If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period

Short Paper Book Review: The short paper assignment is designed to maximize the literary evaluation skills necessary to understand and teach literature to children. In this paper you will be examining a work of children's literature in-depth. You will choose a work of children's literature (JK-grade 6) it can be a picture book, novel or a graphic novel. Read the text and examine it closely, for example you could do any of the following: -Determine and describe the plot-what type of plot is it, how is it developed, etc. -Analyze the work's characterizations-how are the characters portrayed -Assess the work's setting- is it appropriate to the intent if the text; what role does the setting play in the story -What is the theme of the story-how is it developed -Determine elements of the author's style-how does it augment the telling of the story (if it does in fact augment the telling) -What point of view is the story written in-how does it affect the story? -How do the illustrations influence the telling of the story? -Developmental elements that exist in the story -Determine ways in which the book addresses developmental skills -How might it promote language, cognitive, personality and social development, citing examples from the text? -What issues does the work address? Does it remind you of other texts you have read, can you compare them -Draw some overall conclusions about the work of literature -Critique its quality as a source of entertainment, education etc. **-Use research and references to formulate these conclusions** The above are basic guidelines to follow; the above questions are examples only. They are not the only questions you should be asking while reading your text and it is not likely that you can address all of these in one paper. The book you choose will help determine the kind of paper you write; from there you will choose the focus of your paper. This paper should be an in-depth analysis of a work of children's literature; treat it as you would a work of literature for adults. Be very careful not to give me a book report full of only factual information. Describing the book is not as important as analyzing it. Ask insightful and probing questions of the text-as we have done in class and as exemplified by the textbook-“A celebration of Literature and Response” 3rd edition by Marjorie R. Hancock Research the text you have chosen; look for book reviews on it- use these resources to support your reading of the text. Try hard to find reviews or articles on your book they can be really helpful when writing this kind of paper. Use the reviews like any other outside source; cite information that is helpful, or compelling or in your opinion ridiculous. However, it is very possible that you will not be able to find reviews on your book so you should look for other types of academic sources; for example, a book with a theme on discrimination could be augmented by sources on dealing with the issue of discrimination in the classroom or the psychological effects of discrimination on young children. Make certain you cite the text and any outside sources to strengthen your paper and remember to use APA format. Length: The dreaded question…how long does it have to be? It is a short paper, which to me means about four pages in length. Also you should incorporate at least three sources. Should you not have access to the textbook mentioned above, give me the info you are looking for and I can scan the appropriate chapter(s). Try to refer to Dr. Rosenblatt's reader response theory, when you figure out where you would like to go I can scan the appropriate chapters if you do not have access to the text book I listed in the description. You may choose a book which you have access to, however I would appreciate it if the book came from the contemporary realistic fiction genre. Also, I would appreciate it if you stuck to the genre of contemporary realistic fiction If you would like suggestions of books, please just ask me. Please make sure you follow the above exactly!!! Thanks, Sabrina