Alternative Book Reports

 

Due roughly every eight weeks

 

Here are some of the many types of “report” you may do:

 

 

 

You may do only one of each type of presentation over the year.  For example, your first report can be a newspaper, but you couldn’t do the newspaper option again in your three next reports.  Also, you must include a typed book review that includes Book Title, Author, Date of Publication, Genre a very, very, very, very brief synopsis of plot and extensive analysis of the work, its strong and weak points, comparisons to other works by the same author or others, and a rating or summation of how you feel about the book and why.

Example Book Review (An example of a good, quality summary from a 7th Grader last year.  Note 8th Grade papers need to be even better than this!)

 

 

 

Book:                   A Child Called “It”

Author:                Dave Pelzer

Published:            1999

Genre:                  Memoir

 

I read A Child called “It” and I think it has changed my opinion on child abuse forever.  The book will leave you trapped in the words.  In the beginning we learn about Dave and the reader is left feeling as if s/he really knows him.  This feeling continues as one reads  about some of the things his mother does to him and there are two possible reactions for the reader:  1. sadness; 2. crying.  Then after the reader is done sadly weeping one becomes angry at the mother in the story.  This book is based on a true story, too, and that makes the reader even angrier because one knows a mother actually did these things to her own son.

 

I give this book a rating of “10” because it is just a fabulous book.  It changes the reader emotionally, at least that is what I think.  I also think the character of the author is the most compelling in the book.  Mr. Pelzer has you hanging on every word wondering what will happen next.  He also teases the reader in a mean way by making us think that “Dave” will not make it through some of the gruesome punishments. 

 

The author is also very descriptive.  Mr. Pelzer describes “Dave’s” clothing in a very precise manner, and is quite thoroughly graphic in the description of the punishment “Dave” must endure.  One feels they are right there besides the victim as the punishment is psychotically doled out.

 

This book is also very powerful in a way that few readers might understand.  It empowers one because it makes the reader feel like they can make a difference on this issue.  The reader also is made to feel guilty at points, because one wants to help, although it is just a story and there is nothing one can really do about “Dave’s” predicament.

 

This book is also really sad at some points.  In one chapter, we find out how “Dave’s” family used to be just about perfect, like the “Brady Bunch” in fact.  As we read on it starts to go downhill, and the reader is confused as to why it’s happening.  What happened to the happy family?  Other parts make one just plain furious, such as the section when the mother is suddenly, for no reason, nice to “Dave”.  “Dave” finds out that his mother is just being nice to make “Dave” be happy for a while, hoping that his appearance of happiness will convince authorities not to take “Dave” away from her.  Immediately after this she goes right back to abusing him.

 

Reading this section made me feel like hitting someone because it is just so horrible.  I told a friend about the book and she said that the book truly describes how abused children feel.  This unnamed friend of mine was abuses as a younger child and she said the book is very realistic when it comes to this.

I think the book is interesting in the way that one feels like they are “Dave”.  One feels as if the punishments are being done against them.  At other points one all of a sudden feels like a person witnessing the punishment.  One feels like just saying “wow”. 

 

I think everyone should read this book because it is just so very truthful in its subject matter and its ability to move an audience to understand abuse and the ongoing pain it causes.

 

 

Example Book Review(And here is an example of a fantastic 8th Grade Review from last year.)

 

Book:  Catch-22

Author:  Joseph Heller

Copyright:  1961

Genre: Realistic War Fiction/Absurdism

 

Yossarian is the insane, off-kilter lead bombardier no longer interested in targets and the war.  He tries in every way to get himself grounded, but to no avail.  For there is a catch, a mighty powerful one at that:  Catch-22.

 

Joseph Heller takes the reader through a tour of what he thinks the real inside of the military is like:  a backstabbing, bureaucratic cesspit of cronyism.  This is not a war story of bravery at the front lines, but more about how people react to in a time of crisis, death, and the opportunity to get ahead.  Each character with their well-developed nuances struggles with their own demons.  Every man is sure that their issues are all that matter.  Most them work to ensure that they will end up at the top, much to the displeasure of the few honest ones who are dragged behind in the furious race to be most successful in the military (with the definition of successful varying widely).

Heller writes in a very rhetorical manner and the writing is strangely hilarious.  He also tends to skip time boundaries in the book and branches off on tangents that generally lead to a new perspective on an already mentioned event.  The original point is usually abandoned during the travels through past, present, and future, only to resurface three of four chapters later.

 

This book takes a strange outlook on war.  The issues brought up are very serious and sad, yet they are approached in a very disengaged style that is almost lackadaisical.  I believe this represents what Heller really feels about war, and war’s idiocy.  For what is everyone really fighting for?  What does it mean to be supporting the ideals of your country when everywhere you look, bureaucracy hampers any chance of improving the world in any way?  Is what will be accomplished worth the dissension and death caused?

 

Rating:  8.5

 

This was an extremely thought-provoking book that oddly encourages one to really think about the issues brought up because of its mild and nonchalant tone.  The style is reminiscent of Kurt Vonnegut and Heller’s tendency to push the reader away with light and airy writing only serves to pull the reader back in.

 

However, to read the book it is necessary to wade through many raunchy scenes and confusing text.  What helped, though, was that this book is extremely funny.  With impish writing and a bit of misunderstanding among the characters, Catch-22 carries the reader along, allowing them to forgive the book for previous misgivings. 

 

 

 

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