Analyzing Literature through Book Projects

A universal groan can be heard throughout the classroom as I pass out a calendar with a list of book projects at the beginning of the year. Each year, I assign five or six independent book projects that my sixth graders are responsible for completing before school is finished. In addition to the independent projects, there are three or four group projects included.

Book projects are nothing new for my sixth graders, so the challenge is to create culminating activities that are both interesting and new. By the time they reach sixth grade, my students have had assignments ranging from a formal book essays, to colorful posters, to models, and skits. My main objective in assigning book projects is to have pupils take a closer, deeper look at the literature they're reading. I want them to have a better understanding of the issues and elements presented in the books they read, both independently and as a member of a literature group. The following are project ideas; some new, some old, that are designed to lead readers to discern some of the deeper aspects of literature.

Book Projects and Social Media

In planning book projects, a colleague and I stumbled upon a social media project on Facebook. The students at our school are not allowed to access social media websites; therefore, each pupil received a paper template of a Facebook profile page.

• We asked them to create a profile for a character from the class novel; Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt.
• This project takes two to three days to complete.      
• As a class, we listed the main characters in the novel and the traits associated with each character.
• Learners then chose a character and created his/her profile. The profiles needed to reflect the character traits defined by the class.
• After the profiles were finished, I divided the class into groups.
• Each group had different characters. The students trade their profile pages in order to post messages on one another’s pages. Postings focused on book events and characters’ actions.
• After pupils collected postings about each character, they responded by writing a short essay about how each character affected the others’ actions and events in the novel.

Plan a Vacation with a Character From a Novel

Another project that requires learners to analyze characters and events, is to have them plan a vacation with the main character(s) from a book.

• Pupils must choose a location related to the book, or infer which place a character would visit. They plan a three day trip.
• Learners write an essay explaining why they chose a specific location, and are required to provide specific evidence from the book that supports the chosen location.
• The vacation must include a mode of transportation, accommodations, and activities.
• Each element of the trip must be supported by information from the novel.
• They also create a travel journal or diary that details both the character’s and the student’s experience during the vacation.
• The journal/diary should include artifacts from the vacation (e.g., most kids turn in a scrapbook that includes photos of the places visited and small items collected during the trip).

Creating a Newspaper

Although not an original idea, you could have learners create a newspaper focusing on the setting, characters, and main events of a novel. The newspaper consists of five sections: headline, feature, editorial, comic, and travel highlight.

• The headline focuses on the climax of the book.
• The feature story focuses on the main character(s) and events of the book—a brief summary.
• The editorial calls for students’ opinions of the book.
• For the comic, they choose a scene from the book that they would like to illustrate.
• In the travel highlight, pupils describe the main setting of their book and persuade the audience to either visit, or not visit, a particular location.

Assigning book projects that challenge learners can be challenging for the teacher as well! Trying to find something relatively new and creative makes it even more difficult. I hope that these ideas, together with the following plans will help you acquire some new book projects for your class.

Book Project Lessons:

Energy Express Beautification Project

This is a community-based project in which pupils read about a topic/issue and then help to correct and improve it. I liked this lesson as a book project idea given that they can read and conduct research and then perform a task that can be utilized as the final assessment.

Exploring the World of Comic Book Heroes

This group project compares comic book heroes to real life heroes. The structure of the lesson can be adapted to comparative book studies, and it offers variety by using a Venn diagram for the comparison.

Book in a Box

Although not a new project idea, I like the idea of having learners find items that represent a book they have read. Adapt this resource to accommodate any book. Also, as an extension, you could have pupils create book boxes that represent scenes from a book the class has read. Have kids draw scene numbers out of hat to avoid duplication, or let them choose a scene. Use same-scene projects as a whole class compare and contrast exercise.

Make Your Own Book of the Dead

Pupils create their own Book of the Dead. This idea is based on nonfiction reading, but the structure could be easily adapted to a book project for a mystery or science fiction genre study.