Although all the literature we read in school is
interesting, educational, and well-known, it can also be a tad bit dated. Do
not get me wrong, some of my FAVORITE books are great works like Of Mice and Men, The Catcher in the Rye and
To Kill a Mockingbird, however I have
also found amazing books on the “new release” shelves of my bookstore and
library! Lucky for us, the Young Adult
Library Services Association publishes lists of the “Best Fiction for Young
Adults” every year. According to YALSA,
“Each year, YALSA
presents the Best Fiction for Young Adults list after ALA's Midwinter Meeting.
This year’s list of 112 books was drawn from 211 official nominations. The
books, recommended for ages 12-18, meet the criteria of both good quality
literature and appealing reading for teens. The list comprises a wide range of
genres and styles, including contemporary realistic fiction, fantasy, horror,
historical fiction and novels in verse. In addition to the full list, the Best
Fiction for Young Adults committee also created a Top Ten list of titles from the final list,
denoted here by an asterisk. “The members of the Best Fiction for Young Adults
committee worked countless hours, reading, discussing and finally selecting the
2012 list. Many members of the committee read more than 400 books over
the past year, searching for the best titles for teens, “said Chair Patti
Tjomsland. “The resulting list represents exceptional teen literature
from a variety of genres that will appeal to teen readers”. The link to this
list is available on our class blog (www.reganenglish.blogspot.com). You will be reading, analyzing and evaluating current
literature and then deciding on if it should be added to our ninth grade
reading lists for upcoming school years.
Your Assignment:
·
Pick ONE book off the list from 2010, 2011, or 2012. Submit the “Book
Choice” sheet to Mrs. Regan by _____________. This sheet is worth 10 points towards your
total project score.
·
Read your book! I will be posting questions for you to respond to on the
class blog two times per week for the 3 week duration of this project. Each
response will be worth 6 points for a total of 36 points. 4 additional points
can be earned by responding to classmates post twice. (2 points per response).
Spelling, usage and punctuation count for your blog posts!
·
Create a campaign to have your book added to the list!
o
This campaign must include a poster (on a large piece of poster board!)
giving at least 4 clear and concise reasons why this book should be added.
o
Your poster should offer a place for a teacher, student or administrator to
go to get more information. You may want to direct people to an online resource
to buy the book (amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com), your local library’s website
(public or school), the author’s website, etc.
o
You must create an original book cover to display on the poster. On the
back of your poster, you must write a 5-7 sentence paragraph explaining why you
chose to represent your book this way.
o
The poster also must include one quote from the book.
o
You must write and deliver a 3-5 minute speech for your classmates to
convince your classmates that this book should be read during the 9th
grade year in English classes. Your speech should include a brief summary of
the book, the reasons why it is important to the lives of teenagers and your
personal reasons for recommending the book. In addition, you should tell the
class how the book would fit into the Humanities Program at MHS. We will discuss public speaking skills in
class!
This portion of the project is worth 50 points. (20 points= speech, 30
points = posters)
Extra Credit (20 points)- Create a book review blog post for the class blog about your book.
Your post should include a summary, your review and thoughts on the book. This
post needs to be emailed to me so I can copy and paste it into the blog. If you
have any clip art that you would like included in your blog post, please see me
because my email will not accepted attached photos. If you “happen” to have a
real life photograph of you reading the book, that may be fun to include in the
blog, too! Mrs. Regan will photograph your poster to be posted with your blog
post.
Campaign Poster due date: 12/19
Date of speech:12/19, 20, 21
*If you happen to be absent the day of your speech, you should be prepared
the day you return to give your speech.
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