Summer Reading Book Reports for Incoming Middle School Students
Somerset Academy Miramar Middle School believes that reading during the summer months can
help students greatly sharpen their reading comprehension skills as well as increase retention of the
literary skills learned throughout the previous school year.
This summer, students will complete ONE book report based on ONE of their selected books,
choosing from three possible report formats (listed below). Each book report must follow the
guidelines set forth in the rubric designated for each report. The book report must be completed by
August 26, 2013. This form must be attached to the book report upon submission. Please check your
preferred option:
_____ Option #1
Book Trailer
On 4 to 8 separate white sheets of paper, create 4 to 8 images to serve as the trailer for your book. As
with trailers shown on television, you cannot give away the ending. Simply present enough information
to make potential readers interested in the novel. Imagine these images were part of a trailer being
shown on television. Under each of your images write a detailed caption explaining what’s happening
in the scene, or what the characters are saying to each other, or what the voice-over narrator is saying
about the scene during the trailer. The captions should be typed (Times New Roman, 12 font) or neatly
handwritten.
____ 40 Points – 4 to 8 colored, detailed and creative images depicting significant events in the book.
*The images should be drawn; the images should not be printed from the computer.
____40 Points - Detailed captions that accurately describe the images. Each caption should be written
in one paragraph and included below each of the illustrations.
____ 10 Points – Presentation (Be prepared to present your illustrations to the class.)
____ 10 Points - The report is free of grammatical errors.
Total Possible Points: 100
_____ Option #2
Book Soundtrack
Select 5 songs to create the soundtrack for your novel. For each of these songs, you’ll have to justify
your choice. In one paragraph, explain why each song is a good fit for the book. For each song, clearly
write the title of the song, the artist, and the one-paragraph explanation. This could be typed (Times
New Roman, 12 font) or neatly handwritten. Use textual support (include page numbers) from both the
book and the song to make the justification clear.
_____ 10 Points – The titles of the 5 songs are evident.
_____ 5 Points – The songs’ artists are evident.
_____ 50 Points – One-paragraph explanation for each song
_____ 15 Points – The report should be organized. For each song, clearly write the title of the song,
the artist, and the one-paragraph explanation.
_____ 10 Points – Presentation
_____ 10 Points – The report is free of grammatical errors.
Total Possible Points: 100
_____ Option #3
Current Events
Select 4 current news or feature stories from the newspaper(s), magazine(s), or internet that you think
are similar to the events/information in your book. Read the articles carefully and make notes of the
similarities. For each current event or news article, be sure to explain the similarities in each of these
real-life events to the events in the novel in one, well-developed paragraph. The paragraphs should be
typed (Times New Roman, 12 font) or neatly handwritten.
*Current news means that the news should have taken place within (May 2013 – August 2013).
____ 20 Points – Bring the actual news articles to class. You should have a total of 4 different articles.
____ 40 Points – For each article, write one, well-developed paragraph explaining the similarities
between the article and the event in the book. Be sure to include textual evidence from both the book
and the news report article.
____ 20 Points – The report should be organized. For each article, write the title of the article, the
author, the source (i.e. Miami Herald), the date of publication and the paragraph.
____ 10 Points – Presentation
____ 10 Points – The report is free of grammatical errors.
Total Possible Points: 100