S UMMER R EADING A CTIVITIES Writing a Summary and a Critique of the Novel You Read.

SUMMER READING

ACTIVITIESWriting a Summary and a Critique of the Novel You

Read

SUMMARY The main goal is to

explain the main events that occur in your novel The key idea that are

worth noting and remember

This is the “book report”

Be sure to mention the title and author

Focuses ONLY on the facts; NO OPINIONS!!

DO NOT tell the ending or any of the surprises from the book!

CRITIQUE The main goal is to

share what you thought of your novel

Be sure to mention the title and author

Focuses on your OPINION, but uses facts to back it up

Discusses the strengths, weakness and notable features of the text.

DO NOT tell the ending or any of the surprises from the book!

IDENTIFY EACH EXAMPLE AS SUMMARY OR CRITIQUE AND

EXPLAIN HOW YOU KNOW

1. The best book I’ve ever read is Abarat by Clive Barker.

2. Unlike many books for young adult readers, this book has color illustrations.

3. This is really helpful ‘cause the story is so OUT THERE that sometimes it’s hard to imagine what old Clive was talking about!

4. Although it is difficult to summarize quickly, it is basically the story of the protagonist’s (Candy Quakenbush’s) journey to another world called the Abarat.

PARAGRAPHS: WHAT DO THEY INCLUDE?

Topic sentence

PARAGRAPHS: WHAT DO THEY INCLUDE?

Topic sentenceSupporting sentences

PARAGRAPHS: WHAT DO THEY INCLUDE?

Topic sentenceSupporting sentencesConcluding sentence

PARAGRAPHS: WHAT DO THEY INCLUDE?

Topic sentenceSupporting sentencesConcluding sentence8-10 sentences

LITERARY TERMS TO USE GENRE --- the type of book, for example: science

fiction, non-fiction, adventure, etc. PROTAGONIST --- the main character/hero ANTAGONIST --- the person or persons opposing

the hero STATIC/DYNAMIC --- a character is EITHER static

OR dynamic: STATIC: the character stays the same through out the

story and never changes DYNAMIC: the character experiences a major change in

his/her personality, behaviors, beliefs, etc. from the beginning to the end of the story

ROUND/FLAT --- a character is EITHER round OR flat: ROUND: the author has provided a lot of details about this

character so you can easily imagine what he/she looks like, acts like, how he/she speaks, etc.

FLAT: not many details are provided about the character

YOUR ASSIGNMENT!ON A LOOSE-LEAF PIECE OF PAPER:

Write a SUMMARY of your Summer Reading book on the front of the page

Write a CRITIQUE of your Summer Reading Book on the back of the page

Use all the literary terms we have reviewed ONCE within the two paragraphs

HIGHLIGHT each literary term you used

DUE by Monday, August 26

Evaluate how well your group worked during the STARS process by drawing one of the

symbols on the BACK of your Bellringer:

+ Our group stayed focused the whole time, accomplished ALL the tasks and the members were polite and respectful of each other

* Our group got the tasks done, but we either needed help or to remain on task the entire time; some of us may not have been as polite and respectful as we could have been

- We needed LOTS of help, didn’t accomplish ALL of the tasks and/or argued with each other

FORMAL Language

Target Audience: teachers, employers, those with whom you want to make a good impression;

Focuses on CLEARLY explaining things

Strictly follows all grammatical and structural rules

Uses NO slang or text speak

Uses few contractions

Written in blue or black ink or typed in a “serious” font

INFORMAL Language

Target Audience: your peers; no one you have to impress; casual

Sometimes violates grammar and structure rules as long as understanding is clear

Can use slang, text speak, etc.

Uses lots of contractions

Sometimes written in funky fonts or multiple colors

ON A NOTE CARD: IDENTIFY EACH EXAMPLE AS

FORMAL OR INFORMAL AND EXPLAIN HOW YOU KNOW

1. I can’t wait to go to the beach! Me and my friends are gonna have a BLAST!!!!

2. The beach my family goes to is in Florida.

3. It has beautiful white sandy beaches that are always clean.

4. You better believe I am gonna be hangin’ out there all day long.

5. At night, I’m going to spend my time at the pool until my parents say I have to come in.