House B Language Arts

Mrs. Gann

Book Review Sample

February 18, 2005

This is the model for how you will complete your two (2) book reviews for the Book Bistro.  If you follow this model, you will be successful in this unit.  If you do not follow this model, and instead choose to “do your own thing,” you will not be successful because you will miss out on essential elements.  Please choose your path wisely.

PARAGRAPH 1.       INTRODUCTION.

This is where you will catch the reader’s attention with a quote from your book, an observation about the book’s importance in “the big scheme of things,” or in any other way that makes sense.  You should mention the title of the book and its author.  You will not use the pronoun “you.”  Your thesis statement is contained in the introduction.

EXAMPLE:

            “There once was a fisherman whose wife had drowned, leaving him with a small daughter named Maha.”  So begins the tale of Maha, a “lovely and clever” girl who is the protagonist of The Golden Sandal: A Middle Eastern Cinderella Story by Rebecca Hickox.  Beautifully illustrated and unique to the ancient and wonderful culture of the Middle East, The Golden Sandal offers readers a new twist on an old genre—the fairy tale—and a memorable retelling of the theme of true love with a touch of irony. 

PARAGRAPHS 2 and 3        BODY

You will choose two (2) literary elements that we have discussed over the past month on which to focus in your writing.  For review, the elements we have learned are:

Setting

Plot/Conflict

Characterization

Point of View

Genre

Theme

I would also accept sensory language as an element, since we talked about it at length in class.  Choose elements that you really understand and enjoy.  Pick two that you know you can write about with success.  Each element you choose must be discussed in a separate paragraph.  You must use examples from the text to illustrate your point.

EXAMPLE:

            While some readers may consider the fairy-tale genre of The Golden Sandal to be childish or trite, the simple beauty of this story shines through the book because its characters—the beautiful Maha, the devoted Tariq, the magical red fish—bring a worldly originality to what could be merely a tired version of Cinderella.  In The Golden Sandal, the fairy tale has been reinvented for a modern audience who is cosmopolitan and multicultural.  No longer are young readers satisfied with bland versions of worn-out Disney stories; The Golden Sandal offers a healthy mix of the Middle Eastern traditional (the wedding henna, the arranged marriage) with a nod to concepts readers of all backgrounds would know (a girl’s longing for love and acceptance, the difficulties of family life).  Nowhere is the genre of this book more old—and, in its own way, more new—than when the magic known and loved in fairy tales comes in the form of a little red fish who proclaims to Maha, “Allah says a kindness never goes unrewarded.  Call for me any time and ask what you will.”  No longer must the protagonist wait for magic to visit her in a time of need; she can summon the magic herself, and from an unlikely source indeed.  The fairy tale genre is, in The Golden Sandal, saved from certain death, much like the magical little red fish.

            Like the retelling of the fairy tale genre in The Golden Sandal, the fresh look at the universal theme of true love is given a twist of irony in this “Middle Eastern Cinderella Story.”  While the Disney version leaves the audience wondering what happened to the stepmother and stepsisters who treated Cinderella so cruelly, The Golden Sandal lets the reader know that the two women who made Maha’s life so miserable seemed to have gotten exactly what they deserved.  After Maha is chosen to marry Tariq, despite the stepmother’s deceitful attempts to foil the relationship, the stepsister is chosen by Tariq’s brother.  “The woman had heard of the oil’s effects on Maha, so the night before the wedding she combed the reeking mixture through her own daughter’s hair . . . when the groom lifted the veil, he choked at the smell and saw that his bride’s head was covered in blisters instead of hair.  The girl was taken back to her mother in disgrace.”  Just as the little red fish told Maha that “Allah says a kindness never goes unrewarded,” so too must the reader believe that a cruelty is remembered as well.  This twist gives the theme of true love an edge that modern readers will enjoy.

PARAGRAPH 4        RECOMENDATION TO AUDIENCE

In this paragraph, you must recommend (or not recommend, as the case may be) the book to an audience.  You must state who might be appropriate audiences for your book.  Please be specific.

EXAMPLE:

            The Golden Sandal:  A Middle Eastern Cinderella Story is not merely a children’s tale.  Indeed, this book would be appropriate for any lover of fairy tales, young or old; any believer in the theme of true love, even if the theme has a bit of irony to it; and those readers interested in multicultural literature.  The strongest case for reading The Golden Sandal is that the reader is already starting from a point of knowledge about traditional Cinderella stories and will likely be surprised by the freshness that Rebecca Hickox lends to an old motif.  It is a rich story, not unlike an Arabic tapestry, full of depth and a few surprises.

PARAGRAPH 5        CONCLUSION

In this paragraph, you will wrap up your entire essay.  NO NEW IDEAS IN THE CONCLUSION.  Restate your thesis.  Get in, get out.

EXAMPLE:

            Because The Golden Sandal offers readers a new twist on an old genre—the fairy tale—and a memorable retelling of the theme of true love with a touch of irony, this story by Rebecca Hickox is a wonderful choice as a picture book for young readers or as a pleasure book for experienced ones.  It departs from the “traditional” model of a Cinderella story by incorporating the ancient and mystical life in the Middle East.  It is truly a book for all the world’s readers to enjoy.

DONE!!!!! 

As a point of reference, I counted my words from the entire essay and I wrote 728 words, or about 3 full pages double spaced (250 words per page).  You should expect your essay to be no less than two and a half to three full pages double spaced.  If it is shorter than that, you have not done your book justice!!!