There is nothing more exciting than introducing students to a great literary work. Conversely, there is nothing more disappointing than students’ lack of enthusiasm for a book they really love. Unfortunately, your fervor for a novel doesn’t always translate into cheers and applause from your students. Reading a novel requires a lot of investment. Even novels with heavy action plots take a while to gain momentum. How can you quickly build student interest at the start of a new book? Below are six surefire ways to get your class excited about a new novel.
PARTS OF PLOT. Divide students into groups. Assign each group a page from a different part of the novel. After they have read the page, ask students to write a paragraph describing the plot of the novel. To do this, students will need to use context clues extracted from their abstract. Have students choose a representative from each group to present their plot summaries. Compare the plot summaries and review these summaries at the end of the novel. Asking students to guess about the novel’s plot will spark their interest in the book and help them extract information from context clues.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS. Ask students to read the first page of the text silently. Next, ask a volunteer to read the first page aloud. Then ask students to write down as many things as possible that they learned from the first page. Next, ask students to write down three questions they have based on their reading of the first page. This activity will help students read context clues and teach them to locate text evidence when making generalizations about a novel.
COVER. Read a summary of the novel from the back cover, inside flaps, or from an Internet source. If you prefer to leave the novel a mystery, read an excerpt from a selected part of the book. You can also print this summary or excerpt for students to refer to. Next, ask students to design a cover page based on the information gleaned from the summary or excerpt. Allow students to explain their cover design. If you are reading a novel that is divided into parts, have students design a cover at the end of each part of the novel. Review the cover designs again at the end of the novel and ask students to write a paragraph about their understanding of the novel. This activity will help students trace the ways in which their comprehension developed throughout the reading.
MAIN ISSUE. Although students read novels throughout their education, very few are taught the importance of title, copyright, and acknowledgments. The pages that contain this information are called “foreground.” In small groups, have students explore the main theme of the novel. Have students list 10 things they learned from these pages. In a more open-ended version of this activity, you might ask students to answer the following questions: What does the main theme tell you about what will and won’t be in this novel? What does the opening theme tell you about the novel’s plot and themes? A good explanation of the main theme can be found on the Vox Clarus Press website. Just search for “Vox Clarus Front Matter”.
LAST LINES. Have students read the last sentence or last paragraph of the novel silently. Then ask someone to read these last few lines aloud. Based on these last lines, ask students to draw a comic strip that shows the plot of the novel. Each frame of the comic strip must contain narrative and dialogue. The last frame of the comic strip should be based on information gleaned from the last lines of the novel. Thinking about the ending of the novel will whet students’ appetites for the actual plot.
BEGINNING AND END. Have students read both the first sentence and the last sentence of the novel. Then have students build a poem, paragraph, or short story using the first and last sentences of the novel as the first and last sentences of their writing. Your students’ writing should summarize what they think the plot of the novel will be. Review these summaries in the middle and at the end of the reading. In a reflective paragraph, ask students to compare their initial impressions with the actual plot and themes of the novel.
When starting a new novel, consider using one of the activities above in your classroom. These activities provide a new lens through which to view your new novel. Beginning your novel study in a unique and unpredictable way will bolster your students’ interest and engagement.