100 Things to do with Books
THE CHARACTERS
Discuss how the main character is
like or unlike people you know.
THE CHARACTERS
Pretend you're one character and
introduce the other characters to your class.
THE CHARACTERS
As an interior decorator, how would
you decorate a character's bedroom and why?
THE CHARACTERS
Invite one character to dinner and
write a note of explanation to your mother.
THE CHARACTERS
Invite three celebrities to a party
for the main character and explain your choice.
THE CHARACTERS
Write a page about a character beginning
with the sentence: "I was (any verb) by ..."
THE CHARACTERS
Make a time line of the events in
the life of the main character.
THE CHARACTERS
Write a chronology for one character.
THE CHARACTERS
Make up five interview questions
(with answers) for the main character.
THE CHARACTERS
Explain where you think the main
character will die.
THE CHARACTERS
For a film of your book, which actress
would you choose for the leading female and why?
THE CHARACTERS
For a film of your book, which actor
would you choose for the leading male and why?
THE CHARACTERS
Explain what the main character would
prefer for Christmas and why?
THE CHARACTERS
Explain where the main character
would prefer to vacation and why.
THE CHARACTERS
Explain what the main character would
prefer for dinner and why.
THE CHARACTERS
Explain what the main character would
prefer to wear and why.
THE SETTING
Make a map of your book.
THE SETTING
Compare where you live with the neighbourhood
or town in your book.
THE SETTING
Draw the setting of your book and
explain it.
THE AUTHOR
Write to the author and explain your
reaction to his book.
THE AUTHOR
Write to the author and explain why
his book appeals to your age group.
THE AUTHOR
Make up five interview questions
(with answers) for the author.
THE AUTHOR
Pretend you're the author and explain
why you chose the title of your book.
THE AUTHOR
Pretend you're the author and describe
the part that was most fun to write.
THE AUTHOR
Pretend you're the author and tell
what else you've written.
THE AUTHOR
Pretend you're the author and tell
about your life and how this book fits into it.
THE PAST
Tell what you think happened before
the story began.
THE PAST
Imagine that you're an eighteenth
century student: How would you react to your book?
THE PAST
If your story took place one hundred
years earlier, how would your main character act?
THE PAST
If your main character is from the
past, how would he act if the book took place today?
THE FUTURE
If you were a man from Mars, how
would you react to your book?
THE FUTURE
Describe what you think happened
to the main character after the book ended.
THE FUTURE
Explain why your book should be included
in a capsule to be dug up in one hundred years.
THE FUTURE
Make a horoscope for the main character
explaining his sign and his future.
COMPARISONS
Compare your book with another book
you've read.
COMPARISONS
Describe an experience you've had
that was like the experience of a character.
COMPARISONS
Compare your book with a movie or
TV show of the same kind.
PRESENTING
Design a book cover for your book.
PRESENTING
Draw a comic strip of your book.
PRESENTING
Draw a portrait of your favourite
character and explain something about it.
PRESENTING
Make any kind of illustration for
your book (drawing, chart, graph) and explain it.
PRESENTING
Cut words or pictures from the newspaper
to make a collage or ad for your book.
PRESENTING
Make a "WANTED" poster for the main
character.
PRESENTING
Make a "thumbprint" book about your
book (the figures come from thumbs dipped in paint" and write captions for these illustrations.
PRESENTING
Make a bulletin board about your
book.
PRESENTING
Create a poster for your book.
PRESENTING
Write an ad for your book.
PRESENTING
Make a bookmark for your book.
PRESENTING
Collect pictures that go with your
book and describe each.
PRESENTING
Write out your title decoratively
and for each letter write a phrase about the book.
SPEAKING
Deliver a sales talk for your book.
SPEAKING
Make a tape about your book.
SPEAKING
Write ten discussion questions for
your book.
DRAMA
Dramatise your favourite incident.
DRAMA
As a famous movie star, you have
been asked to play a character: explain your answer.
DRAMA
Write a TV commercial for your book.
DRAMA
Make a TV script for one scene of
your book.
DRAMA
Play "What's My Line" with one character:
write out questions to portray him.
DRAMA
As a movie producer, explain why
you will or will not make your book into a movie.
DRAMA
Explain how your book could be make
into a movie: clothes, setting, cars, props, etc.
CREATIVE WRITING
Write any kind of poem about your
book.
CREATIVE WRITING
Write a letter to a friend describing
this book you are going to send him.
CREATIVE WRITING
Write a different ending for your
book.
CREATIVE WRITING
Keep a journal as you read your book:
your reactions, thoughts, feelings.
CREATIVE WRITING
Write a five-line "easy" poem about
your book: a noun, then two adjectives, then three verbs, then a thought about the noun, and finally a synonym for the noun.
CREATIVE WRITING
Write two articles for a newspaper
published at the time of or in the country of your book.
CREATIVE WRITING
Write an obituary for one character.
CREATIVE WRITING
Write a diary for your favourite
character.
VOCABULARY
Make a small dictionary (at least
twenty-five words) for the subject of your book.
VOCABULARY
List fifteen interesting words from
your book and tell why each is interesting.
VOCABULARY
List new words learned from your
book: Define them and give the sentences in which you found them.
VOCABULARY
Choose some of the following words
and explain how each applies to your book: stupendous, exciting, breathtaking, horrendous, fabulous, etc.
LITERARY QUALITIES
Quote passages of good description
and good dialogue and explain them.
LITERARY QUALITIES
Find and write down twenty-five similes
and metaphors.
LITERARY QUALITIES
Think about who the narrator is:
then write one scene from the point of view of another character and explain the switch.
LIBRARY PROJECTS
Do research on any topic connected
with your book.
LIBRARY PROJECTS
In the "Reader's Guide" find five
articles related to your book and tell how they apply.
LIBRARY PROJECTS
Find a quotation applicable to your
book and tell how it applies.
LIBRARY PROJECTS
See if your book is in the library:
then write a letter to the librarian either congratulating her for choosing it or asking her to order it.
LIBRARY PROJECTS
Find a poem which applies to your
book: write it out and explain how it applies.
CAREER EDUCATION
Make a job application for the main
character and fill it in.
CAREER EDUCATION
What did you learn about the vocation
of the leading adult character?
CAREER EDUCATION
Find newspaper want ads of interest
to a character and explain why.
VALUES CLARIFICATION
As a psychiatrist, analyse the conflicts
and problems of a character.
VALUES CLARIFICATION
Would you like to have a character
as a friend? Explain.
FUN
Defend: This book should be read
by everyone who hates reading.
FUN
Defend: This book should never be
spoiled by a teacher requiring a book report.
FUN
Free choice: Do anything you want
in connection with your book.
FUN
How many reasons can you think of
to take your book to an isolated Antarctica
camp?
FUN
Describe a field trip you would like
to take because of your book.
FUN
Write one page on this: Why ......
should not read this book.
FUN
Make a crossword puzzle from your
book.
CAREER EDUCATION
Write a business letter to the publisher
and order copies of your book; explain why.
CAREER EDUCATION
From the yellow pages of a phone
book, pick out businesses you think the main character would be interested in and explain why.
VALUES CLARIFICATION
How did the book change your way
of thinking?
VALUES CLARIFICATION
Use this as a topic sentence, "This
book made me (any verb)."
VALUES CLARIFICATION
Explain what the main character would
be least likely to do and why.
VALUES CLARIFICATION
Did any character change during the
book? Explain how and why.
VALUES CLARIFICATION
What problems did the main characters
have and how did they meet them?
VALUES CLARIFICATION
If the book has a villain, was his
punishment justified?
