Call it six degrees of separation. The kids in 8th Grade Writer’s Workshop are awestruck when their teacher announces that through her husban...
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reviews
Jul 12, 2009
Natalie
rated it: 
A super-famous rockstar visits an eighth grade Writer's Workshop class and delivers an assignment later to be known as the Fruit Bowl Project. Each student will write a piece about the same basic facts that will make up a story - boy drops pencil, bumps girl, girl gets mad. boy tells joke to friend, friend spews milk out the nose. While the premise of the assignment is creative and sounds like something I'd love to try in an eighth grade English class myself, reading about it in this book is les
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May 26, 2009
Carmine
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Mrs. Vallis teaches 8th grade creative writing, a young teacher with lots of enthusiasm who just happens to be cousin-in-law of the hottest rock star around (think Steven Tyler of Aerosmith or Mick Jagger). He agrees to come visit her class to talk about writing. He uses a bowl of fruit as analogy about style and that launches a creative writing project so compelling that kids who weren't even in that class end up contributing. A fun way to talk about style and point of view with budding writers
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Jun 21, 2009
Melissa
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The Fruit Bowl Project (NOT The Fruits Basket Project as I keep calling it in my head) doesn’t seem to have a lot of legs outside of the classroom. It’s a fine quick little read, but the first half of the book that’s set-up doesn’t really have that much connection to the meat of the premise, or the variations on a theme. It’s also fairly tedious to read through all the different versions of the story when they’re not terribly inventive (the crazy genres and the math versions worked better for me
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Feb 22, 2009
Noelle
rated it: 
Ha, ha, ha! 'do not feel sorry for nugget! Nugget have no brain! Nugget have no nervous system! Nugget inanamate object! Anomynous just think it fun to put Chicken nugget in book!' Ah... I loved that part. Ishowed it to my friends. We are still joking about it. I think Cassie wrote it. I compared the handwriting/font.
Dec 15, 2009
Amanda
rated it:
This novel was an interesting idea....writing from different points of view. The thought that went into the text and type of writing was really interesting to me. I liked the story line of the 8th graders preparing themselves within their writing workshop.
Jul 22, 2011
Melanie
rated it:
I love this book! I wish middle schoolers were really this creative; and maybe, somewhere in this world, they are. The book is a bit unrealistic. The way the rock star and teacher talk, and sometimes the students, is a bit kitschy for middle school. But the story told at the end, in so many different ways, is fabulous!
Sep 09, 2008
Kerri
rated it: 
Pretty cool idea. I wish we had gotten to know the kids better before she put the Fruit Bowl Project compilation in. I felt like I was just getting to know the main characters and then we left them behind.
On a Writing Teacher's note: Awesome for teaching point of view, voice, style, and just about everything else. Just the fact that the teacher called her class Writing Workshop made me love this book from the get go!
On a Writing Teacher's note: Awesome for teaching point of view, voice, style, and just about everything else. Just the fact that the teacher called her class Writing Workshop made me love this book from the get go!
Jun 09, 2009
Heather
rated it:
This is a really interesting way to give the kids a look at multiple genres representing different aspects of the same topic. I started reading it aloud and they were really into it. There is a small bit of crude humor at the end that is not appropriate for school, but the kids would really enjoy.
Aug 19, 2008
Anne
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A really interesting look at what a simple story would look like when told from a variety of viewpoints and genres. Great for a middle school English/writing class - or kids interested in writing.
Aug 07, 2009
Stephanie
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The concept for this book is good. All the students in this class have the same characters and simple plot, but told from different points of view. I was just ok.
Dec 11, 2010
Della is currently reading this and I was reading parts of it while she was doing math homework in advisory on Fridady. What I did read was hilarous!!
Jun 23, 2008
Meredith
rated it:
Passed this on the teen writing group. Good concept, though reading it left me a tad lukewarm.
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