Kari Redmond
As secondary teachers, we recognize the struggle that students often have when writing about books.
Despite this struggle, we frequently hand out “old school” assignments like the five-paragraph essay, poster presentation, and book report. The most common of these assignments is the book report even though there is an unspoken understanding that students have to only read the bare minimum to give a book report, and regurgitate what we want to hear. The really hard work for teachers comes with finding authentic, real-life assignments that teach students skills and build critical literacy. Nancie
Atwell asks the readers of In the Middle to examine the reasons why the book report is “the only writing about literature that shows up in most elementary and middle school classrooms” (470). Like
Atwell, I have to ask, how are book reports improving literacy when they are merely regurgitations of plot summary, and how are they relevant to “real-life”?
In place of book reports it would be productive to assign the most common form of literary commentary found in modern society: the book review. Hundreds of thousands of people read book reviews in publications ranging from The New York Times, U.S. Today, Rolling Stone, Entertainment
Weekly, to Amazon.com
on a regular basis. I would explain this to my students when discussing the social need that book reviews fulfill. Through book reports, people learn about books, talk about books, and most importantly, read and write about books. Teenagers can also take part in the book review process. Publications such as Voices in the Middle and Teen Ink have separate sections devoted to Young Adult Literature, reviewed by young adults. The popularity of online sites dedicated to teen book reviews has also increased the availability of publishing forums for classroom projects.
Book reviews require more critical thinking than book reports. Our students will need to actually read the book in its entirety because they are going to be asked to interpret it, rather than regurgitate the plot. The content of the book review relies heavily on reader understanding, and an opinion of the book based on comprehension is necessary. Students will be unable to “fake” the book review as they often do with the book report. Also, students will need to form an opinion about the book and share it in their book reviews. Because an audience will be reading these reviews, students will understand how their opinion may or may not influence a person’s decision to purchase or read the book. Tom
Romano states in his article “Teaching Writing from the Inside” that most of the genres that are typically taught in classrooms are narrative and literary responses because they are the specialties of teachers, not because they have the most to offer students (174). Book reviews can offer our students an authentic, engaging, and highly academic experience.
The best way teach the writing of the book review is to conduct a whole-class genre study. Genre is generally defined as the categories in which we classify texts. Charles Cooper in "What We Know
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About Genres” also defines genres as “types of writing produced every day in our culture, types of writing that make possible certain kinds of learning and social interaction” (25). Cooper recommends using the genre assignment, something I will refer to as the genre study, as a means to teach writing.
Cooper’s version of the genre study involves eight basic steps: reading models, listing basic features, choosing topics, inventing and researching, planning, revising, reflecting, and assembling a portfolio”
(46-49).
In order to fully understand how to write a book review, it is necessary to delve deep into the genre to examine the basic components. Genre studies are useful in teaching writing because they open up new worlds of writing that students may not have realized they were capable of interacting with. Romano wants his students to understand that “the world of writing is a mural, not a snapshot. I want students’ notions of genre to be expansive, not narrow (174).” With this thought in mind, I will guide you through the process of teaching the book review through Cooper’s eight steps. First we will look at the importance of touchtone texts to provide a model for quality book reviews. Next I will explain the importance of using group work to list the basic attributes of the genre. Choosing a book to review, inventing, and planning will also be addressed. I will also touch on writing as a process with stages of drafting, revising, and editing. In my study, students will hand in a portfolio of work, documenting their writing journey. Finally, students will reflect on what they have learned from the genre study, and what they feel they have gained from writing a book review.
Before I begin the genre study, I would first explain the book review’s social purpose. I would use my own personal experience, explaining that I frequently read the reviews on amazon.com before I decide to purchase or read a book. Then I would let students know that I intend to give them most of the control in the project- they are allowed to choose their own book, they will work collaboratively throughout the revision process, and they will ultimately choose where they would like their review to be published.
The first step you will want to take when introducing the genre of book review is to provide some really good quality examples for students to read. Students should have these examples to use as models for their own writing, and these examples will also aid them in determining the characteristics of the book review. To find good models of book reviews I went to the New York Times website
(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/books/bestseller/bestchildren.html).
I would being the study by reading “Off the Rez,” a review from the New York Times Book Review on
Sherman Alexie’s book,
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (See Appendix A). Because students will need to read a book thoroughly before writing a review on it, I suggest finding a quality book review that is based around something your class has read. Having background knowledge about the text being reviewed will give them greater perspective. I chose this book review because my students have read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian as a class, and they found it to be an exciting YA book.
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After reading “Off The Rez,” I will read aloud the review “Knocked Up” about the popular YA novel
Slam (see Appendix B). This is a novel that I have in my classroom library, so some of my students have read it and they have all seen it on display. After students have had the opportunity to listen to these reviews, and have been given copies of the reviews to study on their own, I break them up into small groups. In these groups, students will be asked to reflect on the genre of book review. I will ask them specific questions such as: “What is the social purpose of this book review?,” “What similar characteristics do these reviews share?,” and “What do you think the features of a book review are?.”
This process of inquiry will help students discern the qualities of the book review on their own and further strengthen their critical thinking skills.
After the groups have had sufficient time to meet and discuss the touchtone texts, each group will then be asked to share one of their determined characteristics with the rest of the class, while I write them on the board. This will model the brainstorming process for them, and I will tell them how I use brainstorming on my own as a learning strategy. If they need some help determining certain important characteristics, then I will try and help them with leads like "Does the writer tell us who should be reading this book?" Then I will ask students to decide whether this is a good or bad example of a book review and argue their points with examples from the reviews. This will help them to understand that their opinions always need to be backed up with sufficient evidence from the text. At this point I would hand out a list of the common attributes of a book review (Appendix C).
Although the students are identifying the characteristics of a book review through their own inquiry process, I would still have a list of common attributes that I want them to focus on. Hopefully through group-work and class discussion, the students would have discovered that a book review is made up of the following elements:
1.
TAG! Title, author, and genre must be present. Some book reviews also have publishing information and/or date of publication as well. These elements are crucial to include in the book review because practice using this information will prove beneficial in other forms of literary writing (including essays on the state mandated examinations). Book reviews should integrate this information into the text smoothly. Example: “ The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time
Indian is Alexie’s first foray into the young adult genre, and it took him only one book to master the form” (Barcott).
2.
A catchy lead. Something that will not only make the readers read the book review- but also make them want to read the book itself. There are several different types of leads including: traditional, question, quotation, reflective, and action leads. Example: “Arnold Spirit Jr. is the geekiest Indian on the Spokane Reservation” (Barcott).
3.
A voice- this is not a strictly academic literary analysis, but an opinion based review. The voice in a book review should be first-person and “semiformal”(Atwell, 470) Although voice is one of the most difficult elements of writer’s craft to teach, book review are an easy way for students to establish their voice- mostly because it is largely opinion based writing. Example:
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“What ensues is an agreeably casual and occasionally effervescent comedy of manners, one that has plenty to say about class and sex and family and — this being a Nick Hornby novel — how pop music relates to it all and ties it all together” (Garner).
4.
Important literary elements of the story, such as setting, characters, theme, and/or conflict are present in book reviews. Usually special attention is given to the main character in book reviews, but by additionally identifying and using literary elements in their writing, students will be more prepared for the Regent’s exam. In Garner’s review, he describes characterization in the novel: “Sam isn’t optimistic about what awaits him in life”; theme: “what adult love really is”; and conflict: “They want their daughter to jettison both him and the fetus”.
5.
A brief plot summary without spoilers- no one will want to read the book if you give away the whole ending! Also, knowing how much plot summary is too much could greatly improve student writing in all areas- not just in genre studies. This is probably the most common opportunity of improvement in the student book reviews you will assess. The Slam review offers little more than a one-sentence plot summary: “What happens in Slam is, quite simply, this: Sam gets his new girlfriend, Alicia, pregnant” (Garner).
6.
Reader opinions/reactions about how they felt after reading the book. Book reviews are just that, a review of the book based on the opinion of an individual. People reading the book review want to know if the book is really worth it- this is the writer's opportunity to see that his or her opinion really means something. Barcott does this by writing: “so that reading becomes more like listening to your smart, funny best friend recount his day while waiting after school for a ride home.”
7.
Revealing quotes from the book that will pique potential reader interest is another common element of the book review. Book reviews gracefully insert quotations into the text seamlessly, a good skill for all writers to practice. Barcott uses the quote from Alexie’s book: “I was afraid those monsters were going to kill me,” he says. “And I don’t mean ‘kill’ as in ‘metaphor.’ I mean ‘kill’ as in ‘beat me to death.’”
8.
“A suggestion of who would like the book and why” is another example of being able to use your opinion as the author of a book review (Atwell, 470). Learning how to identify audience and writing with a recommendation gives students a specific purpose. Both sample reviews have a text box that recommends that the novels are for readers ages twelve and up.
9.
Most book reviews have background information about the author. Whether you have read previous work by the author, or have conducted a mini-author study, adding context to the book review through author research can be done seamlessly (as seen in both Barcott’s and Garner’s reviews).
These are some of the main characteristics of a book review, but there are several others you can bring to students’ attention. Atwell lists a few more of these attributes: “how the book fits into a larger context-political, historical, social,” “comparisons with other books and genres,” “what’s different about this book, contrasting it with others of the same genre,” ”comparisons with works by other authors”[and] “the reviewer’s reading process: how he or she read the book” (471). For example, Barcott describes some of the cultural context that exists on the reservation: “the struggle to survive between the grinding plates of the Indian and white worlds.”
Additionally, Garner
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Resources for Book Reviews :
 Teen Ink Magazine ( www.teenink.com
) A magazine for teens, written by teens. It has been used in classrooms for decades, and is not only a good source of student book reviews but it


 is also a place to explore possible publishing options.
Voices from the Middle. I would keep back issues of this academic journal for students to look through.
Teen Reads ( www.teenreads.com
) is an online resource for book reviews written by teens.
Amazon ( www.amazon.com
) also offers a place for reader reviews, but it is not specific to
 students- anyone can post a review.
Online YA book reviews ( http://www.teenlit.com/bookreviews/reviews.htm
) This site is also not student specific- but there is a deep index of examples of book reviews as well as several books that need book reviews to be submitted! discusses the author’s previous work in comparison to
Slam
: “Hornby’s novels tend to be about men who are essentially boys.”
For homework, you can ask your students to find examples of a good quality book review either in print or electronic form. They will be asked to share their example text with the class, explaining how the specified genre elements are used with direct support from the writing. I would give them the following list of resources to look for book reviews since finding an anthology of book reviews in the library is unlikely.
When discussing the characteristics of a book review it is important to examine what a book review is not. Book reviews can often be confused or muddled with other genres. Studying what a book review is not will help solidify the definition of what it is. A book review is NOT:
 A plot summary - As teachers, we may feel this is obvious, but students love to give plot summary instead of detail and opinion. On the NYS Regents and ELA exams they will be graded based on their ability to analyze literature without the overuse of plot summary.
Teaching a book review is a good opportunity for teachers to show students the correct amount of plot summary needed for the book review- and the exams.
 A book report - Book reports are monotonous and unauthentic. There are no instances of the book report genre being used anywhere in the world except in the ELA classroom. They are tedious to complete and even more tedious to grade. Book reports are mainly comprehensive checks to ensure that students are reading the texts- but in book reviews it will be more than obvious if a student has not read the text being reviewed.
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The next step for students, now that they understand what book reviews look like and act like- is for them to pick a book they would like to review. Since I value the publication of all student work, it is important to recognize that several publications will not print repeat submissions for books that have already been reviewed- so it pays to have back issues of such publications such as Voices from the
Middle . Also, recommending that the students choose newer titles will help prevent this overlap as well. It is crucial that students are allowed to pick a book that they are interested in, and a teacher should only offer support and suggestions in this process. Book reviews are also a useful genre to examine when giving students the power of choice. Allowing students to choose a book to review will increase their engagement and might even increase the chances of them completing both the book and the review. If a student complains that the chosen text is too difficult or not enjoyable, then the teacher could help to find the student a new book to review.
Allowing the student book choice will not only increase possible success, but will also promote a real reading life. In their adult life, students will not be force-fed books, but they will have the leisure to read books that interest and excite them. Democracy in book reviews is also vital to the engagement of the student. Often students' complaint about literary analysis writing is that they did not enjoy the book to begin with- let alone enjoy having to write about it. It is almost like beating a dead horse.
Giving students the opportunity to read books that engage them will encourage them to work harder on their writing.
Resources for Young Adult Literature
There are a plethora of titles currently available in the YA genre, and the market for books targeted at teens is continually growing. These books provide a wealth of possibilities for students choosing a title to review. Of course book reviews can be written about books that are not targeted towards adolescents, but most teens would prefer to read a YA title over an adult title. Young Adult literature is accessible, relevant, and often times necessary in the reading lives of teens. In order to help students choose a book and also to keep them reading later in life, the teacher should be knowledgeable about
YA literature. Here is a list of resources for locating new titles in YA literature:



ALAN, ( http://www.alan-ya.org/) or the Assembly of Literature for Adolescents of the NCTE, is an organization developed strictly for the purpose of promoting YA lit in the classroom.
ALAN has its own awards system as well as an extensive list of great titles available.
YALSA ( http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/yalsa.cfm) is the Young Adult Library
Services Association. This organization tracks awards in the field of YA literature, but my favorite section is the annual teen vote. Every year, thousands of teenagers are polled to see what they are reading and the results are posted on the YALSA website.
Amazon ( http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/28/103-6565692-4644611 ) is a site where a lot of new YA texts can be easily found. Amazon has recently expanded its "teen" section to include a ton of titles, and clicking on a book will also give you access to reviews and
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 recommended readings.
Reader's Robot ( http://www.tnrdlib.bc.ca/rr.html
) is a site that will help students choose a book based on "appeal" factors. It is an interactive site so it may please some of the more resistant readers, or readers who need of a suggestion. After taking a quiz, there are specified recommended readings generated from the results.
Some students may have limited resources, so you would have to ensure that you had access to these sites from your classroom or school library. If this is a problem, consider working with your school librarian to allocate some of the library budget for new YA titles. I have an extensive classroom library that I work hard to update frequently. It only consists of approximately fifty books, but these are some of the more engaging texts that have come out within the past five years. I have collected several of these books through the Scholastic book program, and I always promote the discounted
Scholastic program to my students as well. Students and parents should both understand that there is no required purchase necessary for the book review project.
While students are reading the book, they will be filling in the information on the organizational handout (see Appendix D). Filling out this handout will get students accustomed to taking notes during reading, a strategy useful during the ELA and Regents Exams. This handout will give them an idea of how to organize the book review and remind them constantly of the elements of the review. I will remind them that they should also be taking notes in their writer’s notebooks to plan for the writing process. A writer’s notebook is simply a notebook that is maintained by the student (and by the teacher as well) to record interesting tidbits of information, thoughts, emotions, quotes, etc. that could possibly be used in future writing. The information on the outline is a good reference for writer’s notebook entries, as well as any interesting quotes from the book, action packed scenes they may want to discuss, and literary elements that the author uses.
The outline specifies the bare minimum of book review characteristics, and students should understand that the outline is in sequential order. At this point I would put the outline on the overhead so that the students could see it, and I would have them help me fill it in using information from The Absolutely
True Diary of a Part-time Indian . As I fill it in, I would refer back to the review to show how Barcott uses these elements in his review. This modeling will set them up for success in their own independent writing.
Students are then given a specific writing assignment handout that explains all expectations for the assignment (Appendix E), and they are also provided a copy of the rubric, so they know precisely how their book reviews are being assessed (Appendix F).
PLANNING
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Before they begin their drafts, I will offer a craft mini-lesson on "perfect" plot review. Too much plot summary is a common mistake students make when writing essays for the Regents exam, so I want to make sure that they "get it" by using proper plot summary in their book reviews. First I will have students return to their copies of the touchtone texts and I will give them each two highlighters, one yellow and one pink. I will ask students to highlight the plot summary in each review with the pink marker, and to highlight the author commentary with the yellow marker. When done properly, the yellow markings on the page should vastly overwhelm the small amount of pink markings. This will illustrate that the amount of plot summary is small in comparison to the amount of commentary from the author.
Next I will hand out the “perfect” plot summary worksheet (Appendix G) and I will help students fill it out for The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie by posting it on the projector. This will model how the students can fill in the graphic organizer to help them write their own drafts. Students will then be allowed to start their drafts with the understanding that the plot summary should be limited, and that their reviews should be mainly interpretation or reaction to the text.
REVISING
Once the rough drafts are complete, peer reviews take place during class time. Peer reviews are when students collaborate "in pairs or small groups, students read each other's drafts and give advice on revising" (Cooper, 49). The students will use the provided peer review handout (Appendix H) that reminds students of the class-defined set of book review attributes. I will sit in on a few of these conferences where I will briefly read some papers. After evaluating where the class seems to be having common opportunities for improvement, I would develop a mini-lesson to address the issue.
Some examples of craft mini-lessons include:
Craft Mini-lessons
Developing a “catchy lead”
How to smoothly introduce TAG
Trimming down the fat-how to keep your book review concise
How to use action-packed verbs
Define your audience-create a recommendation
How to refocus your purpose
Get and keep audience interest
Adding those literary elements
One of the most common characteristics of an undeveloped book review is a boring lead sentence. In most cases I would form a craft mini-lesson on "catchy leads" in book reviews (Appendix I), where students will learn some of the various types of lead sentences, including: traditional, questioning, quotation, action, and reflection. Also, I will take one of the traditional leads from the handout and put it on the overhead. As a class we will formulate the same lead in the each of the several variations
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we are studying, so students see hands-on how the process works. Students will then be given classtime to examine the lead from their first drafts and re-write it using each of the categories of leads.
They will do this brainstorming in their writer’s notebooks, where we complete the majority of their pre-writing and drafting activities. This also contributes to the idea that I want to instill in my students that they are, indeed, true writers. Lucy Calkins says: “We, as teachers, try to create conditions that encourage our students to live like poets or journalists or short story writers. […] The nature of what we gather in our notebooks will change with the genre, but this does not mean that our entries will be drafts. […] We’ll have lead sentences, too” (365). Once students have brainstormed sufficiently and are satisfied with their “catchy” lead, they will revise their draft accordingly, keeping their peer review in mind.
Once students have draft two completed, I would collect the papers and read each draft. I would comment on major reoccurring problems within the texts and help with conventions. By examining each paper individually I would see any common patterns that continually reappeared within the class, and I could address these issues with a revision mini-lesson.
Here are some examples of common revision mini-lessons for book reviews:
Revision Mini-lessons
How to properly introduce quotations
Proofreading for sentence fragments
Dividing the run-on
Proofreading Marks
If I noticed through individual assessment that my students were commonly misusing quotations from the books, I would conduct a mini-lesson on how to properly introduce quotations into the review (see
Appendix J). In this mini-lesson I would read the handout on how to properly use quotations to the class. Following this review of quotations, I would have them fill out the worksheet, inserting the quotation marks and punctuation as needed. I made the worksheet by removing the punctuation from the direct quotes used in the touchtone texts. Students can practice these conventions and then use them to correct their own book reviews. Next students will revise their paper a third time- this time also using the self-assessment handout (Appendix K) included in the packet to reflect on the writing process. The changes that were made in the final revision should reflect some aspect of the revision mini-lesson and the self-assessments.
This book review writing assignment incorporates practice in skills necessary to navigate the state mandated exams. For instance, both the ELA exam and the Regents require skills in literary interpretation, and points are deducted for student essays that are merely plot review. For a Regent prep writing assignment I would perhaps prepare a comparison/contrast essay using the Barcott review and some of Sherman Alexie’s poetry. Also, students could easily turn their book reviews into a persuasive essay to convince their audience to read a specific book. Additionally, we could adapt the
Reading Models portion of our genre study to reflect a listening portion on the regents, with questions related to literary elements and content of the reviews.
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ASSEMBLING A PORTFOLIO
The student will turn in the final copy of the paper, along with all drafts, the “catchy leads” worksheet, the plot graphic organizer, the self-checklist, and peer review forms. This will form a portfolio for the book review project. The idea is that once we are done with our group of genre studies, students will have portfolios for several pieces of completed writing- emphasizing their status as writers as well as vividly illustrating that writing is a tangible process. This will also help us, as teachers, to evaluate the student’s progress as a writer.
PUBLISHING
Although Cooper does not mention this ninth step in the genre study, it is important to consider the implications of publishing student work. Nancie Atwell states: "A sense of audience- the knowledge that someone will read what they have written- is crucial to young writers. Kids write with purpose and passion when they know that people they care about reaching will read what they have to say.
More importantly, through using writing to reach out to the world, students learn what writing is good for” (489). We have already established in our genre study that the social purpose of book reviews is functional. They fulfill a specific need to inform others about literature, but how can we inform if the book review never leaves the classroom?
There are numerous methods for publication of student book reviews including: Voices From The
Middle, Amazon.com, Teen Ink Magazine ( www.teenink.com
), Teen Reads ( www.teenreads.com
), and Teen Lit ( http://www.teenlit.com/bookreviews/reviews.htm
). Also, if you do have a classroom library, you may want to consider having students review the books in your library and keeping a mini catalog of all reviews. Anyone wishing to borrow a book from the classroom will have immediate access to student reviews- this is way more empowering than reading a dust jacket! Additionally, students will pay better attention to detail knowing that their work is extending beyond the classroom and someone besides their teacher will be reading it.
REFLECTING
After several revisions of their book reviews, students will be given an opportunity to reflect upon the process and what they have learned. Guidelines for these reflections from Cooper suggest that students
"can be asked how they solved certain problems in their drafts, what influence the same-genre readings had on their revisions, what they are most pleased with, what they would continue to work on if they had more time, and so on" (49). This reflection asks students to critically think about the writing process as a whole-rather than focus on the end product.
Reflecting as a teacher on the genre study will help you to tweak the process and make it more suitable to your classroom. You will be able to document what worked and what didn’t work in teaching the book review to continually make improvements. In the end, I am confident that you will find the genre study a necessary tool in your teaching writing toolbox.
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November 11, 2007
Children's Books
By BRUCE BARCOTT
THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN
By Sherman Alexie. Illustrated by Ellen Forney.
230 pp. Little, Brown & Company. $16.99. (Ages 12 and up)
Arnold Spirit Jr. is the geekiest Indian on the Spokane Reservation. He wears chunky, lopsided glasses. His head and body look like Sputnik on a toothpick. When he doesn’t stutter, he lisps. Arnold is a 14-year-old high school freshman. When he goes outside he gets teased and beaten, so he spends a lot of time in his room drawing cartoons. “I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods,” he says, “and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats.”
If that line has an unexpected poetry to it, that’s because it was written by a poet. Arnold’s creator, Sherman
Alexie, grew up on the Spokane Reservation in tiny Wellpinit, Wash., and made his name as a poet before expanding into short stories, novels, screenplays, film directing and stand-up comedy. “The Absolutely True
Diary of a Part-Time Indian” is Alexie’s first foray into the young adult genre, and it took him only one book to master the form. Recently nominated for a National Book Award, this is a gem of a book. I keep flipping back to re-read the best scenes and linger over Ellen Forney’s cartoons.
To say that life is hard on the Spokane rez doesn’t begin to touch it. “My parents came from poor people who came from poor people who came from poor people,” Arnold explains, “all the way back to the very first poor people.” The kid was born with 10 too many teeth, so he gets them pulled — all in a single day, because the Indian Health Service pays for major dental work only once a year. When Arnold cracks open his geometry textbook, he finds his mother’s name written on the flyleaf. “My school and my tribe are so poor and sad that we have to study from the same dang books our parents studied from,” Arnold says. “That is absolutely the saddest thing in the world.”
Enraged, Arnold beans his geometry teacher with the book and gets suspended from school. The targeted teacher, Mr. P., visits Arnold at home and gives him a piece of advice: Get out. Mr. P. has seen too many promising students — like Arnold’s sister, Mary Runs Away — fade year by year, beaten down by poverty and hopelessness. “The only thing you kids are being taught is how to give up,” Mr. P. says.
“The Absolutely True Diary” tracks Arnold’s year of getting out. He transfers to Reardan High, 22 miles away, a gleaming campus full of wealthy white kids, with a computer room and chemistry labs. He’s the only
Indian — if you don’t count the school mascot. Early on, Arnold fears being beaten up by the jocks. “I was afraid those monsters were going to kill me,” he says. “And I don’t mean ‘kill’ as in ‘metaphor.’ I mean ‘kill’
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as in ‘beat me to death.’” (The comedian in Alexie pops up as often as the poet.) Arnold’s toughness soon earns him their respect, though, as well as a spot on the varsity basketball team.
What he can’t win back is the love of his neighbors at home. On the rez he’s considered a traitor. His best friend punches him in the face. When Reardan plays Wellpinit High in basketball, the Indians rain so much abuse on Arnold that a race riot nearly breaks out. Triumph and grief come in equal measure. Arnold figures out that he’s smarter than most of the white kids, and wins the heart of a white girl named Penelope. (“What was my secret?” he says. “If you want to get all biological, then you’d have to say that I was an exciting addition to the Reardan gene pool.”) Meanwhile, his father’s best friend is shot and killed, and his sister dies in a trailer fire. “I’m 14 years old, and I’ve been to 42 funerals,” Arnold says. “That’s really the biggest difference between Indians and white people.”
For 15 years now, Sherman Alexie has explored the struggle to survive between the grinding plates of the
Indian and white worlds. He’s done it through various characters and genres, but “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” may be his best work yet. Working in the voice of a 14-year-old forces Alexie to strip everything down to action and emotion, so that reading becomes more like listening to your smart, funny best friend recount his day while waiting after school for a ride home.
Which, by the way, Arnold doesn’t have. Unless his folks get lucky and come up with some gas money.
Bruce Barcott is a contributing editor at Outside magazine. His book “The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw” will be published next year.
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November 11, 2007
CHILDREN'S BOOKS
By DWIGHT GARNER
SLAM
By Nick Hornby.
309 pp. G. P. Putnam’s Sons. $19.99. (Ages 12 and up)
The good news about Nick Hornby’s first young adult novel, “Slam,” is that it’s not so different from — indeed, it can be read right alongside — the rest of his sly and laid-back oeuvre. Hornby’s novels tend to be about men who are essentially boys. “Slam” is a portrait of a prickly and interesting boy who is forced to become, very quickly, a man.
Hornby’s narrator, Sam, is 16 and lives for skateboarding. (Though that word is for losers; the term of art, he reports, is “skating.”) He lives with his divorced, very young mother; she’s only three years older, she likes to tell him, than David Beckham, and four years younger than Jennifer Aniston.
Sam and his mother are happy enough, but they’re barely getting by. Sam isn’t optimistic about what awaits him in life. “Sometimes it can seem as though kids always do better than their parents,” he says, in the smart and rueful voice with which Hornby has supplied him. “You know — someone’s dad was a coal miner, or whatever, but his son goes on to play for a Premiership team, or wins ‘Pop Idol,’ or invents the Internet.
Those stories make you feel as though the whole world is on its way up. But in our family, people always slip up on the first step. In fact, most of the time they don’t even find the stairs.”
What happens in “Slam” is, quite simply, this: Sam gets his new girlfriend, Alicia, pregnant. Alicia’s parents are university professors (Sam’s father is a plumber) who see Sam as “some hoodie chav.” They want their daughter to jettison both him and the fetus. What ensues is an agreeably casual and occasionally effervescent comedy of manners, one that has plenty to say about class and sex and family and — this being a Nick
Hornby novel — how pop music relates to it all and ties it all together. (“There are many differences between a baby and an iPod,” Sam thinks. “And one of the biggest differences is, no one’s going to mug you for your baby.”)
Hornby has a knack, in “Slam,” for taking predictable moments and turning them into gently glowing satire.
When Sam has to tell the school authorities he’s going to be a father, for example, he expects stern judgment.
But as Hornby knows, in today’s politically correct educational culture, that’s not what would happen at all.
Here’s Sam: “It turned out that the school had just introduced a strategy for teen pregnancies, but they had never had a chance to use it before, so they were pleased, really. Their strategy was to tell me that I could still
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come to school if I wanted, and to ask me whether we had enough money. And then to ask me to fill out a form to tell them whether I was happy with their strategy.”
Hornby encapsulates the whole sad business of potentially becoming a father at 16 in a few simple words about Alicia’s bedroom: “She’d taken down her ‘Donnie Darko’ poster and put up kiddy stuff in its place.”
It’s not giving too much away here to tell you that Sam does indeed become a father, if not quite a grown-up; the music he brings to play while Alicia is in labor, for example, includes “American Idiot,” by Green Day.
What’s actually playing at the moment of his son’s birth is a song by Rufus Wainwright, and thus the boy is named — without Sam’s consent — Rufus. Sam doesn’t exactly approve, though he is thankful Coldplay or the Sex Pistols weren’t playing. “Coldplay Jones,” he decides, is not a name he could live with.
There are moments in almost all of Hornby’s novels, this one included, when his laid-back quality verges on laziness if not outright sloppiness. “Slam” employs some halfhearted plot devices. Sam’s frequent, imaginary conversations with the skateboarder Tony Hawk don’t add anything here. Neither do Sam’s brief, odd journeys to witness his own future. And the novel ends with a (groan) Q. and A. session with Sam, in which plot points are tidily wrapped up.
“Slam” slides by on its author’s enormous charm, however, and on its exploration of some hard-won truths, including this encompassing definition of what adult love really is: a project “full of worry and work and forgiving people and putting up with things and stuff like that.”
Dwight Garner is senior editor of the Book Review.
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Important Attributes for Book Reviews:
1. TAG! Title, author, and genre must be present.
2.
A catchy lead. Something that will not only make readers want to read the book review- but also make them want to read the book itself.
3.
A voice- this is not a strictly academic literary analysis, but an opinion based review.
4.
Important literary elements of the story, such as setting, characters, theme, and/or conflict are present in book reviews.
5.
A brief plot summary without spoilers- no one will want to read the book if you give away the whole ending!
6.
Readers’ opinions/reactions about how they felt after reading the book.
7.
Revealing quotes from the book that will pique potential reader interest is another common element of the book review.
8.
Personal recommendation.
9.
Most book reviews have background information about the author.
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Reviewer: ___________________
Directions: Complete this worksheet and hand it in with your portfolio.
1. Title and author of book:______________________________________
2. Genre:_____________________________________________________
3. Literary elements used by the author? (Ex. Setting, conflict, theme, etc.)
4. Describe the main character(s).
5. Write a brief summary of the plot.
6. How did reading the book make you feel?
7. Who else would like this book?
8. What is your overall opinion of this book?
9. Any stand-out quotes?
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Book Review Assignment
Name________________
The Review:
You’ll read a book of your choice, and then write a book review. The lesson on plot summary and your writer’s notebook will help you with ideas for writing the review. After you have completed revisions of the book review through the writer's workshop, your review will be submitted for publication.
Requirements:
1. Outline for reading: use the outline for guidance as you read your chosen book. Consider the questions in the outline as a starting point for taking notes in your writer’s notebook. Keep the important aspects of the review in mind as you continue to read!
2. Don’t forget the elements of a book review! Your review should include some or all of the following: o TAG! Title, author, and genre must be present. o A catchy lead. Something that will not only make the readers want to read the book review- but also make them want to read the book itself. o A voice- this is not a strictly academic literary analysis, but an opinion based review. o Important literary elements of the story, such as setting, characters, theme, and/or conflict are present in book reviews. o A brief plot summary without spoilers- no one will want to read the book if you give away the whole ending! o Reader opinions/reactions about how they felt after reading the book.
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o Revealing quotes from the book that will pique potential reader interest is another common element of the book review. o Personal recommendation. o Most book reviews have background information about the author.
3. After writing your first draft, you will do a peer conference with your designated peer reviewer. With this fellow student, you will work to identify your review’s strengths and weaknesses through constructive criticism. After the peer conference, you will revise your draft to reflect suggested changes.
4. Following the self-assessment checklist provided, you will revise your draft again as needed.
5. You'll hand in all drafts and conference forms with your final paper in your manila portfolio.
Length : Your review should be at least three to four paragraphs long.
Format: Typed, in black ink, size 12-14 font. Title and author of book should be centered above text, reviewed by (your name).
Example: To Kill A Mockingbird
By Harper Lee
Reviewed by: (your name)
Date:
Review Grading
: Following directions. You will work with the graphic organizer, workshop your “catchy” leads, write and revise two rough drafts, and complete the self and peer evaluation before handing in the final
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copy. Grading is based on creativity, opinions/recommendations, conventions, and a well executed plotsummary (see attached rubric).
REMINDER : No grades are final- if you wish to revise your paper again and hand it in I will be happy to regrade it accordingly.
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Book review rubric
6 5 4 3 2 1
Meaning Writer has included all of the necessary elements of the book review. The book has clearly been well read and understood.
Most of the essential elements of a book review are included.
The book has been read and understood.
There is a basic understanding of the aspects of a book review, but some of the crucial elements are missing or implied.
The student includes some of the elements of the book review. There may be comprehension issues.
Only a couple of the elements are included.
There is an obvious lack of reading comprehension.
There is minimal evidence that the writer took the book review elements into consideration, or read at all.
Development The review supports commentary with evidence from book.
There is a very “catchy” lead present.
The review supports some of its commentary with evidence from book.
There is a
“catchy” lead present.
The review gives opinions with little support. There is a lead present.
The review gives only opinion with no support from book. There is a boring lead sentence.
There are only opinions given about the book.
There is no evidence of a true lead sentence.
There is little or no reference to the book at all. Entire review is opinion/ commentary.
Organization There is a clear cut structure to the book review. There is more commentary than plot summary
There is a clear structure to the book review.
There is more commentary than plot summary.
There is a structure present, but it is not the one given in the assignment.
Plot summary is equal to commentary.
The review is unorganized, but it does not seem to take away from the meaning of the review. Mostly
Plot summary.
The review is unorganized and it distracts readers from the meaning behind the review. Mostly plot summary.
There are no aspects of a structure anywhere in the paper. All
Plot summary.
Language: Great understanding of informal voice.
Quotations are introduced smoothly and properly.
Good use of informal voice.
Quotations are introduced properly.
Informal voice is present.
Quotations are introduced properly most of the time.
Informal voice is present but is sometimes misused.
Quotations are introduced somewhat properly.
Informal voice is present but often misused.
Quotations are introduced improperly.
Informal voice is misused.
Quotations are introduced improperly or not at all.
Conventions: Mostly errorless.
A few Errors.
Several Errors but they do not impede meaning.
Several errors, some make meaning difficult.
Frequent errors that make comprehension difficult.
The review is illegible.
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Perfect Plot Handout
EVENT
PERFECT PLOT SUMMARY MAP
CONFLICT
EVENT
RESOLUTION
EVENT
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BOOK REVIEW: Peer review questions
Peer reviewer's name: _____________________ Book reviewer's name: __________________
1. Does the author include the TAG (Title, Author, Genre) information?
2. Is the review structured/organized?
3. Does the author have too much/not enough/just enough plot summary? Does the author have spoilers?!
4. Does the author use varying sentences and vocabulary?
5. Does the review have a "catchy" lead?
6. Does the review offer the author's opinion? Suggestions for who should read the book?
7. After reading the review, do you have a decent understanding of the necessary literary elements of the book: setting, theme, conflict, etc.?
8. After reading the review, do you have enough/not enough information about the main character?
9. What did the author do well in the book review?
10. What are the author’s opportunities for improvement?
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Students will have already outlined the basic attributes of the genre of book reviews and fleshed out a list of characteristics of book reviews. At the top of their list of characteristics is a “catchy” lead sentence.
Students have also already chosen and read the book that they are reviewing, and they have written their first draft of the review. I will have them revise again based on their peer review and this mini-lesson.
First students will read the sample student leads out loud as a class. Each student will identify which of the categories of leads his or her first draft lead falls into. Students will then be asked to brainstorm, in their journals, a few of each of the other types of leads based on the examples in the handout. After this, they will write their best leads on the “leads” form. From this form they will choose the lead that they think is best and this will be the lead that they will use to revise their book review. The goal here is to get students started in the revising process. They should understand the importance of brainstorming and drafting to produce the final product- in this case, the “catchy” lead!
*(Emailed data, collected from former students of Lisa Wink)
Traditional Leads:
“Dimple Lala, a 17-year-old Indian girl, is torn between her Indian and American culture. Tanuja Desai
Hidier's Born Confused follows Dimple through her quest to find out who she really is” (Pratima R. 2004).
“It's 1943; 16- year-old Kak, overwhelmed by his alcoholic and abusive father, runs away from his small hometown of Kakabeka, Canada and travels thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean to the Canadian
23

Air Force Base in Yorkshire England. There, his dreams come true as he lies about his age and enlists in the air force…. This is what daily life is like for Kak, the main character in Ian Lawrence's historical fiction novel, B for Buster” (Tony Z. 2005).
“It was their year. The final swimming season at Frost High school had been meticulously planned. The four boys were almost guaranteed to win the gold medal in the 400 freestyle relay at the States. But not everything always turns out exactly right and sometimes it can't be stopped. In Stotan! by Chris Crutcher, four high school seniors learn about friendship, perseverance, love, life and even death” (Cassidy B., 2004).
Question Leads (ask a question that will draw the reader’s interest):
“Do you love basketball? Do you love sports? Are you a hardcore basketball player? If so, then Night Hoops by Carl Deuker is for you” (Marvin C. 2005).
“How fast can a boy become a man? Does it take violence, love, or adventure? Michael Cadnum gives the answer in The Book of the Lion, when 17-7ear-old Edmund ventures on a journey to the Crusades” (David S.
2003).
“What would you do if you were speeding down a highway and your father collapsed at the steering wheel> then what would you do if two men snatched you off the side of the road while you were calling for help?
Finally, what would you do if this all happened to you thousands of miles away from your home? All of this happens to Jackie in Three Days by Donna Jo Napoli” (Lauren M. 2004).
Quotation Leads (start with an interesting/relevant quote from the book):
“’I am a lion! No insanity, no nightmare, truth’, Says Orasmyn desperately to himself in Donna Jo Napoli's
Beast” (Ashly D. 2004).
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"’You can go to Siberia if you want. You won't find any trace of him there. If you follow the men in the expensive suits and cars, they will add you as a piece to their very misleading game. I've warned you, don't go to Siberia!’ These were the last words Annie and Haley hear from Bill before he mysteriously disappears in Gillian Corss' Phoning a Dead Man”(Evan B. 2005).
"’Far as I know’, said Evie, ‘there's no law against two females seeing each other.’ In Deliver us from Evie, by M.E. Kerr, Evie lives in a small farm town where everyone talks and everything gets around” (Jesse Z.
2002).
Action Leads (use action-packed verbs):
“Savage rats are attacking the town! In Paul Zindel's Rats, the town has to find a way to kill a half-billion rats and they only have so much time” (Jaryd E. 2003).
“Srulik was running as fast as he could from the German soldiers. He jumped into a potato field as the
Germans got out of their tank. In Run Boy Run by Uri Orlev, Srulik loses his family and joins a gang to escape from the Germans” (Elizabeth S. 2003).
“The ball whips through the air into Ryan's catcher's mitt from Josh Daniels, one of the fastest throwing pitchers in all the town. In Carl Deuker's Painting the Black, these two new friends meet in the summer and enter high school together” (Armand S. 2005).
“Hattie stumbles into the three-story boardinghouse where she and her family live. Silence creeps into her skin as she sits down in the squeaky wooden chair. In Ann M. Martin's A Corner of the Universe… “
(Mallory S. 2004).
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Reflective Leads (usually starts with “Imagine…”):
“Imagine living in a castle, living luxuriously and having people dote on you. Then imagine being captured by strange men who tie you up by your hands and feet and ride off with you into the night. These things happen to Marjorie de Brus in Girl in a Cage by Jane Yolen and Robert J. Harris” (Indigo S. 2004).
“Imagine living in a society where you are not allowed to leave town, say bad things about the government or speak a language other than English. This is what Leora Moran faces every day in Susan Butler's The Hermit
Thrush Sings” (Rebecca W. 2005).
"Imagine not being able to laugh. Imagine not having any friends. Imagine not coming home to the same house everyday. For Memphis Riley, a young girl abandoned by her father and sent to live with her hateful relatives, this is routine, in John Riley's Daughter by Kezi Matthews” (Gabrielle P. 2004).
* Wink, Lisa. "Re: English Journal aricle." E-mail to Kari Redmond. 5 Nov. 2008.
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"Catchy" Leads Pre-Writing Form
After our discussion of "Catchy leads" and my journal pre-writing on various leads for my book review, here are the final leads that I have chosen to best represent the various categories. (Circle the one that is most creative and "catchy".)
1. Traditional: ______________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
2. Question:_______________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
3. Quotation:_______________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
4. Action: _________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
5. Reflection:_______________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
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(cited from OWL at Purdue: How-to with quotation marks!)
Quoting Prose
Direct quotations are another person's exact words--either spoken or in print-incorporated into your own writing.



Use a set of quotation marks to enclose each direct quotation included in your writing.
Use a capital letter with the first word of a direct quotation of a whole sentence.
Do not use a capital letter with the first word of a direct quotation of part of a sentence.
If the quotation is interrupted and then continues in your sentence, do not capitalize the second part of the quotation.
Mr. and Mrs. Allen, owners of a 300-acre farm, said, "We refuse to use that pesticide because it might pollute the nearby wells."
Mr. and Mrs. Allen stated that they "refuse to use that pesticide" because of possible water pollution.
"He likes to talk about football," she said, "especially when the Super Bowl is coming up."
Indirect quotations are not exact words but rather rephrasings or summaries of another person's words. Do not use quotation marks for indirect quotations.
According to their statement to the local papers, the Allens refuse to use
28

pesticide because of potential water pollution.
Below are some further explanations and examples of how to integrate quoted prose into your own writing.
Quotation within a quotation
Use single quotation marks for a quotation enclosed inside another quotation. For example:
The agricultural reporter for the newspaper explained, "When I talked to the Allens last week, they said, 'We refuse to use that pesticide.' "
Omitted words in a quotation
If you leave words out of a quotation, use an ellipsis mark to indicate the omitted words.
If you need to insert something within a quotation, use a pair of brackets to enclose the addition. For example:
The welfare agency representative said, "We are unable to help every family that we'd like to help because we don't have the funds to do so."
The welfare agency representative said, "We are unable to help every family . . . because we don't have the funds to do so."
The welfare agency representative explained that they
29

are "unable to help every family that [they would] like to help."
Use a comma to introduce a quotation after a standard dialogue tag, a brief introductory phrase, or a dependent clause, for example, "He asked," "She stated," "According to
Bronson," or "As Shakespeare wrote." Use a colon to introduce a quotation after an independent clause.
As D. H. Nachas explains, "The gestures used for greeting others differ greatly from one culture to another."
D. H. Nachas explains cultural differences in greeting customs: "Touching is not a universal sign of greeting. While members of European cultures meet and shake hands as a gesture of greeting, members of Asian cultures bow to indicate respect."
Put commas and periods within closing quotation marks, except when a parenthetical reference follows the quotation.
He said, "I may forget your name, but I never remember a face."
History is stained with blood spilled in the name of "civilization."
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Mullen, criticizing the apparent inaction, writes, "Donahue's policy was to do nothing" (27).
Put colons and semicolons outside closing quotation marks.
Williams described the experiment as "a definitive step forward"; other scientists disagreed.
Benedetto emphasizes three elements of what she calls her "Olympic journey": family support, personal commitment, and great coaching.
Put a dash, question mark, or exclamation point within closing quotation marks when the punctuation applies to the quotation itself and outside when it applies to the whole sentence.
Philip asked, "Do you need this book?"
Does Dr. Lim always say to her students, "You must work harder"?
Sharon shouted enthusiastically, "We won! We won!"
I can't believe you actually like that song, "If You Wanna Be My Lover"!
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Slam
32

Reviewer_______________________________________________
Include this form with your book review portfolio.
1. Leads: I did __________ practice leads for my review. I think the one I chose is the best because:
_______________________________________________________________________________
Peer editors suggested I do these things with my draft:
_______________________________________________________________________________
2. Ideas & Organization: I have at least 3 paragraphs.
I have included all of the fundamental elements of a book review._______________
I only give a brief summary of the plot. _____________
I have a “catchy” lead. __________________
3. Conventions: I've proofread my final copy many times and corrected errors. _________
Peer editors (parents, too) have also proofread my final copy and marked (not corrected) errors. ________________
4. Presentation: I have the proper heading required for this project._________
I've typed my review in blue or black ink and in a 12-14 type size _____________
5. I've submitted my leads, drafts, and conference forms in my book review portfolio. ______________
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Atwell, Nancie. In the Middle: New Understanding About Writing, Reading, and Learning (Workshop
Series).
Chicago: Boynton/Cook, 1998.
Barcott, Bruce. "Off The Rez." New York Times 11 Nov. 2007. 17 Oct. 2008
<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/books/review/Barcott3t.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Off%20The%2
0Rez&st=cse&oref=slogin>.
Calkins, Lucy. The Art of Teaching Writing . Chicago: Heinemann, 1994.
Cooper, Charles R., and Lee Odell. Evaluating Writing: The Role of Teachers' Knowledge About Text,
Learning, and Culture.
Urbana, IL: National Council Of Teachers Of English, 1998.
Garner, Dwight. “Knocked Up.” New York Times 11 Nov. 2007. 5 Dec. 2008.
< http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/books/review/Garner-t.html?pagewanted=print>
Marinella, Sandi , Jonathan Tsui, and Lisa Winkler. "What Are Some Innovative Assignments for a Good
Start to a New Year?" English Journal 98.1 (2008): 26-28.
Romano, Tom. “Teaching Writing From the Inside” Adolescent Literacy: Turning Promise into Practice.
Ed. Kylene Beers & Robert E. Probst. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2007. Chaper 11.
“Quotation Marks Handout”. OWL at Purdue. Purdue University. 5 Dec. 2008.
< http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/grammar/g_quote.html
>
Wink, Lisa. "Re: English Journal aricle." E-mail to Kari Redmond. 5 Nov. 2008.
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