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Analytical Book Reviews
Description:
This lesson teaches critical thinking by taking students through the process of writing a book review.
Goals & Objectives:

LIBRARY MEDIA SKILLS OBJECTIVES:

 

The student will become familiar with contemporary authors and books written for adolescent readers.

CURRICULUM OBJECTIVES:

 

  1. The student will identify the important elements of storytelling in novels.
  2. The student will analyze how an author uses those elements to create an interesting story.
  3. The student will evaluate the effectiveness of the author's use of these elements.
Materials & Sources:
TITLE: Resources
TITLE: Worksheet
 
Credits:
Author: Constance Vidor
Journal: School Library Media Activities Monthly
For more information: http://www.schoollibrarymedia.com
Adapted for SOS by Jennifer Nace, School of Information Studies,
Syracuse University
Sources:
School Library Media Activities Monthly, April 1998, 14(8), 14-16.
 
Procedures:

INSTRUCTIONAL ROLES:

 

The language arts teacher and the library media specialist work cooperatively to teach students the elements of fiction and methods for writing a good book review.

ACTIVITY AND PROCEDURES FOR COMPLETION:

  1. Read aloud a short story or picture book for older students such as Shrek by William Steig, Pink and Say by Patricia Pollacco, or The Stranger by Chris Van Allsburg. Follow this by reading aloud a poorly written, superficial review of the book. (You may have to write this yourself!)
  2. As a group, analyze what is wrong with the poorly written review. What kinds of things are omitted? Students will probably begin by giving specific examples; the teacher or library media specialist should lead the students to create generalizations from these specific examples. For example, if a poorly written review of The Stranger is criticized by the students for not describing how the weather changes which the stranger seems to cause, the teacher encourages the students to see how this specific example relates to the general concept of "setting".
  3. Distribute the worksheet and/or project a list of the elements of fiction. Ask students to give brief definitions of the terms. Verify their answers.
  4. Continue to work as a class. Help the students compose a well-written review of the short story or picture book. Use as many of the listed elements as possible.
  5. For review and reinforcement, make copies of several professional reviews of a novel that all of the students have read. Ask students to circle and label words and phrases in each review that relates to the elements on the list.
  6. Explain the book review project. Students may work in pairs or individually. (Most of our students preferred to work in teams.) The library media specialist and the language arts teacher present preselected books and give a short talk for each one.
  7. After the booktalks, hold up each title one at a time. If more than one team or individual wants to read and review that book, the library media specialist thinks of a number between one and ten. The student who guesses the closest may have that title. (The benefit of using a book series is that if more than one student wants one title from the series, the "loser" can choose another title from the same series. Alternatively, the library media specialist should be prepared to offer other books by the same author or within the same genre.)
  8. Students are given several weeks to read their selections.
  9. After reading the book, each student or team completes the worksheet, providing as much information as possible. The library media specialist and language arts teacher review and correct the worksheets, preferably by conferencing with each individual or team.
  10. The students use their corrected worksheets as a basis for writing an analytical review. The emphasis in this phase of writing is to describe how the author's effective or ineffective use of elements impacted the reader's enjoyment and interest. This is the rough draft of the book review. It may be helpful at this stage to have students take a second look at the professionally written book reviews that they analyzed earlier. Remind the students that a book review is not a laundry list! Students must select the most important highlights from their worksheet and describe the impact of the author's use of setting, character, contrast, etc. on the reader.
  11. After completing the rough drafts, students conference individually with the teacher and/or library media specialist to improve the writing and to correct any spelling, punctuation, or grammar errors.
  12. The final drafts should be submitted free of spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors. If sufficient computer resources are available, students may type their reviews. Paper in a variety of colors should be available. When the students print out their reviews, the paper color and font selection should add to the review's readability and attractiveness.


FOLLOW-UP:

 

Sharing student-written book reviews can be great reading motivation! Students may bring in wallet-sized pictures of themselves. Glue these pictures to the reviews and post the reviews on a large bulletin board with the banner, "Your friends recommend...." Alternatively, mount the reviews on colorful poster board and prop them up on book supports throughout the library media center. Alternate the displayed book reviews periodically so that all are shown before the end of the year. Students should write the call number on the final draft so that readers can find the book easily.

Assessment:
EVALUATION:

The evaluation is ongoing throughout this project. The final products should reflect consistent and continuous monitoring of the writing process by teacher and library media specialist. The final drafts of the book reviews should be articulate and persuasive!
Sources:
School Library Media Activities Monthly, April 1998, 14(8), 14-16.
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Presented By: School Library Media Activities Monthly
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