Author Study Webquest

Christopher Paul Curtis
 

Introduction  |  Task |  Process  |  Evaluation  |  Conclusion

Introduction:             

Congratulations, You're Hired!  Christopher Paul Curtis, famous author, has chosen you as his sales agent.  Your job will be to sell his books to bookstores and book distributors. You will create advertising materials which will convince retailers to purchase Christopher's books.

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Task:

Your job is to create a full color advertising flyer which will convince book distributors to purchase this author's books.  You'll use Microsoft Publisher to create a tri-fold brochure which will be sent to book sellers.

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Process: 

Start by deciding what kind of information you would like to include in your flyer.  Brainstorm, then write a list of at least 10 questions you would like your flyer to answer.

Some examples of questions you might like to include are:

What books has this author written?
Who is his intended audience? 
Has he won any awards? 
What is his background experience?.....

Now, use the links below to learn about Mr. Curtis. Gather information and pictures for your flyer.  You may cut and paste your notes into a Microsoft Word file.  Save pictures by right clicking on them, clicking "save picture as", and sending them to your home directory.

        Kidsreads has an interview and a biography

        Biographies

        Interview

        Tribute Page

        Random House Biography and Books

        Movie -Author Up Close  

        Profile of the author from  Horn Book Magazine

        Search for the author or any of his books on the Cobb Online Resources page.

Finally, use the information and graphics you've gathered to create your advertising brochure in Microsoft Publisher.  Choose a tri-fold format because you'll be mailing these to book dealers.

The last page of your brochure should include a bibliography of source citations for each site you used.  You may use our media center's bibliography help page to create your source list.

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Evaluation:

CATEGORY	Home Run!	Triple	Double	Single
Writing - Organization	Each section in the brochure has a clear beginning, middle, and end.	Almost all sections of the brochure have a clear beginning, middle and end.	Most sections of the brochure have a clear beginning, middle and end.	Less than half of the sections of the brochure have a clear beginning, middle and end.
Attractiveness & Organization	The brochure has exceptionally attractive formatting and well-organized information.	The brochure has attractive formatting and well-organized information.	The brochure has well-organized information.	The brochure's formatting and organization of material are confusing to the reader.
Graphics/Pictures	Graphics go well with the text and there is a good mix of text and graphics.	Graphics go well with the text, but there are so many that they distract from the text.	Graphics go well with the text, but there are too few and the brochure seems "text-heavy".	Graphics do not go with the accompanying text or appear to be randomly chosen.
Sources	Careful and accurate records are kept to document the source of 95-100% of the facts and graphics in the brochure.	Careful and accurate records are kept to document the source of 94-85% of the facts and graphics in the brochure.	Careful and accurate records are kept to document the source of 84-75% of the facts and graphics in the brochure.	Sources are not documented accurately or are not kept on many facts and graphics.
Content - Accuracy	All facts in the brochure are accurate.	99-90% of the facts in the brochure are accurate.	89-80% of the facts in the brochure are accurate.	Fewer than 80% of the facts in the brochure are accurate.
Knowledge Gained	All students in the group can accurately answer all questions related to facts in the brochure and to technical processes used to create the brochure.	All students in the group can accurately answer most questions related to facts in the brochure and to technical processes used to create the brochure.	Most students in the group can accurately answer most questions related to facts in the brochure and to technical processes used to create the brochure.	Several students in the group appear to have little knowledge about the facts or technical processes used in the brochure.

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Conclusion:

Wow!  You did it!  You've sold a million copies and learned all about our author in the process.  Great Job!

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Sara Harris | Daniell Middle School

Updated 2/24/2005