Book Talk Presentation

Objective: Convince the listener to read (or not read) the book you chose for summer reading. A book talk is very similar to a trailer for a film, which shows you just enough information to convince you that you should watch the movie.

Suggested Organization of Book Talk speech:

Introduction
Find an interesting, exciting, or mysterious quote to start off your presentation. This quote will get the reader’s attention. Don’t just pick any old quote...choose carefully and deliberately to try to capture the attention of the audience. Also explain why you chose the quote. Clearly introduce your book by giving the name and author of the book.

Middle
The middle of the presentation will cover the setting, characters, and plot of the book without giving too much away of the story. Tell a little where the book is set, what kind of action or conflict is involved in the book, and what it is about in general. DO NOT just list the character and the setting and DO NOT give a drawn out summary of the book.

Resolution:
Without giving away the ending, convince the listener that you loved (or hated) this book and that they definitely should (or shouldn’t) read this book.

Example
An example of a short book talk on The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

“There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.”

So begins the story of Nobody Owens, known as Bod. On the night his parents are brutally murdered, 2 year old Bod calmly climbs out of his crib and toddles out of the house and into a nearby cemetery. There he is adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Owens (childless and dead for 250 years!) who gladly care for the child and protect him from harm.

With loving ghostly parents, teachers, friends, and protectors, Bod grows from age two to fifteen in the graveyard. He learns to read and do numbers, and he learns some ghostly skills. But not all the residents of the graveyard are friendly. There are witches, ghouls, and creatures and let’s not