For our fantasy unit, we have to write an analytical paragraph for each book we read. Today I’m going to tell you what has been challenging and what’s been easy!
The analytical paragraph is like one paragraph of an essay. This makes it much easier, because I have written a lot of essays like this. They all have the same format, which makes it easier for me to know how to structure my paragraph. The format is: Topic sentence, background information, text evidence, page reference, explanation, further analysis, and a concluding sentence. Another thing that makes it easier is that I have been jotting. By jotting you are able to have all possible ideas for the paragraph right in front of you. Throughout the book I like to highlight the most important notes that are good starters for what I should write about.
One thing that is challenging is the analysis section. After explaining each evidence for a couple of sentences, we have to dive further into why it supports my main idea. I find this hard because sometimes I feel that I have already explained the reasoning behind my evidence. To fix this problem, I like to go back to my book and jots and read them over. After that I think, “What is the big idea from this theme?”. This helps tremendously because it makes me notice things I haven’t noticed before that would help make my paragraph even stronger.
Here is the first analytical paragraph I have written!:
For English class, we are starting a fantasy unit. We have to read four books, and write a paragraph about each one.
I have read fantasy books time to time, but they are never my first pick. I prefer realistic fiction or mystery. One reason why I like fantasy is because it is very different to actual life. You can get sucked into a story, and it feels like a whole other world. The characters are very different from regular people, so you also feel connected to certain characters as well. I think fantasy really sparks your imagination. One thing I don’t like about fantasy is that it sometimes gets very confusing. Since it is a whole other world with all different characters, some of it is hard to get. The characters are so complex and may have magical powers or features that we have never seen before.
One of my favorite fantasy books was The school for Good and Evil. Even though it is long, it is very interesting. It was very intriguing because there were so many problems and situations that occurred. It was very drama filled, and had so many cliffhangers. If you are trying to read longer books, choose this one because it is long without being boring!
Here is the book trailer:
As I said before, I had to choose four books. I chose A Wrinkle in Time, When you Reach me, and The City of Ember series. When I was choosing my books, I decided to choose books that were well known. When I chose A Wrinkle in Time, My mom recommended When you Reach Me because the main character in that book reads A Wrinkle in Time in it and makes connections with it in her real life. I chose The City of Ember series because I tried reading it a couple years ago but it was too confusing at the time, even though I found it interesting.
So far, this unit has been amazing and I can’t wait to read more!
