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70 Book Report Ideas 1. A famous archaeologist wants to hire you for an expedtion to a distant island. You may choose one character from your book to go along. Since you will have to live on the island for about 3 months you want to select someone who will be a good companion and a good explorer. Tell what triats you would find in the character you have selected that make you want to take him/her along. 2. Compare and/or contrast yourself with one of the main characters from the book. 3. Compare the book to the TV or Movie version of the book. 4. Convert a book to a radio drama. Put it on cassette tape with sound effects and different voices etc. 5. Convert the plot into a ballad or song. Perform it. 6. Cook some foods mentioned in the book. Put together a cook booklet for the class. 7. Create a computer dating questionaire and fill it out for the main characters. 8. Design a newspaper based on the events of the book. 9. Design and make your own t-shirt to illustrate some aspect of the book. 10. Design costumes for the movie version of the book. Explain them. 11. Develop and present a puppet show about some important events in the story. 12. Do a dramatic reading of a scene in the book. 13. Do a take-off on the old tv program, “This is Your Life.“ 14. Educate a main character. What would your main character like to learn or need to learn? Describe this class and tell what you think the character would get out of it. What would he/she enjoy about it? Etc. Make it clear why you chose or created this class for this character. 15. Explain how one of the characters masculinity or feminity determine a decision they make in the story. 16. Fashion a mobile from items related to the story. 17. Find a critic’s review of the book. Photocopy it and then write a comparison of your thoughts with the critic’s. 18. Find an example of sex stereotyping in the book. Explain how it affects a character’s behavior. 19. Choose the astrological signs that best fit the main characters in your book. Give reasons for your choices by giving information about events in the book. If the book is non-fiction, or if the fictional character is given a birthday, give reasons why or why not the characters fit their sign. 20. Illustrate a number of important scenes in the book on overhead transparencies, PowerPoint or KidPix which you will use to tell the class the story of your book. 21. Impersonate a character and tell an episode in the book. 22. Interview a character from the book. 23. Invite one of the characters in your book to dinner. Tell him/her why you have selected them above the others. Leave a note for your mother describing the person and including a few “do’s and don’ts“ to follow so that your guest will feel right at home. 24. It is income tax time and you’re an accountant making out the forms for one of the characters in your book. Tell how he/she spent money last year. What events support your judgements. 25. Make a “wanted“ poster for several of the characters in the book. 26. Make a bulletin board for the book. 27. Make a list of 10 or 15 rules that the main character in the book lives by. Compare this to a list of rules that other people want him/her to live by. In what ways is he/she being forced to conform? In what ways is he/she rebelling. 28. Make a new book jacket for the book 29. Make a test based on the book. 30. Make a travel poster describing the location of the book‘s action. 31. Prepare a TV commercial about the book. 32. Prepare an article for a magazine called Supernatural and Great Mysteries. In the article describe some of the mysterious and unexplainible happenings in the book. (This will not work with all books) 33. Put together a cast for the film version of a book. Explain. 34. Put yourself in the place of the main character and describe how his or her life would have been different if you had been living it. 35. Read a scene with special effects. 36. Select a character from the book who appealed to you. Write a diary with at least one week‘s worth of entries that this person might have kept. Be sure it relates to the events in the book. 37. Shrink down the entire book into a narrative poem. See the book ShrinkLits (811/SAG) in the library for examples. 38. Tell what way this book has added to your life. What has it taught you? Did you discover anything about yourself or other people by reading this book? Be specific! 39. Transform the major characters in your book to animals. Decide upon an animal for each based upon personality traits. Write a letter to each telling why he/she is similar to the animal selected. 40. Turn your book into a soap opera. You can write the script or you can put it on tape as if it were designed for radio. 41. Use a collage to represent the mood of the book or its theme. 42. Use body masks and present a scene from the book. 43. Write a comic book version of your book. 44. Write a different ending for the book. 45. Write a character sketch of a person in the story. 46. Write a letter to a friend recommending the book. 47. Write a letter to a major character asking about specific thing they did in the book. Now, answer the letter by being the character. 48. Write a letter to the author. Check Current Biography or the publisher for an address. 49. Write a magazine article by the main character in your book entitled: “My Greatest Challenge“ 50. Write a parody of the book. 51. Write a passage as a “found“ poem. Find a particularly effective description or bit of action that is really poetry written as prose. Rewrite it to create a poem. (*Note* This will only work for some books) 52. Write a poem that would accompany or explain the story. 53. Write a promotion campaign for a movie about the book. 54. Write a short interview between you and a character in the book. Talk to the character about a moment in the story that you want to know more about. As you interview create answers for your character that reveal what your character thought, felt, did, and so on. Include information on why you choose this character to interview. 55. Write an episode of jeopardy based on the plot, setting, theme, character, etc. from the book. 56. Write an essay explaining why you would or wouldn’t like to live in the world portrayed in your book. Be specific. 57. Write another chapter or episode for the story. Add a character. 58. Write the diary a main character might have written. 59. Write the story from a different point of view. 60. You are a fortune teller and have been asked to predict what each of the characters in your book will be doing ten years after the story ends. Be sure to explain why you feel this will happen. 61. You are a psychiatrist; keep a log of five sessions with the major character. Be sure to include information about what the character really did in the book. 62. You are planning a party with a theme based on your novel. Describe your ideas, invitations and decorations as well as food and entertianment. If you‘re ambitious make samples of the invitations. Explain what the theme is and which characters you will invite. If you have a costume party, describe the costumes of the characters. Be sure to explain why and how this theme relates to the book. 63. You can give a gift to a character of your choice and you have as much money as you need. Tell what the gift you would buy would buy and why it would be appreciated. 64. You have been asked by one of the main people in your book to write a letter of recommendation for him/her for a college admissions committee. Describe good and bad points as honestly as possible. 65. You have been asked by the chairman of your political party to nominate some of the characters for high government positions. Tell which one would make the best president, governor, judge and ambassador. Explain the reasons for your choices and don’t take age into consideration. If some are unfit for any offices, explain why. 66. You have just been informed that every character in your book has a fatal disease. You are a doctor who has some medication that will ease the pain of only one of them. Which one would you choose to help and why? 67. You have just completed a “time tunnel“ that can transport one of your characters to another era. You have the power to select the period in history. Tell how the person would or wouldn’t adapt to that time. 68. You‘re out with the main characters from your book at a Chinese restaurant . On this night the forune cookies are amazingly appropriate. Describe each character in terms of personality as developed in the book and tell what his/her fortune cookie said and why it’s fitting. Don’t forget to include yourself. 69. You’re a real estate agent and want to sell a family house in the nieghborhood in which your book takes place. As part of the job, you must inform your clients about the community, the kinds of people living there, the existing organizations, the types of jobs available and the schools. Make your description brief and to the point or you may lose the interest of the clients. 70. Create a passport and travel-log for the main character in the book. Reprinted from Strenthening Your School Library Program: Practical, Innovative, Cost-Effective Ideas (Grades 6-12) by Patti Tjomsland, 2003
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