Choose one activity from each of the following sections:

SECTION ONE: RECORDING YOUR READING

1. BEST BOOKS GUIDE

Write an entry for this year’s ‘8^th Year Best Books Guide’, persuading shy readers that this is the book they've been waiting for all these years.

Make sure you include the title and the author’s name. Introduce the setting and the main characters and briefly tell the story. Say what you like (or dislike) about the story and why. Try to make your review lively and fun to read. You may find some of the following words useful:

or 2. STORY BOARD

You have to produce a story board of a film or television version of your book. Sketch the six most important moments of the story as dramatically as possible. Underneath put a brief quotation from the story or an explanation of what is happening.

or 3. HOW WIDE IS MY READING?

Do you only read one type of book? Do you need to extend your range? Make a copy of this list and see if you can fill it in, based on books you have read over the past year.

If there are gaps, try to fill them out next time you visit the library.

Adventure Fiction (Westerns, Spy Books, Crime Books, War Books, Children’s Adventures)

1. _____________________________________________________
2. _____________________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________________

Fiction About Relationships (Romance, Family Stories, People’s Problems)

1. _____________________________________________________
2. _____________________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________________

1. _____________________________________________________
2. _____________________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________________

Fantasy (Science Fiction, Ghost Stories, Magic Stories)

1. _____________________________________________________
2. _____________________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________________

1. _____________________________________________________
2. _____________________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________________

Historical Fiction (Stories set in the past)

1. _____________________________________________________
2. _____________________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________________

1. _____________________________________________________
2. _____________________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________________

SECTION TWO: TALKING AND PERFORMING

You have to interview a partner about their favourite book. Prepare questions about the plot, style, characters and special qualities of the book. Go into detail and get your partner to give details of most unusual characters, favourite moments in the story etc. When you have got the answers, write a newspaper article for the class on what you have found out.

or 2. PLAYSCRIPT

You can do this exercise by yourself but it is more fun if you and a partner agree in advance that you will read the same book together. When you have finished, you have to choose an episode from the book that you think will work well on radio. Write the script for this episode. Remember that the audience will not be able to see what’s happening, so they will have to work out who the characters are, where they are and what they are doing from what they say and the sound effects you use. When you write the script, put sound effects in square brackets, like this: [We hear footsteps on the gravel. An owl hoots} etc. Record it or perform it to the class.

or 2. REPORTING THE PLOT

You have to prepare a newspaper front page based on the most exciting or mysterious episodes in the story. Make it dramatic and set it out with headlines, sub-headings and pictures (if required). You may include letters and interviews if you wish.

or 3. RE-WRITING THE ENDING

Write an alternative ending and/or continue the story for another short chapter. Use your own ideas but try to catch the style of the book.

or 3. A BALLAD

Re-tell the story, or part of it, in the form of a ballad.

Choose your favourite character or one you find interesting or unusual. Write an in-depth interview with the character, probing his/her personality and motives for what he/she did.

or 2. A CHARACTER’S DIARY

Select a major event in the novel. Write the diary kept by the character during the episode. As the character, include your feelings and interpretation of events, and also your plans for the future.

or 3. WRITE A LETTER TO A CHARACTER

You write a letter to a character, asking them why they behaved as they did during the story and offering them advice for the future. The character writes a reply responding to your letter.

or 4. PROBLEM PAGE

Characters write to an agony aunt describing the problems they encounter during the story and asking for advice. You write the replies.

or 5. A CHANGING CHARACTER

For this exercise you need to work on one of the main characters of the book. Find bits of the book that give the best idea of what the character is like. Try to work out how the author makes you think what the character is like. It will be some of the following:

1. by telling you something about them e.g. "Sally liked fishing, especially when it was sunny."
2. By letting you guess what sort of person they are from what they do or say, e.g. "Saheel burst into the room shouting and throwing things around."
3. By what other characters say about him or her.

Talk about how the character changes throughout the book. Does the character become more wise, understanding, mature, happy, or sad? Use examples and quotations from the book to show how the character develops and changes.