Book Talk 

Due: Tuesday/Wednesday, January 31, February 1 by the end of the class period to your Illinois.publish work page.

Your Audience: Your classmates or someone else who might be interested in hearing about the novel.

Your Purpose: You are presenting the basic information about the novel. Required content (though not necessarily in this order, in other words, you could provide information about characters as they come up): 

1. 1. Title, author, year of publication

   2. Characters: age, physical description, characteristics

   3. Setting: consider what is relevant but also all the ways we can describe setting

   4. Basic plot, but NO SPOILERS!  

      1. Suggestions for writing a summary of the plot: 

         1. Determine the main conflict of the story. 

         2. What 10-20 major events most significantly impact the conflict?  How do each of these events relate to each other?  Remember that events in a story have a cause and action.   

         3. OR, choose a moment in the story that you don't want to go past (to avoid spoiling the story), and explain the significant events that lead up to this moment.
            

         4. OR, adapt the summary to fit the format of your novel. If important events might give away the ending, can you share with your classmates only portions of these events instead?  
            

         5. If you don't remember all of the important moments in the book, then go back and look through the book. DO NOT use another source for this portion of the assignment.

   5. The general purpose of a book talk is to get your audience or classmates interested in your book, so you should explain to the students what is appealing about the book. However, it’s possible that you didn't like the book you read. If that’s the case, again, consider what might appeal to other readers about the book. 

Format: This book talk should be prerecorded in any number of formats: on your phone, computer, Kaltura, Zoom, or any other format that can be uploaded to Compass. 

1. 1. You must use a PowerPoint, Google Slide, Jamboard, Padlet or other visual aid to present some of the details. Do not use the visual aid as a script for you--in other words, do not include every word you will say.

   2. You could put your camera image in the corner or your screen or just use a voice over.

Length. This book talk should be approximately 3-4 minutes.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: Please practice and time yourself before recording and submitting the final product.