Being able to detect tone when you read is absolutely essential for constructing a significant understanding of the text. The following is an extremely helpful prezi slideshow that explains the definition of tone and how to identify it. Watch closely and take notes. Write down any questions that come up so we can discuss them in class. When you're finished, click here to take a quiz via google forms. There is also a list of tone words found below the presentation (you will need to refer to it to answer the last quiz question).
The following are two examples of book blog posts that I am writing as a model for you. I just started reading Paper Towns. I have only made it to page 24. Notice that you do not necessarily have to have read a lot of pages to have a lot to write about. The first is an example of a post that will earn 25 points, or approximately half credit. The second models what would be considered exemplary work (45+ points). Blog Post #1 (Title does not reflect originality or provide any insight into blog content). I am reading Paper Towns by John Green. So far I have read the prologue and chapter 1. I like it alot so far. Its about this guy Quentin and his friends and the girl he likes, Margo. First we find out that when Quentin and Margo were nine they found a dead body and the guy turned out to have killed himself. Then chapter one is about Quentin and Margo and their friends being seniors in high school. There is alot of humor used in this book. I like John Green alot because he is ussually very funny. You can tell that Quentin and his friends Ben and Radar are very good friends because of the way they joke with each other that is kind of mean but you know they are just kidding. Radar has decided to go to prom which Quentin is against. While they are talking at their lockers a bully comes up and asks Quentin what he knows about Margo and another boy. Quentin says he doesn't know Margo anymore. Also in this chapter we find out that Radar is embarassed to take his new girlfriend home because his parents collect black santas. The chapter ends with Quentin going home and having a normal evening until Margo appears at his bedroom window for the first time since the night they found the dead man. I really like this book so far because of how funny it is. One connection I can make is that I can relate to the characters being in high school. Everyone knows what it is like to have the day drag by, to wait for your friends at your locker, to see people you used to know but really don't anymore. I think Margo and Quentin will end up together somehow which will be nice because it seems like Quentin really loves her. This post lacks any real organization and is made up mostly of summarization without any real analysis of the events or characters. There is no text evidence included; neither is there a picture. There are multiple grammar and spelling issues. Minimal effort = minimal grade. A Visit to Paper Town (Title thoughtfully engages reader and relates to blog content) I am so excited to be reading Paper Towns by John Green! Green is one of my all-time favorite authors and this was the last of his books that I hadn't yet read. So far, I have read the prologue and chapter one (up to page 24). The prologue introduces us to Quentin, the main character and narrator of the story, and his neighbor and childhood friend Margo. When they are nine, they experience a very traumatic discovery together. Right away the reader knows that there is something very special about Margo because of the way Quentin first introduces her. "Everyone gets a miracle," he says. "My miracle was this: out of all the houses in all the subdivisions in all of Florida, I ended up living next door to Margo Roth Spiegelman" (3). Clearly, Quentin must care about her a great deal to refer to her living next door as a miracle. The tone throughout the rest of the prologue is very somber, given the subject matter of two children happening upon a dead man and their attempts to piece together an understanding of what could have happened to him. Margo appears at Quentin's bedroom window after bedtime to tell him she has been investigating the dead man. She has discovered that the man committed suicide, and says she believes it was because "maybe all the strings inside him broke" (8). The language in this section furthers a dark, kind of sad tone. Quentin mentions that "something monstrous had already drained the blood from her face" and that he felt afraid, almost haunted by the dead man. Finally, the tone turns foreboding at the very end of the prologue, as Quentin reflects that Margo "loved mysteries so much that she became one" (8). By comparison, the tone in chapter one is playful and mostly upbeat. Quentin and Margo are now seniors in high school, though we find out they have not remained friends. We are introduced to some funny, memorable characters, as is John Green's specialty. Quentin narrates with plenty of dry wit and sarcasm, and his rapport with his best friend Ben is very similar to the teasing, chops-busting way that Colin and Hassan relate to each other in An Abundance of Katherines. When considering his mom's suggestion to take Cassie Hiney to prom, Quentin notes that she is "actually perfectly nice and pleasant and cute, despite having a fantastically unfortunate last name" (12). The words fantastically unfortunate really drove home the point and made me giggle. The chapter is sprinkled with the kind of one-liner one-upmanship you expect from teenaged boys. For example, Quentin and Ben's friend Radar tells Ben that getting him a prom date "would be harder than turning lead into gold," to which Quentin adds that "the hypothetical idea itself is actually used to cut diamonds" (16). Also adding to the enjoyment of this chapter is the way John Green has of creating memorable and unique characters. Quentin stands out with his wit and humorous observations while he tells his story while Ben stands out as bold, silly, and somewhat sexist. He repeatedly refers to women, even his mom, as "honeybunnies." He also makes a somewhat off-color remark about Ben's mom after witnessing her kiss Ben on the cheek when dropping him off at school that morning. Radar is portrayed in a memorable and unique way as we find out his nickname originated because of he reminded his friends of the character on M*A*S*H with the same nickname; he has an obsession with updating a website called Omnictionary (fictional Wikipedia). We also learn in this chapter that his parents own a collection of 1200 black santa clause figures; a fact that Radar is embarrassed enough about that he has avoided bringing his new girlfriend over. By the end of Chapter One, the action is proceeding in a predictable way as John Green novels go. We have met some funny and memorable characters, already had a LOL or two, and finally, we have been given a hint that there is a slightly darker and more serious situation looming for these characters. John Green is masterful at balancing heavy subject matter with humor and it seems like Paper Towns is no exception. As the chapter comes to a close, we find Quentin reflecting on how ordinary a day May 5th had been. The syntax in this last passage really conveys a sense of ho-hum boredom: I went home. I ate two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as an early dinner. I watched poker on TV. My parents came home at six, hugged each other, and hugged me. We ate a macaroni casserole as a proper dinner. They asked me about school. They asked me about prom. They marveled at what a wonderful job they'd done raising me. They told me about their days dealing with people who had been raised less brilliantly. They went to watch TV. I went to my room to check my e-mail... (23). The repetition of pronouns, phrases, ideas, coupled with short, choppy sentences gives the reader a sense of the narrators boredom. Therefore, we are able to feel as surprised as he is when, in concluding this passage, in the very last sentence of the chapter, "Margo Roth Spiegelman slid open [his] bedroom window for the first time since telling [him] to close it nine years before" (24). I can't wait to find out what happens to these characters!  This post:
|
RSS Feed