in thenovel? Why?
Create a character’s room [50 points]: We learn a lot about people by whatthey keep in their closets, what theyhave on their walls, what they selectto put in a room. Select a characteryou know well from your novel, or the author of your nonfiction text, and create a livingroom,bedroom, kitchen, or someother room that would mean a lot tothe character/author. Draw it or write aboutit, making sure to include an explanationof why you designed theroom as you did.
A character alphabet [50 points]: Choose a character you liked andthen create sentences based on thealphabet scheme that demonstrateyour knowledge of the character. Ifafter reading Spite Fences, you decidedto write Zeke’s alphabet itcould start like this:
A is for the ABUSE Zeke tookat the hands of a racist mob.
B is for his BENDING OVERBACKWARDS to make surethe visiting civil rights activistcould work in obscurity.
C is for the CAMERA he gaveMaggie so she could begin tolook at the world in new ways.
Character Correspondence [50 points]: Write a letter to the main character and the character's reply. Your letters should discuss character motivation and theme. You can adapt this assignment for your nonfiction text, corresponding with the author about the topic and author purpose/theme.
Alternate Ending [60 points]: Write a different ending for the book. Your resolution should reflect characterization and follow logically from plot development through climax.
100 Years From Now [45 points]: Explain why you think this book will or will not be read one hundred years from now. Support your opinion by stating specific text evidence. Your analysis should reflect the relevance of theme/topic and should be a minimum of 1 ½ pages.
Cover Art [50 points]: Design a poster or new book cover for the book. Your project design should make effective use of space and color, eliminating blank/white space. Use symbols, illustrations, and text to reflect the characters, key events, and themes in book. Your cover/poster also needs to include a teaser to hook readers without giving away the resolution, and 3 – 5 fictional reviews (you make these up – do not go online or use reviews published in text) that reflect what makes this text worth reading.