(Student A’s literary posting)
I have just finished reading "Memoirs Of A Geisha" by Arthur Golden.

The book follows Chiyo, a young girl from a small fishing village in Japan as she is adopted into the lifestlye of a geisha and becomes Sayuri. She faces sadness and disappointment on her journey as a Japanese geisha.

I would really reccommend "Memoirs Of A Geisha" to readers interested in stories of growing up and all the pains that go with it. The book is rich in culture, a culture many of us might not understand. "Memoirs Of A Geisha" is a must read!

(Student B’s literary posting)

The Da Vinci Code, written by Dan Brown, was a captivating book that I longed to finish and hated to set down. Dan Brown created the story of Jesus and his descendants. The story is set in Paris, France and begins in the Louvre museum. The curator is murdered for refusing to tell the secrets of the Priory of Scion, the secret society to which he belonged. A professor of symbology is called in to help decipher the clues left behind.

The story includes much of the history of the secret society and their beliefs. In the end, they find the one living descendant of Jesus, a woman no one would guess. The controversy surrounding this book is enormous. When reading this book, however, it is important to remember that it was written as a novel, a work of fiction.

Please don't let the controversy stop you from reading. As long as this book is read in its intended form, as a novel, it is excellent. It is well written and easy to read. The mystery in the story line will keep you guessing until the very end. I would recommend this book to everyone.

(Student C’s literary posting)

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Starting this book, I have to admit that I found myself wondering if this series was starting to run out of steam. It seems that every Harry Potter book has the same first one hundred pages before it gets going. The usual start of the book at the Muggles house, where Harry’s extended family is made to eat crow once again and take him in, the visit to the Diagon Alley, the short stay at the Weasley's, where Harry always finds a small period of happiness, and then the voyage to school where he is late as always. I was almost ready to put the book down here, because I felt like I had read it five times before and was a little insulted as a reader over having been passed this re-used plot. However, I kept going and I found the new additions of characters new potions and defense teachers coupled with the mystery of the Horcruxes and Voldemorts past is very interesting. The book ends with the loss of a significant character, and the beginning of Harry's journey to defeat Voldemort. Overall it is a good book despite its slow beginning and sometimes (to me) rushed writing.  

(Student D’s literary posting)

The Chronicles of Narnia
I have really enjoyed every book in this series.  Each book takes the characters on a completely different adventure that warms the readers heart while causing them to think about relationships and other deep matters.  C.S. Lewis develops the four siblings so well and we see how different they are but as much as they are individuals they are a group of young people affecting everyone they meet on their adventures.  I also love Lewis's parallels to Christianity. It allows the reader to grasp in some ways the most difficult things to understand about God. The Chronicles are definitely a must read!

(Student A’s evaluation of the project)

I really liked the ability to talk to other countries, I like the posting and bulletin board, and I liked being able to see peoples' opinions about books.  But, I do like it better than book reports and projects so far!

(Student B’s evaluation of the project)

a)  Having the interaction with students outside the United States was interesting.  It was a simple process.  There wasn't any need for lengthy preparations.  That's always nice.  There was a great selection of reviews to read.  It wasn't the same few books repeated by every student.

b)  I don't know that I've worked with this long enough to be able to suggest improvements.  I really enjoyed the set up.  I know that really doesn't help much, but I would love to be able to do this type of report for school.

c) I do prefer this type of report.  I hate to stand up in front of people and give an oral book report and I hate writing out 8-10 page reports.  I find it hard to fill that much space without retelling much of the story and I feel that doing so takes away from the author's work.  A few paragraphs, like we did here, are sufficient to get people interested in the book.  From there, they can read it themselves.

(Student C’s evaluation of the project)

1. 3 Elements enjoyed
1. I liked how easy it was to sign up
2. I liked it because it felt more relaxed than a normal book report
3. I liked reading other peoples thoughts on books
2. 3 Elements that needed to Improve
1. The page kept expiring after a few minutes of reading an article and going back to the forum. 
2. I read the instructions on the website I clicked new message and typed my report and clicked post, but I didn’t see it up, I read something about processing, but it is a bit of a put out to have to wait. 
3. Same as 2 but with replying I read the instructions then did as it told me to and I didn’t see my reply up, so maybe more processing.  Overall it just seemed a little slow for me

I do prefer this type of report better than those that I have to give at school.  For one it seems more relaxed than having to do an oral report in front of a class, or having a teacher grading the grammar and punctuation on it to the inth degree.  This type of report doesn’t seem so much (to me) like a book report but just advice from one reader to another, and not a reader to a teacher who probably won’t take your advice, and I prefer it because of that. 

(Student D’s evaluation of the project)

The three elements that I enjoyed were reading other people's comments to find good books, quick and easy to use, and its a great way to get your opinions to other people who may have the same interests as you.

I don't really like the forum set up becuase its hard to search for a particular book.  You also feel that you can't write a lot because the window appears small. Maybe they should suggest things to comment on, for example theme, plot, writing style, etc..

I liked it but there whould have to be criteria in my opinion for it to count as a bookreport.