Six Book Pitches

About once a month, I get a newslink from Stenhouse, the publishers of many great educational resources.  In the last one, they linked to a blog post on Six Pitches, new ways for kids to give book talks (or "pitch" a book). The pitches range from writing one word that connects to the book, to a longer summary-style pitch called Pixar, which creates a story arc like many Pixar movies. I think you could have kids write these down and post them someplace for others to read, or you could have kids get up and present them, but I think you’d want to have them present as many of the pitches as they completed, as some are very short. 

I just finished Out of My Mind, by Sharon Draper, and I thought I'd give the six pitches a try.  It’s the story of Melody, a ten year old girl with cerebral palsy, who is very bright but can’t speak, and whose classmates have been too quick to dismiss her based on her disability.

 1. One word: Determination

2. Question:  What would you do if you had a lot to say but couldn’t speak?

3. Rhyming: Even though I can’t walk, I’d have a lot to say if I could talk.

4. Subject line:  Ten year old girl who can’t speak surprises everyone.

5. Twitter:  Out of my mind: Disabled Melody finds a way to communicate and blows her classmates away but will it last? #titletalk #outofmymind

6. Pixar: Once upon a time, ten year old Melody had cerebral palsy.   Every day, she went to classes for kids with disabilities, but she was very bored.  One day, the school decided to mainstream Melody and gave her an aide to help her. Because of that, the aide realized that Melody was very smart. Because of that, the aide advocated for Melody to get a computer that would help her communicate. Melody even joined the Quiz Team. Until finally, a series of events and choices by her team forces Melody to confront them and risk losing their friendship.

(The bold print phrases are to help students with the formula style of Pixar. You would also want to tell students not to give away the ending if they were presenting for the class.)

Here’s the link to the blog that I read – try the Six Pitches and see what you think! evolvingenglishteacher.blogspot.com/2013/05/windup-and-pitch-change-up-for-book.html