SIX WORD BOOK REPORTS ON TWEEN BOOKS, 2009

Here is an alternative to the traditional book report favored by many teachers. There are many ways to use this activity.  For example, you could write the "report" and remove the title and have readers try to guess the name of the book (good for contests);  alternatively, you could have the readers write their reports and post them on index cards as shelf talkers; or  you could use these as rapid-fire booktalks or in quick and dirty annotations.

After Tupac and D Foster  by Jacqueline Woodson

Three friends grow up with rap.

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

New country, new culture, no words.

Bird by Zetta Elliott

Brother’s bad choices make life bittersweet.

Bodies from the Ice by James Deem

It’s amazing what’s hidden in glaciers!

Brett McCarthy:  Work in Progress by Maria Padian

On outs with friends, now what?

The Brother’s War by J. Patrick Lewis

Poems, photos, bring Civil War alive.

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

Who’ll free the slaves?  Loyalists?  Revolutionaries?

Coraline Graphic Novel by Neil Gaiman

Seen the movie?  Read the book!

Frogs by Nic Bishop

Not just little green croaking hoppers.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Well-adjusted kid raised by the dead.

How I Learned Geography by Uli Schulevitz

Learning, not food, fills you up.

Keeping the Night Watch by Anita Hope Smith

Dad comes back, everything not fine.

Lincoln Shot  by Barry Dennenberg

Lincoln’s life in a newspaper format.

Into the Volcano by Don Wood

Mom disappears, adventurous kids seek her.

Posted by Fran Jackson

It took two weeks to figure out one.

AIRBORN by Kenneth Oppel

Pirates, zeppelins adventure in the sky.