Introduction
Matt Christopher is a children's book author. Writers offer their
readers informative, exciting and adventurous stories. But what do we
really know about authors? Imagine that you are interviewing your favorite
author and you want to know everything there is to know about them.
Research their background, read their books and show what you have discovered.
Task
The task for this activity is to find
out information about an children author's life and the books that author has
written. First research a writer's life and document the information on a
graphic organizer. Then choose a fiction book written by your chosen
author, read that book and then write a critical book review of that book.
Once you have all the information needed, you will make a visual presentation
for the class about the author's life and their work.
Process
1. Become a Detective.
Find out all the information that you can about your
favorite author. Things like when they were born/died, what is their
family like, titles of their books and 3 facts that you find interesting about
the author's life. You may use the Library's biography collection and/or
visit the following Internet sites for more information.
2. Record Your Information.
Use the graphic organizer to record your data.
A picture would
be a nice addition to your project. Xerox one from a book or print one
from the Internet.
3. Choose a Book. Book reviews are
important for prospective readers. These evaluations
tell people whether the book was great and everyone should read them OR
it tells readers that this story is not as good as it could be - try another
book. Go to the following websites and read about writing critical book
reports.
4. Write a Book Review. Go to our Media
Center and read a book written by your chosen author. After reading your
book, write a book review that explains exactly how you feel about the book you
read. Use the book review form to organize your thoughts.
5. Create a Visual Presentation.
Making
a visual presentation is a person's way of giving information and expressing
viewpoints held by the creator of the presentation. Below are listed some
websites for making visual projects. Look over these suggestions and use
one of them to create a visual presentation about the life of your chosen author
and their works. You may use your book reviews to help convey your
approval or improvement suggestions of the author's work.
6. Present your information to the
class. By showing the class what you think about an author, you
will give other students a critical basis for choosing an author's work.
Evaluation
Your
evaluation will be based on three rubrics. One for the book graphic
organizer, one for the book review, and one for the visual presentation.
The three scores will be averaged together and that will be your final
grade. Good Luck and "Go Forth to Research, READ and enjoy!"
Resources
Print the Graphic Organizer
Print the Book Review Form
Print the Rubrics
- Graphic Organizer
Book Review
Visual Presentation
Use
these sites for information about authors:
http://www.childrenslit.com/f_mai.htm
- Meet Authors and Illustrators
http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/askauthor/Biographies.html
- The Internet Public Library – Author Page
http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/authorname.html
- Children’s Author’s Birthdays
Use
these sites for information about writing a book review.
http://www.pwcs.edu/pattie/admin/howtodoabookreview.htm
- How to write a book review.
http://www.geocities.com/~kidsanddogs/bkreports2.html
- How To Write a Book Report
http://www.infoplease.com/homework/wsbookreportelem.html
- How to Write a Book Report:Upper
Elementary School level
Use
these sites to help you create a visual presentation for your information.
http://abcbabysit.com/projects/dioramas.htm
- How to create a diorama.
http://www.vigoco.k12.in.us/~fuqael/coolproj/cereal.htm
- How to make a cereal box report.
http://www.kidsdomain.com/craft/folder.html
- How to make trading cards.
http://www.aaronshep.com/rt/Tips1.html
- How to write a Reader’s Theater script.
http://www.planet.eon.net/~bplaroch/indexb.html -
Young Author’s Workshop
Book
Resources:
More Alternatives to Worksheets by Hiatt, Catherine, Doug Wolven, Gwen Botka,
and Jennifer Richmond. Creative Teaching Press, Inc., Cypress, CA 90630.
1994
Meet the Authors and Illustrators by Kovacs, Deborah and James Preller. Scholastic Professional Books, New York. 1991.
Individual author biographies and fiction books written by selected authors in school library collections.