Bringing Something to the Table: Book Club Assignment (100 Points)

Over the next four weeks, you will be reading a book with a group of your peers. You will be responsible for “leading” your book group’s discussion of a particular section of the book. In order to do this, you need to “bring to the table” the following:

1. One personal response ice-breaker question related in some way to the reading. You will structure this question in the following way: start the question with an observation/specific detail from the book and then pose a personal question off of it; for example, in Catcher in the Rye, Holden discovers that someone has written the “F” word on a staircase of his sister’s school. You might ask the personal response question, do you remember the first time you discovered a “bad word”? What happened? How did you feel?

2. A list of five to ten factual questions, a few of which should be stumpers. Don’t worry, you won’t be quizzing your group-mates (I’ve created quizzes for them) but will use these questions to review the factual goings-on of your section of the book.

3. Three interpretive questions based on specific quotations/details from your section of the book that you found revealing, strange, seemingly insignificant, affecting, and/or repeated/patterned.

4. A beautifully written S.Q.U.A.A.T. paragraph on a detail or literary element used in the section you are presenting on followed by a paragraph in which you connect your analysis to a paraphrased idea about the book from a reputable source. (Please include an MLA citation)

5. Food (optional but highly recommended). There is a reason why almost all book clubs are connected to some kind of meal. One of the best ways to make everyone comfortable is to get them eating! Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut City of Thieves by David Benioff The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger The Road by Cormac McCarthy 1-page response work SQUAAT and SOURCE WORK paragraphs Out of 3 Set-up Evidence is set up with exposition into where it takes place and what comes before/after it. Argues for relevance/importance of detail. Quotation Just the right amount of the text is quoted. Quotation is set up properly. Parenthetical reference tells us the page number. Understanding Re-explains the quotation clearly and, when appropriate, names the literary device being used in the quotation. For experts, drafts compelling restatement. Analytical Smooth Offers a way of looking at the Move # 1 (may be evidence that is new and non-obvious. more than one sentence) Analytical Smooth Offers a way of looking at the Move # 2 (may be evidence that is new and non-obvious. more than one Connects this move to the move sentence) before. Tie-Back Proposes how this evidence is related to a larger idea the author seems to be exploring in the text. Transition Uses a recursive transition to begin the source paragraph, carefully connecting the detail analysis to the idea being considered by the source. Source Set-up Sets up source’s ethos (or lack thereof) using a non-restrictive element. Source Summary In one great sentence summarizes the major idea(s) of the source’s essay. Source Paraphrase Chooses one particularly interesting section (1 sentence or more), quotes it, and then paraphrases it. Source Extension Gives a new example from your section of the reading that fits with/adds on to/complicates the source’s ideas. OR Connects the detail you squaated for to the source’s ideas.