Let’s Talk Books

  1. The Book
  2. …must be a book you’ve never read before.
  3. …can come from my library, a public library, or a bookstore. If you wish to read on an electronic reader, check with me first. Phones and tablets do not count.
  4. …must be appropriate for your age and reading ability.
  5. Your textbook cannot be used for this project.
  6. If you have already started a book, you may finish it.
  7. You may “abandon” a book that you don’t like as long as you’ve read at least 25 pages to give it a chance, but ditched it before you reached 50 pages.
  8. Has a movie or TV show been made based on your book?
  9. If so, you get only one of these per school year. Please note that I love comparing books to their movies so there is a fantastically good chance I will know if you only watched the movie. 
  10. 250 pages per quarter
  11. Books with pictures or unusually large font will count less. Be sure to ask me first before assuming a Great Illustrated Classic counts the same as a traditional novel.
  12. If you read more than 250 pages, you can “rollover” pages into the next quarter.
  13. If you read less than 250 pages, your highest grade will be the following:

250 pages =A+

235-249 = A

224-234 =A-

216-223 = B+

210-215 =B

197-209 =B-

189-196 =C+

183-188 =C

170-182 =C-

162-169 = D+

156-161 = D

143-155 = D-

< 142 = F

  1. While you’ll have 45 minutes each Wednesday to read, you may need to read outside of class to complete your goal.
  2. If your book has more than 250 pages, you can talk about whatever you have read and make predictions.
  3. If your book has fewer than 250 pages, you will have to report on that entire book AND whatever you read in your next book.
  1. The Talk
  2. Your job is to convince me that your read the book.
  3. I will leaf through your book and ask you questions.
  4. If you cannot convince me that you read the book, you will not get credit for those pages… no matter how many you have on your log!!!
  5. If you really only can tell me about a few pages of the book, you will only get credit for those pages.
  6. You MUST have the book for your book talk. No book = no talk = no grade.
  7. I will schedule book talks toward the end of the quarter, but…
  8. You are welcome and encouraged to complete a book talk early!
  9. If you wait, you may not remember everything about the book.
  10. You can only “talk” to me about one book per day.
  11. That means if you plan on reading more than one book to reach your goal, you’ll have to talk to me each time you finish a book.
  12. You can take notes while you’re reading and use them during the talk as long as they are hand-written on note cards or post-its.