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.
Examples of
high-quality book “reviews”. The first
is a 2nd Semester 7th grader’s paper from 2006, the
second a Spring 8th Grader from 2006 as
well.
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.
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.