Book 101

In Book Bound we studied the relations between a reader and a book, on the tool used to read it, and the layout and systems of libraries. My class was assigned to read The Great Gatsby, a famous novel of F. Scott Fitzgerald that is in the literary canon. I have mixed feelings about the book since the writing is superb and really captures the readers attention, but I strongly dislike the characters. I believed that this book belonged in the canon, despite the annoyance the characters brought me, because of Fitzgerald's unique writing style. We went on many FEs to different libraries in order to get a sense of how a library is designed and organized. Each library had its own layouts and book log processes that added to the unique atmospheres, which shocked me. Originally this class was designed to create our new school library and the books that would be included inside it, but our contribution to the construction of the space is not as great as planned, however our ideas are still considered. I imagined it with bean bags, computer and work spot, and plenty of book shelves with a large variety of books. For our, only, action project we were to choose four of our best works, that we did throughout the term, to put into a portfolio. I enjoyed the portfolio because we are able to showcase more than one piece of work we did in the course, which gives a greater insight into how hard we worked. My favorite assignment by far, which is included, is the Literary Journal.

Literacy Poster

In this assignment we had to design a poster based off of a guiding question we chose about or related to literacy and/or reading. We needed to then do research from valid sources in order to include factual information. This assignment was created in hopes to inspire people to read, mainly the people in our new library space. I wanted this project to be part of the portfolio because it shows the facts of people who are literate and illiterate. Those who are illiterate have a tougher time in everyday life and it is a problem that plagues the majority of the world. I wanted to inspire people to read by showing the consequences of those who don't, won't or can't. I had designed this poster on a site called canva.com in order to make it look neat. It was difficult to properly size the images and texts in a way that could be read but at the same time visually appealing. Despite these difficulties I am happy with how it turned out. Originally I had a bunch of quotes about reading surrounding the book, but decided that instead of attracting people it would turn them off. To fix this I got rid of the quotes and added a pile of books, a panda chibi, a world, and a clock to be more visually appealing. I am proud of how the final product turned out because of its eye-catching designs, with an adorable panda, and the information I included in it.

Slideshow

In this assignment we each chose a book that we believed should be added to the literary canon and defend our reasoning behind it. This project is related to and about the literary canon, an important concept in all literature world wide. I chose to add this to the portfolio because of how ecstatic I was about this assignment and how I want others to read, and recognize, this great book. The book Unwind by Neal Shusterman is the first of an entire series and brings up topics that are prominent to discuss. I created the slideshow that includes all parts necessary to teach others about it. It was extremely difficult finding a video about or relating to the book since Shusterman hasn't had an interview about it and there is no good quality trailers, which are all fan made. In order to post this in the portfolio I fixed any grammar mistakes and edited my works cited slide. I'm very proud of this project because I'm spreading the word of one of my favorite books of all time. The class was really enthusiastic about Unwind constantly asking me questions which prolonged my presentation from five minutes to about forty minutes. Many of my peers agreed with me that this book should be added to the canon.

Literary Journal

In this assignment we were put into groups of three to create a literary journal with a theme of our choice. For this project we needed to include original images and writings along with some external submissions. Due to the wide range of literature from poems to short stories it relates to our course. I selected this project for my portfolio because it is by far my favorite since we created it. We had split up the requirements among the three of us and set up a timeline for the deadlines. It was difficult to communicate with my other group mates and publishing the journal also proved difficult. Since this was a group project I was unable to make any revisions without the two other members. I'm extremely proud of this assignment since it turned out nicely and the contents are enjoyable.

Literary Canon Essay

In this assignment we had to write about whether The Great Gatsby should remain in the literary canon. This is well known book that schools read nationwide and it deals with the literary canon, which determines a lot of what middle and high schoolers read for class. I chose to add this assignment to the portfolio because I enjoy writing argumentative essays and I want people to understand the great writing style in The Great Gatsby. I created an outline of the essay with a completed intro paragraph. It had been difficult finding good supporting evidence from the book for my claims. I had fixed the grammar and spelling errors before adding it to the portfolio. I am proud of how well I wrote this essay, especially the introduction paragraph.
_________________________________________________________________________________