YA Lit Textbook ch 15 review

Ch 15 Richard Peck Questions for Novels

Richard Peck has come up with ten questions to ask when reading novels. The questions help focus of different parts or aspects of the novel.  The questions are not to ask about the book or story itself, but to really have reader THINK about the author and their craft. Students SHOULD think about stereotyping, identifying with the characters, looking at the way that the author hooked them into reading the story, thinking about the titles, thinking of the tone of the book.  

Take Aways

If this set of questions isn't already printed out in your library, hop to it.  I think having these questions and their reasoning for them really allows readers think even deeper into the text.  These questions can also be helpful for teachers when working in the classroom, not just for media specialists/librarians.  We should be helping students think beyond the text. Thinking about what the author was thinking as they wrote and ways that the author got them to keep reading are great for all students.  One of the last skills that “comes” to students learning a second language is the writing of the new language, helping students “see” what the author was thinking is a great way to use a novel as a mentor text in writing.