Final Post

In your final post, you may choose from the following two questions:

1. What are your three favorite things about your book?

2. If you were directing a film version of your book, who would you cast to play in it and why? (You may not use people who were already in a film or television version of the book)

Whichever question you choose to answer should be answered using complete sentences and should be written in paragraph form.

Week 4

Please choose one of the following quotes and respond to it in two fully developed, edited paragraphs. In the first paragraph, explain what you think the speaker means. In the second, explain how the quote relates to the book you are currently reading.

“Good literature substitutes for experience which we have not ourselves lived
through.” – Alexander Solzhenitsyn

"The best of a book is not the thought which it contains, but the thought which it suggests; just as the charm of music dwells not in the tones but in the echoes of our hearts." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

This is due before school starts on Monday, May 3rd, 2010.

Week 3

Frequently, passages in novels remind us other things in our lives - experiences we have had, movies we have seen, stories we have read. Some passages, especially more emotionally charged ones may remind us of songs we have heard. Sometimes even the opposite is true, and songs remind us of books we have read (Ex: Stay Gold, Ponyboy).

Your task for this week is to come up with a list of at least four songs that could be on the soundtrack for your book. Each song might represent a certain character, or perhaps just the perfect tune to play during a particular scene. Go crazy, but make sure they are school appropriate. Feel free to choose more than four songs.

List your four songs with both title and artist, and explain why each song should be on the soundtrack for your book. You may NOT use a song that was on a soundtrack for a film version of your book. Good luck!

Week 2

Please respond to the following quote in two fully developed, edited paragraphs. In the first paragraph, explain what you think the speaker means. In the second, explain how the quote relates to the book you are currently reading.

“Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.” - C. S. Lewis

This is due before school starts on Monday, April 19th, 2010.

Until Next Week

English classes,

I'm going to be out of the building for the next two days. I will be at a conference, and on Friday I will be attending the state Geography Bee (good luck, Matt!). While I'm gone I will still be checking up on your blogs. Feel free to post any questions you might have for me as comments here on my page. You are also welcome to email me if you have a question that you don't want everyone to see.

If you finish a book, just check out another one, but make sure to let the sub (and/or me) know what book you took and where the book originally came from (Mrs. Weaver, the MS lib., the HS lib., or Me.).

I'm sure you'll all have a great time with Mrs. Peskuric and Mrs. Milligan. Happy reading, and have a great weekend!

Week 1

Welcome to our Spring Independent Reading Unit. Please make sure to read the guidelines and rubric carefully before blogging.

The following are the questions for this week. These questions must be answered in a blog post by the time school starts on Monday, April 12th.

Questions:

1. What book did you choose, and why did you choose it?

2. What about this book do you think will challenge you? How will you deal with that challenge?

Remember, you can write as many blog posts about your book as you would like, as long as you have one post that answers my questions. Things you can write about include:

• questions you have
• things you really like
• things you really hate
• quotes that you like/hate/love/are inspired by
• favorite scenes
• favorite characters
• plot
• why the author made a specific decision
• things you don't understand

Have fun choosing your book!