Outside Reading Book Report

One-Pager for Independent Reading Book Report

1. A One-Pager is a single-page response to your reading of a poem, a novel, a chapter, or an essay. It is a way of making your own pattern of your understanding of a text. Consider it an opportunity to be creative and experimental as you demonstrate that you understand what you read. A one-pager forces you to express what counts concisely. 2. The purpose of a one-pager is to own what you are reading. We read differently when we know we are going to be doing something with the text. We learn best when we can create our own patterns. A One- pager connects the verbal and visual as well as connecting the text’s arguments with our own.

WHAT TO DO – (A MUST) 1. Clearly in large letters, place the title and author. 2. Be Creative- You may use different colored pens, pencils, magazine cutouts, glitter, stamps, or anything else you can think of. 3. If you use quotes from the book, be sure to include page numbers and quotation marks. 4. Put your name, date, and period on the back of the page.

WHAT TO DO – (Choose four of these options listed below. Typically you will be assigned one or more of these options and then may choose which ones you want to do for the remaining two or three boxes.) 1. Make a personal statement about what you have read. 2. Ask a question or two and answer them yourself. These should be thought provoking and open- ended. Not fact questions. 3. Give a plot summary of the text. 4. Compare and contrast two of the characters in the story. 5. Compare and contrast one character to yourself and your life. 6. Find a theme that runs through the book and clearly state it. Remember, a theme is not a one- word topic such as “friendship” or “war.” It is a general truth about life suggested by the text. For example, “Stick up for what you believe is right, even if it isn’t popular” is a theme a student found in Two Little Confederates. Then back that theme up with quotes from the text and explain the quotes. 7. Find a simile or a metaphor in the book, copy it down, and illustrate it. 8. Create your own simile or metaphor to describe the book or a character and explain it. 9. Pull out a meaningful quotation from the book and use it as a springboard to explore one of your own ideas. 10. Create a cluster around a dominant impression, feeling, or thought regarding what you have read. 11. Describe the main setting of the book in your own words: time, place, images, and weather. Paint a picture with words for the reader. Practice showing, not telling. Use vivid verbs. Create a mood for the reader. 12. Choose one or more characters from the book and find a quote that reveals something about that character indirectly. (Don’t use narrator’s statements. What do other characters say about that character? Do around him? What does the character do?) Explain what this passage reveals about the character. 13. Find a quote from the text that really stuck in your head and try to explain why it is so important or interesting. Why did it catch your attention? 14. Describe the key elements of this text’s genre and show how well this text fits into its genre. You’ll need to explain the defining characteristics of the genre and use evidence from the text.

Adapted from Wendy Lange’s work, 2003.