Book Report Makeover #1: A Sandwich Report

Each week, Education World offers a new idea to help you "make over" boring book report formats. If you're looking for a way to spice up book reports -- and truly engage students in reading -- you've come to the right place. Check out this week's makeover idea

Whet students' appetite for reading by providing all the essentials for a well-balanced book report.

Draw the following sandwich ingredients on sheets of colored paper as indicated below:

• bread -- white
• sandwich meat -- pink and/or brown
• tomato slices -- red
• cheese -- yellow
• lettuce leaves - green

Photocopy the drawings; creating enough ingredients to provide each student with two slices of bread and one serving of each of the remaining ingredients. Provide additional sheets of colored paper to represent layers of such condiments as mayonnaise, mustard, and ketchup.

On one slice of bread, have students write the title and author of a book they've read.

On the lettuce, have them provide a brief summary of the book.

On the tomato slice, they describe the main character

They describe the book's setting on the mayonnaise.

Students reveal the book's climax on the slice of cheese.

On the sandwich meat slice, they outline the plot.

On the second slice of bread, students draw a favorite scene from the story.

When all the ingredients are assembled, have students staple together the layers of their sandwiches and slap their concoctions on a bulletin board headlined "We're Hungry for Good Books!" From now on, whenever they're ravenous for a good read, all students have to do is grab a sandwich to find out whether a particular book might suit their taste!

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