A Different Kind of Book Report

We're all familiar with the book report--a standard tool in Language Arts classes to learn how to analyze text. But how about not doing that in standard essay format?

Our 5th/6th graders got to mix it up recently. They were allowed to self-select a novel and choose from 24 different "not-so-typical" book report templates. Some examples:

• Create Your Own Cereal Box: Come up with a cereal name and design a cereal box that tells all about the characters, plot, and setting of the story. In addition, create a brief commercial to advertise your cereal; 

• Design a Game: Use various aspects of your novel to design a game involving cards, spinners, and/or dice, as well as a playing board and game directions;

• Interview a Character: Impersonate one of the main characters in your book and come up with questions and detailed responses for an interview.
• Create a Travel Brochure: Highlight the various attractions and reasons to visit one of the settings of your novel. 

• Diary Entries: Write a diary from the perspective of a character as if you were writing a biography or autobiography.  

Overall, the students enjoyed the opportunity to have the freedom to both select their book, but also the projects they wanted to complete in order to show their comprehension and appreciation for the novel they chose.