SOURCE: adapted from AMOROSO, Mary by PERRY, Matthew. LPCI, Toronto.

HHS4M: Individuals and Families in a Diverse Society

Book Report Assignment

Your assignment is to read a book (fiction or non-fiction) that is related to family life. You may choose a book from this time period or from another era, preferably from a cultural background or family situation different from your own. Please note that people’s memoirs are often an interesting choice for a reading selection. You may not use any book that you are using or have studied or used for an assignment in another high school course.

You will be asked to present both an oral and a written book report to the class based on your reading selection on .

Two students may report on the same book but may not collaborate on the written report.

Requirements of the Written Report:

1. Indicate the title of the book and the author. A series of short stories is not ideal for this assignment.
2. Give a brief synopsis of the plot and of the setting (time and place), the pivotal incident of the story (if there is one) and the central conflict. It is preferable not to reveal too much about the climax and the ending.
3. Give a critique of the book by evaluating the following:
1. The effectiveness of the author’s treatment of two or three aspects of the book such as character development or dialogue, plot, depiction of culture or time period or political or social setting.
2. The effectiveness of the portrayal of family relations. How or why?
3. You may wish to include your assessment of other reviewer’s comments about this work.
4. You should include specific quotes from the text of your book to buttress your arguments.
5. If the work is non-fiction, assess elements such as the author’s research or clarity of text or choice of incidents and information transmitted and once again, you may assess an editorial review of the book.
4. The report should begin and end in an academic fashion (formal introduction and conclusion).
5. All notes from various sources consulted must be handed in with the report.

Oral Report:

On the due date of the written presentation the teacher will put together groups of two or three students to prepare a discussion of their books for presentation to the class. The discussion may take many forms:

· A “Canada Reads” format in which presenters discuss which books should win the honour of being on a list of “Best Families book of the Year” OR

· An imaginary pre-publication discussion in which publishers decide if the story submitted is worth publishing OR

· Authors come and read excerpts and answer questions regarding their book in the hopes of being well reviewed.

Book Report: Group oral presentation

Names of group members and titles of books discussed:

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Criteria	Level 1 L M H	Level 2 L M H	Level 3 L M H	Level 4 L M H
Link between books is clearly established and presented	Consistently lacking in clarity, inarticulate	Sometimes lacking in clarity, inarticulate	Sometimes clear and articulate	Consistently clear and articulate
Comments regarding books are credible, supported by specific examples.	Frequently lacks credible, specific examples	Sometimes lacks credible, specific examples	Some credible, specific examples	Consistent credible, specific examples
Presentation roles are distributed so that all participants make comments	Very unequal distribution	Somewhat unequal distribution	Reasonable equitable distribution	Very equitable distribution
Presentation skills: Volume, speed, diction, talking not reading	Consistently weak	Inconsistently weak	Inconsistently strong	Consistently strong
Introduction: compelling, indicates focus and point of view	No introduction	Weak, lacks focus and point of view	Compelling, some focus, point of view	Very compelling, strong focus, point of view
Conclusion	No conclusion	Weak, lacks focus, point of view	Memorable, some focus, point of view	Very memorable, strong focus, point of view

Criteria	Level 1 L M H	Level 2 L M H	Level 3 L M H	Level 4 L M H
Plot synopsis organized, coherent, exhibits clear sense of audience and purpose	Synopsis shows little organization and is incoherent, little evidence of sense of audience or purpose	Synopsis lacks some organization and coherence, sense of audience and purpose is sometimes unclear	Organized and mostly coherent, with a generally clear sense of audience and purpose.	Effectively and efficiently organized, very clear sense of audience and purpose
Plot synopsis: key elements such as setting, main characters, pivotal incident and central conflict are included	Some elements of synopsis are not present	Most elements of synopsis are present	All elements of plot synopsis are present	All elements of plot synopsis are present and creatively presented.
Assessement: two insightful arguments backed by direct quotes from the book or from other sources regarding one of character development, plot, culture, political or social setting	Less than two arguments presented with little insight; no support through quotes from the book or other sources; does not address one of the stated criteria	Two arguments presented with some insight, some evidence of support with quotation dealing with one of the stated criteria	Two arguments presented with evidence of insight supported with direct quotes from book or other source regarding one of the stated criteria	Two arguments presented with evidence of creative insight with direct quotes from source regarding one (or more) of the stated criteria.
Introduction: Strong academic introduction with 3 elements includes title and author	Introduction is missing, or lacks all three elements; does not include at least one of author or title.	Introduction is weak, with all three elements, includes title and author	Introduction is effective and includes three elements, as well as author and title.	Introduction is strong and effective and creatively incorporates three elements, title and author.
Conclusion: Strong academic conclusion with three elements	Conclusion is missing, or weak and does not include three elements	Conclusion is weak and includes at least two of three elements	Conclusion is effective, with three elements	Conclusion is strong, creative and includes three elements.
Language: Appropriate vocabulary, syntax, spelling paragraphing	Vocabulary is inappropriate, limited vocabulary and more than 10 syntax, spelling and paragraphing errors.	Vocabulary is appropriate, vocabulary is limited, more than 5-10 syntax, spelling and paragraphing errors.	Vocabulary is appropriate with good vocabulary and fewer than five syntax, spelling or paragraphing errors.	Vocabulary is appropriate and creative, with fewer than 2 syntax, spelling or paragraphing errors.
All criteria submitted	Three criteria missing	1-2 criteria missing	No criteria missing	All criteria are creatively presented