Comparing or Contrasting Two Books

The students will read two books of their choice and compare or contrast the two books. One or both of the books can be what they've read already. The books they choose should be in the same genre such as science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, classic fiction, or contemporary fiction.

Students will need a copy of each book they want to compare or contrast. Before you begin having them read their book, you can explain to them how to compare or contrast books.

For example, you can have the students compare or contrast the plots, characters, themes, writing styles, or other elements. If they decide to compare a specific element in the two books, they will look for similarities in both books. If they decide to contrast a specific element between two books, they will look for differences and write about those differences.

When they understand the assignment, you can have them read their books or review the books they have read. Before they read their books, they need to know which element of writing they want to write about and if they want to compare or contrast the two books. Then, as they read each book, they can write a list of examples and the pages they found those examples on so they can return to the pages later. This will help them organize their thoughts about the elements and the books. After that, they can write their essays for you to grade.

You can grade them on how well they wrote their essays and the accuracy of information in comparing or in contrasting the fictional element. Besides checking for accuracy of their characters and their personalities, you can check for correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, and paragraph structure.