Book Report - TeacherPage



Book Report

Name John Smith Date August 1, 2013

I. Title- Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

Author- Judy Blume

Publisher- Scholastic Inc.

Copyright- 1972

II. Setting:

A. Time- 1970s

B. Place- New York City, New York

III. A. Main Characters(Provide a brief description for four to five characters.)

• Peter Hatcher is the narrator and main character of the story. He’s an observant boy who often finds himself as the only sane person in his family.

• Farley Drexel “Fudge” Hatcher is Peter’s younger brother. He gets into a lot of trouble, much to Peter’s embarrassment. This is funny because Fudge seems to look up to his big brother.

• Mr. Hatcher is Peter’s father. He works in advertising and as a result he spends a lot of time watching television commercials. He’s a nice father, but an awful cook.

• Dribble is Peter’s pet turtle. Peter puts a lot of time into taking care of him. Unfortunately, he leaves the story on a sour note.

B. Text to self connection – Select a character or event in your story that reminds you of yourself or something that happened to you. (Provide at least a paragraph in response.) I can relate to the part in the story when Fudge lost his teeth. Fudge was climbing on a jungle gym in a playground. He started to pretend he was a bird, but instead of flying he wound up falling down. When he fell, he knocked out his two front teeth. This is like the time I was pretending to be a monkey. I was so busy swinging on the rungs that I didn’t see a bee that had landed. When I grabbed that rung, the bee stung my palm. Just like Fudge, I was not happy.

IV. Text to text connection- How does this book remind you of a story you read as a book or watched as a movie. (Provide at least a paragraph in response.)

This story reminds me of Ramona and Beezus. In this story, Peter is always annoyed by Fudge. He is irritated by Fudge for good reason sometimes and other times he just seems bothered to have a younger brother. In Ramona and Beezus, Beezus is often annoyed by her younger sister, Ramona. Just like Peter does with Fudge, she also has to explain situations and ideas to her little sister.

V. Text to virtue connection- Make a connection between this book and one of the following virtues: hospitality, humility, honesty, patience, tenacity, reverence, or generosity. Explain how one of these virtues was displayed by a character in the story. (Provide at least a paragraph in response.)

Peter demonstrated patience a number of times in the story. One great example was at Fudge’s birthday party. Peter had to demonstrate how to perform the balloon dance for the kids and entertained them by showing off Dribble. He did all of this even though he kind of resented even being at the party. Another great example was at the dentist’s office. Fudge refused to open his mouth. Peter could have gotten all upset about his brother’s behavior, but instead he opened his own mouth for the dentist so Fudge would do the same.

VI. Critique or Opinion:

Describe why you liked or did not like this book. (Provide at least a paragraph in response.)

I liked this book a lot. It was very funny. I laughed when Fudge threw a tantrum at the shoe store. This was funny because Peter’s mom told Peter before the trip to the store that Fudge has become better behaved. It was also funny when Fudge was picked to ride a bike in television commercial. Of all the children, that Mr. Vincent could have chosen, Fudge was bound to be the most difficult. Again, he refused to do anything until Peter did it first.

VII. Play editor: Describe one scene in the book that you would have changed either because it was unrealistic or you did not like the outcome. How would you have changed this scene? What effect, do you think, this change would have had on the rest of the book.(Provide at least one paragraph in response.)

I would change the scene when Peter’s dad offered to

take Peter and Fudge to the movies. This scene doesn’t make sense because it happens just after Fudge has misbehaved. It’s like he’s being rewarded for getting in trouble. Plus, you know he’s going to do something foolish in a movie theater. I would have changed this scene so just Peter and his dad went to the movies. Peter earned a reward for helping with Fudge. Moreover, Mr. and Mrs. Hatcher seem to put Fudge first whenever he’s part of the group. This would be a chance for Peter to come first. I think Peter would have felt happier with his parents if they gave him this attention.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download