The following description is taken from Chrissie M. Wright’s webpage, and was enhanced by Ms. Breen. Also, please note, you DO NOT have to submit a Book Buzz as a video, although you may if you wish. You do, however, want to have it prepared by following the format on this page.

In our class, a Book Buzz has nine parts. First, of course, introduce your book and the author. SHOW THE COVER OF YOUR BOOK to the class. Then:

#1) Summary: “This book is mostly about…”

Example: “This book is about a man named John Wade who is married, and is a Vietnam Veteran who, years after returning from the war, attempts to run for a high political office and gets massacred in the election. Shortly after, his wife vanishes.”

• Stick to 1-2 sentences here. Seriously. That’s it! You want to leave your audience eager to discover more. 
• No spoilers — you want to encourage others to read the book themselves.

#2) Genre: “It’s a _____ story.”

Example: “It’s a mystery story.”

• This part helps people who know they love that genre feel a connection and really listen up. “Yes!” they think. “I’m a mystery person! This one might be for me!”
• If you want to throw in a few thoughts about why this story fits this genre (“because it’s mysterious and suspenseful, but also deals with overcoming mental health struggles”), you can do that. 

#3) Sticky Problem: “Read to find out…”

Example: “Read it yourself to find out if the Count will get revenge on the people who put him in jail for 18 years and ruined his marriage, or if he fails before he can do it.”

• Think of this part as the ultimate cliffhanger. You’re previewing a juicy problem from the book and teasing their brain to want to find out how the problem is solved.

#4) Character: “A character I loved/hated was…”

Example: “A character I loved is Lord Ravencourt, because he seemed really repulsive at first, but as I got to know him better, he seemed like one of the kindest characters, even if nobody else could see it.”

• Again, no spoilers here! 
• If you want to talk about a few characters here, that is fine, but you do not have to give BOTH a character you loved AND a character you hated.

#5) Feelings: “Read this book if you want to feel…”

Example: “Read this book if you want to feel curious and obsessed with finding the truth.”

• To help someone make the decision to read a book, you want them to know it has all the feelings!
• Did you cry? Did you laugh? Did you feel angry or frustrated? 
• You probably felt different emotions at different points, so you should have a few different sentences here.

#6) Read Alikes: “You might like this book if you also liked…”

Example: “You might like this book if you liked [other book you have read] or [TV show or movie that you like].”

• What does this book remind you of? Think of other books, TV shows, or movies that you enjoyed that you feel are similar to this book, and share a sentence or two about why.

#7) Unexpected Comparisons: “This book is ___ meets ___.”

Example: “This book is The Lord of the Flies meets One Crazy Summer.”

• You can get really fun and out of the box with this one, even using movies, TV shows, and other things in your comparison. Try to not reuse references you made in Part #6.

#8) Let’s talk about this book: “If you read this book, you have to let me know: ?”

(Think of the question as a sort of teaser – what would you ask another person who read this book, if you wanted that person’s opinion?)

Example: “You might like this book if you liked [other book you have

Example (from Life of Pi): “If you read this book, you have to let me know: which of the two stories do you believe at the end?”
Example (from Of Mice and Men): If you read this book, you have to let me know: did George do the right thing at the riverbank?”

• Keep your question vague but interesting — think about what you would actually want to know from someone else who read the book…but, again, no spoilers!

#9) The Takeaway: “This book taught me…”

Example: “This book taught me that before we can make others happy, we need to be happy with ourselves.”

• This is super general, but you get the idea! This is where the theme comes in. 
• If you learned two or three lessons, you can feel free to share them all! This should probably be one of the longer portions of your video. If you just say, for instance, “This book taught me not to judge other people,” that statement doesn’t really have much punch. It is so broad that you don’t even know what HHS book I’m using for an example. Instead, say “Of Mice and Men taught me not to judge other people so quickly, because Crooks, Curley’s Wife, and George all gave me the wrong first impression, and in each case, they turned out to be nicer people than I originally thought.”
• You should refer to characters or moments here, but final reminder: no spoilers!

LINK to Google Docs version of this project

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