Independent Reading Assignments (1st Person Narrative)

Andy Warhol's Elvis. This assignment is for all classes and due October 29th in class. Remember that the quarter ends on November 2nd. You will need to have Camus' Stranger read by then.

40 points (Homework, notebook, blog grade)

Design a cover. You will be graded on the following items:

A: 10 points: Your cover should show creativity, depth in thought, and visually represent important events, themes, or symbols throughout the book. The cover should look professionally and carefully constructed. You may draw or use the computer, but be careful not to commit the visual equivalence of plagiarism.

If you use someone else’s images, change or collage them until they are your own.
Make sure you have a front and back cover as well as a spine.
Spelling the author’s name wrong would be about the worst thing you could do!

B: 10 points: You should provide a 100 word description of the book on the back cover. WARNING: DO NOT PLAGIARIZE THIS!—you will risk a zero for an easy part of the requirements. Remember: the point of a 100 word description on the back of a book is to convince someone in a store to buy the book. Remember this when you write the blurb. Why should someone buy this?

C: 20 points: Write a two page paper (400-500 words) explaining the choices you made when designing the cover. Pretend you work for me[1] and are trying to convince me to go with your cover over someone else’s. You will need to provide evidence from the book to effectively do this.
Make sure you include page numbers and cite properly.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞


40 points (Homework, notebook, blog grade)

Write a “filler chapter”. In other words, write what happens in between two chapters (or pages—or rewrite a section or imitate the author’s style). You will be graded on the following items:

A: 10 points: Completes the page length requirements: 2-3 typed, double-spaced pages, Times New Roman, 12 point font.

B: 10 points: The details and facts in your story are factually and contextually accurate in relation to the existing story. This includes the setting and historical time frame!

C: 20 points: You successfully capture the tone and style of your author.[2]

If you have another creative idea, propose it to me with criteria on which you would like to be graded. I must approve this first.

[1] I do not provide health insurance. Welcome to the world of contracted labor, boys and girls.
[2] (which includes, but is not limited to: how author presents dialogue, appropriate word choice, symbols, etc.)