For the last couple of weeks we have been reading On My Honor and focusing on Active Reading
Strategies:
 Visualizing – Picturing a movie in you head while you read
 Connecting – making a connection from the text to yourself, another
book, or something else in your world
 Questioning – Making an “I wonder” and asking a question about
something that makes you curious in the text
 Predicting –guessing or making a prediction about what will occur in
the text
 Clarifying – Clearing up a confusing word or phrase from the text

Evaluating – making a judgement about what you read
– YOUR OPINION
You wil be writing an EVALUATION paper focusing on the active reading strategies and providing
examples from the text for support. Following is the rubric you will be grading on and a model of a well
written paper.
RUBRIC
PROVIDES 3 ACTIVE READING STRATEGIES
1
2
3
4
5
USES EVIDENCE FROM THE TEXT (3 PIECES)
1
2
3
4
5
EVIDENCE RELATES TO THE STRATEGY
1
2
3
4
5
PAPER IS ORGANIZED
1
2
3
4
5
FREE OF GRAMMER/SPELLING ERRORS
1
2
3
4
5
TOTAL ________ X (4) = GRADE _______________
COMMENTS:
The book On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer is about an young boy Joel who struggles
with honesty and the tragic truth that his best friend Tony drowned. When I first previewed the
book I thought that I would not like it. The plot seemed unrealistic and it did not seem strong
enough to sustain a 90 page novel. I was wrong. I really ended up enjoying this book. While
reading I continuously found myself visualizing, predicting, and connecting with different
situations in the book.
First, Marion Dane Bauer uses a lot of descriptive writing in On My Honor which helped
me visualize and form a movie in my mind. For example, on page 20 she uses descriptive
language to describe the Vermilion River. “Joel eased himself deeper into the water and dogpaddled a few strokes. He didn’t want to put his face down to swim properly. He’d take the
artificial blue of a pool and the sting of the chlorine any day. The river smelled of decaying
fish.” Through use of powerful verbs, descriptive adjectives, and sensory language I really felt
like I could see the movie in my mind. It was like I was actually there.
Second, this book kept me guessing and wanting to read on to find out if my predictions
were correct. Throughout the book the reader had two major questions; Was Tony dead? and
Was Joel going to confess? Marion Dane Bauer lefts many clues along the way to help keep the
reading guessing. For example, at the end of chapter 6 on page 45 it reads, “I’ll go to the
police,” he said. “I promise.” After I read this chapter I predicted that Joel had lied and would
not go to the police. I predicted this because also on page 45 it read, “It was Mr. Zabrinsky
standing there, a heavy, leather belt in his hand.” What this is saying is that Joel does not want
to confess that Tony had drowned due to the fact that he was afraid of Mr. Zabrinsky. The book
left questions like this at the end of each chapter which kept me wanting to read on.
Lastly, to my surprise, I really ended up connecting with the characters and situations in
this book. For example, on page 63 Bauer writes about Joel and Bobby, Joel’s little brother,
beginning to do Joel’s paper route. While they are getting ready for the route Joel is taking out
his anger out on Bobby. “Take it easy,” Joel ordered, thumping Bobby on the top of the head
with the handle of his knife. “You’re going to mess everything up.” I really connected with this
part because I have also been mean to my little brother when I was actually upset about getting a
bad grade on my math test. I recently also connected this book with Edgar Allen Poe’s Tell Tale
Heart. In On My Honor Joel’s guilt about not confessing to Tony’s death is symbolized with a
dead fish smell, “he was sure the stink of the river rose from him like a vapor.” (p. 72). And in
Tell Tale Heart it was “the beating of his hideous heart” that the madman kept hearing that
symbolized his guilt. Last but not least, I really connected with the relationship that Joel had
with his father. At the end of the book Joel and his father have a heart to heart talk and his dad
stays by his bed as he sleeps, “Will you stay?” he asked, reaching a hand out tentatively to touch
his father’s knee. “Will you sit with me until I fall asleep?” “Of course,” his father said.” I
connected with this moment because I also have a close relationship with my father and it made
me relate to the time my dad stayed by my hospital bed when I broke my leg.
Overall, I really like the book On My Honor. The used of descriptive writing kept me
visualizing, carefully crafted endings of chapters kept me predicting, and writing about common
family situations and use of symbolism helped me make many connections. I highly recommend
this book to anyone who has ever struggled with telling the truth or who has ever dealt with a
tragic situation in their life.