Alternative Book Reports
Due roughly every eight weeks
Here are some of the many types of “report” you may do:
Shoot a video/film
PowerPoint, Flash animation
Make a model/s
Dioramas, bookcubes
Alphabet Book
Puppet/puppet show
Stuffed animals, dolls
Mask
Character Scrapbook
Memory Box
Newspaper
Jigsaw Puzzle
Edible Presentation
You may do only one of each type of presentation over the year. For example, your first
report can be a newspaper, but you couldn’t do the newspaper option again in your three
next reports. Also, you must include a typed book summary that includes book title,
author, original publication date, book genre, a brief synopsis of the plot, and an overall
1-10 rating (10 being the best) for the book, and at least one sentence telling us why you
rated the book thusly.
Example Book Summary (An example of a good, quality summary)
“Book”: Family Guy
Author: Seth McFarlane
Published: 1999
Genre: Comedy/Satire
Synopsis: Peter and Lois Griffin are trying to live the American Dream with their
three kids and a talking dog in the Rhode Island town of Quahog. Well, at least their own
twisted interpretation of that Dream. In this television comedy created by Seth
McFarlane, the focus is usually on the darker side of both the American Dream and the
American Psyche. Peter tries to be a good father, but he typically interprets this to mean
pretending to be interested in his wife, kids and dog. He also wants to be financially
successful, which in his mind means that ethics and morality fly out the window. Like
the time he tries to get out of paying for Lois’ gambling losses by impersonating a Native
American. Or the time he tries to pretend to be dead to avoid paying a hospital bill.
But the rest of the family isn’t perfect, either. Lois is close, putting up with Peter’s
outrageous stupidity while also overcoming daughter Meg’s low self-esteem, son Chris’
bumbling slackerhood and toddler Stewie’s attempt to take over the household and
eventually the world. Then there’s Brian the talking dog, who drinks all the vodka and
has an incurable crush on Lois.
More important than the twist McFarlane places on the typical American family is the
extreme he and his writers go in making satire of the situation. Where most shows only
go so far, and the Simpsons goes farther, Family Guy goes totally off the map. When
Meg gets a waitressing job, she doesn’t just lie about her home life to get bigger tips, she
tells everyone that Stewie is her illegitimate crack baby. And so on.
In this continuing series, no outcomes are known except that Peter will always mess
things up and strangely almost put them right again, that the family will stay together,
and that Stewie will be THIS CLOSE to exacting his revenge on Lois and the world.
Along the way, every show provides at least 100 pop culture references, inside jokes and
disturbing analogies that make viewing the show a manically-paced good time.
“Book” rating: (1 – 10: ten being the highest) 9
Why? Family Guy does a good job of taking the Simpsons to another level of
satirical depravity. Whereas not every joke works, and some episode plots stretch so far
as to be beyond ridiculous, the show almost always has two or three jokes that hit you in
the stomach and either make you laugh or sick. Or both. Not every show can say that.