Humanities 8

The Outsiders by S.E Hinton was first published in 1967. It is narrated by Ponyboy Curtis and is written in the first person. The tone is youthful, melodramatic and slangy. It is set in the mid 60's in Tulsa, Oklahoma. There are many elements of fiction including themes, symbolic elements, and foreshadowing. For many of you, your parents will have read this in high school and remains a classic. I will be reading the novel to you in class, but you are responsible for completing the novel assignments posted below:

Novel Study Assignment                         Due date: April 26th

Here is a list of assignments for you to choose from. This assignment is worth 50 marks, and you are to choose 20 marks from the written sections. The remaining 30 marks can be achieved by any of the other assignments you may wish to complete. Unless otherwise stated, all answers must be in complete sentences. Your written work will be included in your newsletter portfolio.

Check it off!

1.      ___ title on top line, name and date in the corners

2.      ___ indent each paragraph

3.      ___ you have had a peer edit your written work (include the signature of the person who has edited your work)

4.      ___ have you written in the proper style (ex: letter, journal, summary)

Written Assignments:

1.      Letter to the author – write a letter to the author that explains your reaction to the novel. Your letter must be written in correct letter format and include examples from the novel to support your reactions. /10

2.      What did you learn? – in a paragraph, explain something that you learned from the novel. Be sure to use specific examples from the novel in your explanations. /5

3.      Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down – in the style of a movie review, write a review of the novel you just read. Conclude the review with your response: was it worthy of a thumbs up, or did it bomb and deserves a thumbs down? Justify your response!1/10

4.      Journal – in the perspective of one of the main characters, write a journal that describes their daily life for seven days (these days do not have to be consecutive). /10

5.      Ending – write out a different ending to the story (write 1 to 2 pages). /10

6.      Essay – write a 4 to 5 paragraph essay describing your reaction to the novel. Include specific examples to support your opinions. Your essay must include an introduction, supporting paragraphs and a conclusion. Ensure that you have a creative topic sentence! Hand in your outline and rough copies with your essay. /15

Fun Assignments:

1.      Interview a Character – compose 6 to 8 questions to ask the main character from your novel. Include responses from the character to demonstrate that you read the book. /10

2.      Glossary – find a minimum of ten new words that you did not know prior to reading this book. Include a definition of each one, write out the sentence that it is in in the book, and write a sentence or two to show that you know what the word means. /10

3.      In the News! – create the front page of a newspaper that tells about the events and characters in the novel. Include a weather forecast, some catchy headlines, a cartoon and a photo (note: the photo must not take over the entire page; it should be used only to add to what’s written in your newspaper). Make sure that everything that is on your newspaper is somehow related to the book. /10

4.      Comic Strip – create a comic strip for the novel or a part of the novel. The commix must have comic-style illustration and dialogue bubbles. /10

5.      Picture Book – after reading the novel, create a picture book version of the novel that would make younger children want to read it. /10

6.      Character Trait Chart – make a chart with 3 columns. Each column is headed with the name of one of the book’s characters. In each column, write a minimum of 5 character traits with specific support from the novel that supports the traits. /5

7.       Sculpture of a Character – use whatever you would like to create a sculpture of a main character from your novel. You may want to use soap, wood, clay, sticks, wire or old toy pieces to make this. Your choice!

8.      Travel Brochure – design a travel brochure that describes the setting in the novel. Include illustrations and written descriptions that portray the setting and everything that surrounds it. /10

9.      Point of View – change up the story by describing the novel from the point of view of another character in the novel. /10

10.  Conflicts – list 3 conflicts from the story and state how they were solved. Make up different solutions to these conflicts and describe how the new solutions would change the outcome of the novel. /5

11.  New Character – draw a new character that you think should be added to the novel. Write a paragraph or two explaining why you would add the character and how the novel would change with the addition. /5

12.  Spend a day with a character – if you were to spend the day with one character, who would it be and why? What would you do? Write a description of the events that might occur during the day and include any dialogues you might have. /5