12 CP English

Self-Selected Reading NYT Book Reviews

For each quarter you need to sign up for the book and then submit a review of that title after you have read it. Here are the guidelines and submission dates.

Content:

  • Creative title of the review
  • Bibliographical citation (MLA)
  • Rating (ex. Heart—read it!; Dagger—don’t bother) (design any way you want to rate it)
  • Genre—be as specific as possible
  • 1 paragraph summary (4-5 sentences) including characters and setting—do NOT give away the ending!!
  • 2-3 paragraphs discussing literary elements, connections (to other works, themes, life), author, etc.
  • 1 paragraph opinion—reason for your rating
  • *At least five senior vocabulary words must be used within the review & defined with stems and part of speech at the end of the review

Structure:

  • 12-point easily readable font
  • Single-spaced; double-spaced between paragraphs
  • NYT book review format (2 columns, heading, photo/image)
  • Your name must be used as a byline (by title of review)

Sign Up Dates:

1st Quarter—Thursday, September 3rd

2nd Quarter—Thursday, October 15th

3rd Quarter—Thursday, January 7th

4th Quarter—Thursday, March 10th

Due Dates:

1st Quarter—Thursday, October 1st

2nd Quarter—Thursday, December 3rd

3rd Quarter— Thursday, February 25th

4th Quarter— Thursday, April 28th

Example:

Morgenstern, Erin.The Night Circus.New York:Knopf Doubleday,2011.

Magical Realism

1 paragraph summary

2-3 paragraphs analysis

1paragraph opinion

List of vocabulary terms, stems & part of speech

Rubric for New York Times style book review

1. Title & Bibliographical Information:

Review has a creative, student-created title to the review itself

Author, book, publisher, city, date (in proper MLA format)

Rating indicator

Genre

1 2 3 4 5 ______/5

2. 1 paragraph summary

-includes characters and setting

-doesn’t give away the ending

1 2 3 4 5 ______/5

3. 2-3 paragraph analysis

-discusses the quality of writing and the overall appeal of the work

-assesses the literary merit of the text by citing/using literary devices

-uses textual evidence to support points

-has proper in-text citations

1 2 3 4 5 x3=______/15

4. 1 paragraph opinion

-provides an insightful opinion by providing explanations/reasons for the rating

1 2 3 4 5 x1= ______5

5. Contains few or minor errors in spelling and/or grammar that do not affect meaning/readability

1 2 3 4 5 x2=______/10

6. Contains at leastFIVE words from your vocabulary packet which are used correctly, highlighted or underlined, and defined (providing the definition, part of speech and stems).

1 2 3 4 5 x2=______/10

Total: ______/50