Today, we introduced the book review assignment, now that we have finished reading and exploring Kathryn Erskine's The Absolute Value of Mike.
Here is a link to the actual assignment, which we read through and debriefed in class today.
You'll notice that is is actually a brief writing assignment--only a single typed page! However, sometimes it is actually more difficult to write a powerful, clear single page than to write five vague ones!
We discussed the differences between informal writing (such as our Quick Write journals and our short story assignment) and formal writing (such as this book review and any thesis essay). Here is a picture of the notes from our board:
As we work though this essay, some other materials we will use are: this model of a book review from The New York Times (by reviewer Gary D. Schmidt); and here is a graphic organizer that we will use for our middle, body, paragraph.
Our word for the day today is OBLITERATE, which is a verb that means to destroy.
For homework tonight, write a rough draft of your intro paragraph to this book review assignment. Don't worry just yet about making it great! This is a first draft--so we are just aiming to have an argument for our essays.
Some examples of a thesis statement that we created in class are:
EX.1. Mike and Poppy learn to have a great relationship in the novel, The Absolute Value of Mike by Kathryn Erskine.
EX.2. James Frost is a good and effective father in the novel, The Absolute Value of Mike by Kathryn Erskine.
EX.3. This book is great because it teaches a number of powerful life lessons.
These are examples of strong thesis statements. But don't use these. Forge your own in a paragraph tonight!
Peace,
Mr. R
