Wednesday, September 3, 2008

A New Kind of Book Review

For my young adult lit class this semester (in my MLS degree) I have to read 10 YA novels and then answer one of the 10 "Peck Questions" for each one. It's not a book review really, but I have done two of them and it's helped me sort of think of them in a new way. Here are the questions:

1. What would this story be like if the main character were of the opposite sex? (Works well with a first person point of view novel.)

2. Why is the story set where it is (not what is the setting)?
(Works well with a historical fiction novel or one with a unique geographical setting.)

3. If you were to film this story, which characters would you eliminate if you couldn’t use them all? (Works well with a novel with multiple secondary characters.)

4.Would you film this story in black and white, color, or a combination? (Works well with novels that include flashbacks or foreshadowing.)

5. How is the main character different from you? (Works well if you are very much alike or different – compare yourself as a teen, not as an adult.)

6. Why or why wouldn’t this story make a good TV series? (Works well with episodic novels or books with sequels.)

7. What is one thing in this story that has happened to you? (Either now as an adult, or when you were the protagonist’s age.)

8. Reread the first paragraph of chapter one. What’s in it that made you read on? (Works well with a book that hooked you right away. Make sure you are referring to the first paragraph and not the cover, first chapter, etc.)

9. If you designed a new cover for this book, what would it look like? (Works well for one with a cover you don’t like. Don’t forget to describe what the old cover looks like and why you don’t like it.)

10. What does the title tell you about the book? Does it tell the truth? (Works well with titles that are a play on words.)

Anyway, so if you see posts done this way it's cause it was a book for my class and I only have so much time to review. :)

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