ESOL 830 Student Name: _Maria Cristina Mena-Murphy

Nicol Spring 2004

Yellow/Green Book Reports (If Longman must be all of book, level 4 or 5:)

Due dates: Circle the date you want credit for: #1-2/26, #2-3/30, #3-5/13

Title: (always underline book titles)

King Solomon’s Mines.

Author: Sir H. Rider Haggard.

Retold by David Maule.

Number of pages: _64_ *****Type of writing?: nonfiction or fiction (circle one)*****

Names of main characters (= people):

Alan Quatermain, Sir Henry Curtis, Captain John Good, Umbopa or Ignosi, Gagool, Twala.

Briefly summarize the plot (= story). Start with the Ws: tell when and where; identify who; tell what the problem is. Use simple present tense if fiction, simple past for nonfiction (= true, factual), and try to fit your words into this space. In English, we use the simple present tense to tell a fictional movie or book plot. Prove to me you finished the book: Use the expression "in the end" to tell me how the book ends.

            The story of King Solomon Mines takes place in Africa, in the decade of 1880.  Sir Henry Curtis, an English gentleman, wants to find his brother George.  They haven’t seen each other since they were young because of an inheritance problem.  Sir Henry invites his friend, Captain John Good, to go on an expedition across the desert and mountains to find his brother.  He needs a guide, so he hires a hunter named Quatermain.  Quatermain needs money for his son, who studies medicine in Liverpool, England.  So they decide to hire other people to help them.  They have a map drawn by Da Silvestre, 300 years before, and they try to follow those directions to find a diamond mine, where supposedly they can also find George.

Umbopa, an African man, travels with them.  Umbopa wants to go to Kukuanaland, where the mine supposedly is.  When they reached that territory, they meet Twala and Gagool, a king and a witch, and then they discover that Umbopa is Twala’s nephew, and the real king of the Kukuanas, called Ignosi by them.  Then, it starts a big fight and finally Ignosi recovers his kingdom.  Ignosi helps them to find the treasure, but when they stay there, Gagool closes the mine, and they are trapped inside.  Finally they discover a tunnel, and go out.  Only Quartmain hides a few diamonds in his pocket.  They can’t find the mine again.  So they head back to England. While they are walking, they find a hut where George is living.  He is sick, so he can’t walk very well.  In the end, Mr. Quartemain receives an invitation from Sir Henry in England for Christmas, to share their fortune with Captain Good and George.

Choose one. Fit your writing onto the front and back of this paper.

1. Write a letter from one character to the reader or to another character in the same book or a different book.

2. Write a newspaper-type article on one or more of the characters: sports, news report, editorial, cartoon, obituary, ad, entertainment.

3. Imagine that the main character of the book visits the class. Write a speech introducing him or her. You tell the other students what is important to know about this character. Do not summarize the story again.

4. Tell me what the character or characters learned from their experiences. Tell how the characters grew or changed from their experiences

5. Write a new ending for the book or add a new chapter. This can be done seriously or as a funny parody.

6. If and only if the book was non-fiction, tell what facts you learned. (Do not choose this question if the book was fiction.)

7. Write a letter to the author. Make this look like a letter: date, Dear Mr./ Ms, Sincerely,

8. Write a book review to be published in the Seal. (A book review should be 75% discussion/opinion, no more than 25% summary.)

Wednesday, March 30, 2004

Dear Mr. Rider Haggard.

I am very interested in the story that you wrote, I enjoyed it a lot, but an idea is growing in my mind, and now I want to tell it to you.  Directly I want to request from you a map with the directions to King Solomon’s mines.  I like the adventure, so I think with my new equipment for the expedition, my friend and I can find the mine. If you are interested in this proposition, it will be a pleasure to share our treasure with you.  I would appreciate if you could send your answer to my E-mail.  If you have asked yourself how we resolved the theme of the differences of time, don’t forget that I have a lot of new equipment that includes a time machine.

Sincerely

Maria Cristina Mena- Murphy.