A.P. Book Report Form
Students in this class will be expected to read and report on 4 books during the course
of the year. The list of books provided has been selected based on literary merit.
In addition, students in this class will be expected to examine the novels beneath the
surface of the stories themselves, to look at the author’s intent and to discuss techniques
he or she uses to get his message across to the reader. Thinking skills will be
emphasized to better prepare students for future test and college level discussions. For
this reason, the following format will be used:
1. List the title and author at the top of the first page.
2. Write a 200-300 word summary that briefly covers the entire novel.
3. Select one of the following, and write about it in 300 words or more:
a. Some novels advocate changes in social or political attitudes or traditions.
Choose a particular attitude or tradition that you believe the author is trying to
modify. Then, expand on this by telling what the author does to influence the
reader’s views on the topic;
b. A critic has said that one important measure of a superior work of literature is its
ability to produce in the reader a healthy confusion of pleasure and disquietude.
Write an essay in which you explain the sources of pleasure and disquietude”
you found in the book and tell how you fell these combined to form healthy
confusion;
c. Write an essay in which you discuss how the author wants to present a specific
character in the novel, and show how he or she gets the reader to view the
character in a particular way. Be sure to include examples from at least two of
the following categories: description, dialogue, vocabulary, the structure of the
book, and choice of specific details.
Select only one of the last three options. You will be graded partially on the conclusions
you develop and partially on how well you support your findings. In the beginning of the
year, you will receive credit for effort, but after the first report your grade will also hinge
on the accuracy of your findings. You will also lose points for errors in spelling, usage,
mechanics, and sentence structure.
All reports must be typed and double-spaced.