English 10D—Fall 2015
Book Review Assignment
As we have been studying short stories and the elements of storytelling, each of you
has been reading a choice fiction book outside of class. As we look to wrap up our
first unit, I would like each of you to reflect on the book you read outside of class in
the form of a book review.
Formal book reviews are an interesting genre, in that they are both analytic and
conversational in tone. As a writer, you are analyzing a text much as you would in a
formal paper (examining setting, character, conflict, etc), however you are doing so
in a more conversational tone (you can employ first-person and second person in a
review), and with your overall purpose for writing to recommend (or not
recommend) the book you are reviewing. Therefore, your personal opinion does
factor into your writing. However, this opinion should be grounded in thoughtful
analysis.
A book review should include:

Title, Author, and publication information

Interesting attention-getter and introduction to create curiosity and interest in
your book.

A brief summary—enough to give the reader an idea of what the book is about,
but not a re-telling of the whole plot. Within this summary should be a
description of the setting, main characters and general conflicts.

2-4 major ideas or topics you feel are important to address and inform the reader
about, as well as your assessment of them. It is within this portion of the paper
you will apply your analytic skills in examining how these topics are present in
the book, and what the author seems to be trying to explore through characters,
conflict, and other elements of literature and storytelling. A good way to keep
yourself organized is to make each major idea or topic its own paragraph (or
paragraphs).

A thoughtful conclusion, which wraps up your thoughts and gives your final,
overall assessment of the book.
This review should be typed, single-spaced using 12 point Times New Roman font,
and should be 1-2 pages in length.
Due Date: Friday, September 18
English 10D—Fall 2015
Book Review Assignment
Writing Tips
Before writing, identify 2-4 major topics you feel are important to address and
inform the reader about, this will help you to structure your writing and organize
your thoughts.
Example: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
Major Ideas and Topics:
 Motherhood
 Self-discovery
 1960s
 Female bonds and friendship
Example:
Throughout The Secret Life of Bees, Lily is looking for her mother. This
manifests itself most literally in her travels to Tiburon, where she searches for any
place her mother might have been, to Lily’s desperate attempts to recollect the
limited memories her mother has left behind. Of course, her mother cannot be
physically found, nor can Lily’s fragmented memories be put back together with any
kind of factual authenticity—any time she receives information, she must question
the reliability of the source. Through this inability to resurrect her mother or her
mother’s memory, Lily must ultimately find the maternal care she craves in the
people and stories around her. This most notably occurs with her connection to
August Boatwright, and the religion of the honey sisters and Our Lady of Chains.
On the surface, it is this desperate search for her mother that drives Lily.
However, as the book goes on, it becomes clear Lily is also desperately searching for
herself. It is this search that gives the book its interest. Certainly the mystery of
Lily’s mother is interesting, but it is the empathetic connection we feel as Lily tries
to understand who she is that keeps the reader going. Lily is a character with faults,
some she realizes (at one point Lily admits that until meeting August, she had
wrongly assumed she was naturally more intelligent than a person of color), others
she remains oblivious of. However, this helps to make the book true to life: even
after drastic self-discovery, we are never developed in to perfect human beings
without flaws.
Book review tips and guidelines adapted from:
http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/bookrev/index.htm