Literary Letters

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Literary Letters
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Requirements

• The letter should
• Contain at least two quotes from the text
• Be thorough (fully developed with specific
  details)
  
• Be thoughtful (good insights and not just plot
  summaries)
  
• Be truthful (honest in talking to the reader
  about the book and its issues)
  
• Be 400-500 words

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Tips

• Discuss what you think and feel about the book.
  Dont spend the letter summarizing whats
  happening. You can provide a little bit of a
  summary, but then connect to what youre
  reading.
• Give your gut level response to the book and how
  it makes you feel, how it relates to you, what it
  makes you think about, etc.
  
• Your letter should be friendly. Dont just start
  right in on the book without paying any attention
  to the person receiving the letter.

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Response

• Remember, youre writing two letters to me or Ms.
  Burns and five letters to your partner (you can
  pick).
  
• When your partner gives you a letter, write a
  response of about 200 words. If you want to
  include your response in your letter to your
  partner, thats fine. Just keep in mind that the
  whole letter will have to be 600-700 words.

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Examples of Strong Letters

• Dear Ms. Brand,
• How has the school year been going? I hope you
  are enjoying your classes thus far. Labor Day
  weekend is now upon us! I am wishing and praying
  for good weather this weekend. So far, it looks
  like it will be beautiful weather, and that makes
  me happy because I am going down to the beach
  with seven good friends. We even rented tickets
  for the Ghost Tour! My best friend owns a condo
  down there, so we will have an awesome time.
  Anyways, you have asked us to write a letter
  about a book we are reading. I chose Persuasion
  by Jane Austen as my book . . . My favorite
  thing about Jane Austen is her cunning sense of
  humor. She demonstrates this once again when she
  writes, No, I did not promise. I only smirked
  and bowed and said the word happy. There was
  no problem (253). I love the way you can feel
  the sarcasm radiating off the page . . .

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• Dear Ms. Brand,
• Today is a Monday, and for me that means the
  worst day of the week. Will you be attending the
  game Friday? I can assure you one thing it will
  be quieter at the game then it is in this class
  because ______ wont be at the game. Hah, just
  kidding, I think . . .
• I have started to read the book that everyone
  has been talking about, Twilight, and I am on
  page 80 as of the moment. I am sad to report
  that Edward Cullen has not stolen my heart yet.
  He just seems like the mysteriously gorgeous kid
  that is ignorant and arrogant with no social
  skills . . . I also noticed that the author
  gave Edward Cullen a ghostly appearance with his
  glowing pale skin, intense and changing eyes, and
  darker tinted lips The color was striking
  against the background of his pale skin and his
  auburn hair. Today his eyes were a completely
  different color (?) . . . What do you think
  about it all? Im going to close this letter
  because I know you have a ton of letters to still
  read, and I wish you the best of luck with that.
  Remember to take a Starbucks break as soon as
  possible!

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Examples of Weak Letters

• I have been reading a book titled Bad. I have
  reached page 72 and so far the book is very good.
  Its about a Junior in highschool named Dallas.
  She was hanging out with who she thought were her
  friends and wound up in a rehab center for six
  months The book covers what she did, where,
  when, who she did it with and then on to her time
  spent in rehab and all her encounters with
  different people and new friends. Unfortunately,
  I can not tell you the story but I can strongly
  recommend that you read this book. Im not sure
  what Im supposed to be writing about but I hope
  this is good enough. Please give me a good grade.

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• Dear Mrs. Brand
• In the book Batman Justis League Edition, Adam
  is about to burst and some reporter trys to get a
  shot of it and the helicopter gets hit with
  concrete and crashes, and Superman comes and
  saves the day he gets hit in the book by some
  concrete but did not move. He grabs the
  helicopter and saves the people . . . Thats
  pretty much what Ive read so far. Its good,
  you should read it.