Accordion Book
Directions: Choose five to seven significant scenes from your book. Make an illustrated accordionshaped book that reveals the sequence of your book's storyline. Include some written descriptions, such
as: What's happening in the scene? Why is this scene important to you?
Literary Weaving
Using a strip of adding machine tape, each student designs a visual
using symbols, colors, and words to capture significant ideas or themes
from the book.
• Students revisit the book and review their Golden Lines, journals, or
discussions to pull out “big ideas.” It may help to discuss with others.
• Use words, symbols, and colors to design the strip. Keep in mind that
each strip will be woven together with others so that some parts will be
hidden. Talk about effective use of “white space.”
• On the back, students write the book’s title and a Golden Line.
The strips can then be woven together, either as a temporary
artistic installation on the floor or more permanently as attached to
a colored border.
• For an effective presentation, gather all students in a circle with
floor space in the center. One at a time, each student reads
her/his Golden Line and says the title of the book. Then lay the
strip on the floor. As others add their strips, the teacher (or
students) can begin to weave them together.
• When the weaving is complete, ask students to talk about what
they see and how they interpret their art.
Commemorative Stamp
Directions: Select a key character or scene, or focus on an
important theme from your book, and develop a stamp to
commemorate that character, scene, or theme. Include a picture, a
selected phrase, and the stamp's value.
The first stamp shown below was designed from Mildred Taylor's
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry and depicts symbols of racism,
segeretation, and reconciliation. The second stamp is based on Patricia Polacco's The Trees of the
Dancing Goats, and the third is from Waterman's Boy by Susan Sharpe.
Character Bookmarks
Directions: Create a bookmark featuring either your favorite character or the character you consider to
be most significant in your book. Be sure to include the book title and author as well as the character's
name and "portrait" or illustration. On the back of the bookmark, describe your character and explain why
he or she is important in your book and how you feel about this character.
Game Board
Directions: Create a board game based on the characters, events,
or theme of your book. Be sure that the game is playable and that
participants must rely on their knowledge of the book in order to
succeed!
The example shown below, The Shakespeare Dealer, is based on
several books in a literature circle unit on William Shakespear's
time.
Setting Pamphlet
A setting pamphlet is just one of many possibilities for an extension project using a pamphlet or brochure
format. Students select four or five key settings for significant events in the book or places that had major
impacts on the characters' development. Each panel of the pamphlet can represent a different setting with
an illustration and short written explanation of how that setting influenced the story or affected the
characters' lives.
The example shown below is based on Let the Circle Be Unbroken.
Name-Dropping
Create an acrostic poem to illustrate some of the traits of the lead
character. Based on the book, Johnny Tremain.