The Lost Art Of The Book Report
As an educator and professional writer I have taken on a diverse range of challenging projects during my career. I have written technical manuals, persuasive essays, congratulatory speeches, short stories and other projects too numerous to mention. Looking back over my writing experiences I was surprised to find that the hardest projects take on were book reviews.
Anyone who is into reading has seen a lousy book review. The worst ones are simply book summaries. Whether they are paid editorials from a publisher or the writer is simply lazy, all they do is simply tell what happens in the book. What I’m looking for a book review is more than just facts. I want to be tantalised with the experience of picking of this book and reading it cover to cover. What emotions am I going to go through? What are the high points of the plotline? And if it is a bad book, where has the author failed to genuinely entertain his reader? Too often though we simply get a sanitised version of the book. Although it is easier to write this style of book review, it is sloppy writing.
When I teach my introductory composition classes, people often look for book summaries. Although few of my students are dishonest enough to use downloadable book reports from the Internet, many of them wants an aid to help them understand the book. I used to think that this was just laziness, but now I see what’s really going on. A lot of our children are not really learning to read like competent adults. Rather than digesting and evaluating a book themselves, they look to a book review or summary to tell them what it is about. They don’t really have the critical skills to trust their own judgment, and they don’t know how to ask questions.
With this in mind, I usually give a few easy assignments at the beginning of my writing class. I don’t ask them to write a book review or a book report, a creative essay or an original work of fiction. I simply asked them to react to what they have read. The only rule is that they are not allowed to discuss the book with others or use outside sources.
The whole point of this exercise is to loosen them up as writers. Later on, I have them read book reviews to understand how critics approach books, but in the beginning I want them to gain some confidence in their own abilities. Most of them find out once they learn how to open up a little bit that they understand books better than they thought. This is the first step towards becoming a good reader and a good writer.
Mass Effect 2 – Official Art Book [HD] 1080p
