HOW TO WRITE A FICTION SUMMARY

EXAMPLE, GUIDELINES, AND RUBRIC

Color Key:

1 Theme or main idea

2 Character

3 Point of View

4 Conflict

5 Setting

6 Style

7 Events

8 Insightful closing

Can you find the title and the author?

EXAMPLE of a SUMMARY

Sherman Alexie, an award-winning author, poet, and filmmaker, gives insight into (1) one unlucky boy’s effort to rise above the life everyone else expects him to live in the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian as told in the (3) third person from Junior’s perspective. (2) Junior, the main character, is a budding cartoonist growing up (5) on the Spokane Indian reservation. (4) Born with a variety of medical problems, he is picked on by everyone but his best friend. (7) Determined to receive a good education, Junior leaves the “rez” to attend an all-white school in the neighboring farm town where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Despite being condemned as a traitor to his people and enduring great tragedies. (1) Junior attacks life with wit and humor and discovers a strength inside of him that he never knew existed. (6) Mr. Alexie uses the humor of his character, well placed cartoons and strong internal and external dialog make his character and message come alive in an emotion and thought provoking story. (8) A memorable, honest story of a battle-scarred teenage heart.

Summary adapted from Mrs. Hiller’s autographed copy.

Guidelines

Fill out and use information from your graphic organizer called Fiction Organizer to begin your summary
Focus on key details or events around the conflict which support the theme/message/main idea
Write only enough to convey the gist of the plot and conflict; keep it short
Describe the character in the sentence he/she is named
Follow the writing process to create quality work
Invite the reader in to your summary with an engaging opening
Conclude the summary with a big idea or insightful ideas you have gained as a result of reading this book
Revise as you work and edit out punctuation, grammar, spelling and capital errors
Ask a peer to hunt for all the features required in a fiction summary and to check for errors
Turn in the Fiction Organizer and the final draft (final draft on top)
Number the parts of your summary like I have have, using the same number code
Indent the paragraph

Checklist & Rubric Descriptors

This is what is required in your summary. You will be scored on these elements of your summary. To get a pdf file of this page click here.

___	States the author’s name and book title is in the first sentence.
___	Capitalizes and underlines title; capitalizes the author's name
___	Engaging beginning
___	States the main idea or theme of the book (message to the reader)
___	Names the character and the point-of-view.
___	Tell how the author shows this by giving a short retelling of the story in about 2-3 sentences. These events much support the message or main idea, and should focus on how the author supports, defines, and/or illustrates that main idea.
___	A summary should contain only the author’s views, so avoid including your opinion.
___	Add an insightful last sentence.
___	Describe the authors style by referring to word choice, sentence pattern and length (sentence variety), imagery, figurative language (metaphor, simile & hyperbole), and dialog
___	Closing is insightful or states a big idea
___	Describe the character(s) briefly with most important details
___	Numbered summary parts using this coding like in the example: 1 Theme or main idea 2 Character 3 Point of View 4 Conflict 5 Setting 6 Style 7 Events 8 Insightful closing
___	Ed ted out conventions errors and correctly and constantly used conventions
___	Turned in Summary stapled on top of the completed Fiction Organizer