Week 9: Biographies
Instructions for Weekly Online Activities/Assignments

ENGL 231: JC Clapp (North Seattle Community College)

Due no later than Friday, November 27th, 2009 by 11:00 p.m. PST:  Choose two biographies written for children about the same person. For instance, you could choose two books about Martin Luther King, Jr. or two books about Sacajawea. Once you have your two books, evaluate them, individually and as a set, according to the criteria established on page 544 of Chapter 12.  (The criteria are also online, if you don't have your book with you: http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073378569/student_view0/chapter12/evaluation_guides.html) Create a comprehensive post that includes complete evaluations of your two chosen books. Then, compare and contrast them by indicating the strengths and weaknesses of each. Be sure to include the titles, authors, publishers, and copyright dates (all the bibliographic data) as well in your post!  Title your post with the name of the person your biographies are about.

Due no later than Monday, November 30th, 2009 by 11:00 p.m. PST: Read all of your classmates evaluation posts, and then see if anybody else posted about the same person you did.  If so, look at how the various books about that person differ.  Does there seem to be a "winner" -- a particular book on a particular person that seems to "get it right"?  What common themes or approaches do you see? Do you see differences in how different kinds of people are depicted in biographies?  For example, are women typically portrayed in ways different/similar than men? Are people of color portrayed in particular ways? Respond to at least two of your peers’ posts.