modern fantasy
We've looked at some short fantasy in the form of folk and fairy tales, and you've read a couple of longer classic fantasy novels. The lectures and discussion questions have guided you in analyzing these works (looking beyond the superficial, beyond plot, beyond simple "thumbs up" and "thumbs down" responses). Looking closely at sections of the texts and using quoted passages for support, you've seen how to locate key ideas, patterns, symbols, psychological parallels, social commentary, issues, etc. The lecture on Writing about Children's Literature also gives you a taste of how to write a paper about fantasy using another classic--The Wind in the Willows--and you've had a chance to see a sample student paper that fits this topic.
Now it's your turn to analyze something more contemporary. Following is a list of several works of speculative fiction (fantasy and/or science fiction) in various categories (sword and sorcery, animal fantasy, supernatural, etc.):
Alexander, Lloyd - any of the books in The Westmark series
Chabon, Michael - Summerland
Christopher, John - The White Mountains or The Hills of Gold and Lead or The Pool of Fire
Colin, Eoin - The Supernaturalist or any of the Artemis Fowl books
Collins, Suzanne - any of The Hunger Games series
Cooper, Susan - any of The Dark is Rising books
DuPrau, Jeanne - The City of Ember or The People of Sparks
Funke, Cornelia - Inkheart or Inkspell or Inkdeath
Jacques, Brian - Redwall, (the sequals are OK as well)
Lasky, Kathryn - any of the Guradians of Ga'hoole series
Lowry, Lois - Gathering Blue
Nimmo, Jenny - any of the Charlie Bone books
Nix, Garth - any of the books in The Keys to the Kingdom series
Pullman, Philip - The Golden Compass or The Subtle Knife or The Amber Spyglass, (if you've not read them all, I'd recommend you read The Golden Compass first)
Rowling, J.K. - any of the Harry Potter books
Shan, Darren - any of the Cirque du Freak books
Westerfeld, Scott - any of the books in the Uglies series
Yep, Laurence - any of the books in the Dragonwings series
Grove, S.E. - any of the books in the Mapmakers series
Dashner, James - any of The Maze Runner books
Roth, Veronica - any of The Divergent series or the Carve the Mark series
Taylor, Laini - just about anything
another fantasy or science-fiction novel that you select, but you must get it approved by me first, and it must be fairly current (The C.S. Lewis and the Tolkein books, for example, are too old for this assignment; I want you to experience something more contemporary. And please do not select a book for very young readers; these books are all for around fifth through eighth grades.
Take the list to your local library or bookstore and check a few out. Ask your local librarian for tips on books that are both exciting and thought-provoking that you would be able to write a literary analysis on.
Select and read one (1) of these books and write a four-five (full) page essay in standard MLA format which is thoughtful analyzes some key idea of the book, that explores what the book suggests or how it relates to real-world issues. Your essay must illustrate and support your thesis (the one key idea you are exploring in your book) with several specific examples which are quoted and documented from the novel.
Remember, do not write a simple book report, plot summary, review. The kinds of questions that we've looked at as we've analyzed the readings for the semester so far are the sorts of questions you want to ask about the book you've selected. You might discuss how the book deals with psychological growth, how it satirize flaws in some element of society, how it exposes (through an exaggerated example) some real-world problem that actually exists, develops a theme about human nature, etc. As always, your essay will be evaluated on both form and content. Do your best, and good luck!
You certainly are allowed to use secondary (research) sources to support some of the ideas you raise in your essay, but if you do so, be sure that you fully documente all of that source material (including having an MLA-format Works Cited page), and don't let your writing be eclipsed by those secondary sources; the bulk of the essay must be your observations, your thinking, your words.
Special Note: students have tried to use the Twilight series for this topic, and most of the papers have flopped. The books are much loved by some readers, but there doesn't seem to be a huge amount (beyond summary and review) to write about them.
sample
To review some tips on Writing About Literature and to look at a sample student essay click on the button below:
