Book review example

The BFG is a book by Roald Dahl which tells the story of Sophie, a girl who lives in an orphanage. She is very lonely and unhappy there, but one night, her world is turned upside when she is visited by the Big Friendly Giant, or BFG for short. When he sees her staring at him out of her window, he scoops her up and takes him with her to his home in Giant Country. At first she is scared, but quickly learns that the BFG is actually quite friendly, as his name would suggest. Some of the other giants in Giant Country aren’t, however, and like to eat children. Sophie and the BFG come up with a plan to stop this happening, and the story becomes a thrilling adventure which involving helicopters, the army, and the Queen of England. 

Overall, I thought this book was very good. It was written in a style I could understand and I liked some of the words Roald Dahl made up, like ‘snozzcumber’, because this made it funny. I also thought that the story was very imaginative and different – I can’t remember reading another story quite like this one.

If I could change one thing about it, I would make it slightly shorter; I thought it was a bit too long, but it’s not a major problem. Some of the bits are quite scary as well, and it’s not really suitable for younger children, so I think there should be a warning on the front of the book.    

I would recommend this book to children, but, like I said, not really young children, but it’s definitely better for young people than for adults. Overall, I give it a rating of 4 out of 5. 

February half term homework

Mr Q’s Year 8 half term holiday homework

You are going to write one more review. It can be of a book you have read, a film or television programme you have seen, or a computer game.

Remember to stick to the following structure:

Paragraph one:

What is it about?

Paragraph two:

What is good about it?

Paragraph three:

What could be improved about it?

Paragraph four:

Who is it aimed at?

You review should be at least 200 words long.

For an example of the kind of thing you need to write, just check the blog (unless, of course, you are already reading this on the blog!).

Good luck!

Homework, 15th January, 2015

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas break and is well rested. 

This term we will be reading the novel Holes by Louis Sachar, and learning how to write reviews. At the end of the unit, everyone will write a review of the book.

This is week's homework task is a reading comprehension one. All you need to do is read the photocopied extract from the book and answer the questions on the other sheet. As always, some of the questions are very simple, while others are slightly trickier. You can do the work on a computer and print it out, or write your answers out by hand on lined paper. 

Good luck!