The Great Escape – Weekly Reading Response Blog

I am reading a book called The Great Escape by Paul Brickhill. The book is about prisoners trying to escape a prisoner camp. They have this thing called the ‘X Orginization’ where they create 3 tunnels and if a guard finds a tunnel they will have 2 more.

1. What I liked about this book is that it has a different setting then the other books I have read and they give a good introduction to most of the characters in the compound. Also, the story’s current time is World War II and that’s pretty cool.

2. Some of the tools and items they made confused me and they didn’t explain some of their digging methods so it left me confused. Also, they should show them stealing the stuff and I would really like to see that since it confuses me on how they even got it without the guards noticing.

3. All of the prisoners were smart because when the guards were around they would try to become friends with them to give the diggers more time and less risk. They were even able to get a guard to give them lots of useful tools and items because they were friends.

4. What I found really interesting was their methods of escaping. They have set roles for each person and set times for them. The items they used to build newer items were good and each person has a special talent.

Reading Response Prompts

1. Tell what like or dislike about the book and why.

2. Tell about parts of your book that puzzled you or made you ask a question.

3. Tell what you noticed about the characters, such as what made them act as they did or how they changed.

4. Write about something in the book that surprised you or that you found interesting.

5. Write your predictions and about whether your predictions were right.

6. Ask for help in figuring out meaning of your book.

7. Tell about the connections that you made while reading the book. Tell how it reminds you of yourself, of people you know, or of something that happened in your life. It might remind you of other books, especially the characters, the events, or the setting.

8. Write about the author’s style and how it makes you feel.

9. Write about the language the author used and why you think the author wrote this way.

10. Write about the author’s craft – what was effective about the way the author wrote.

11. Write about anything else that you may think of that deals with the book.

12. Do you relate to any of the characters in the book? Explain how and why.

13. If you abanded the book, why did you?

14. Name 3 examples of signals that went off in your head while you were reading and explain them.

15. Explain what happened at the climax and explain why you think that is the climax.

16. Tell what you think could be changed in the book to make it better for readers.

Reading Response Rubric

Level 3 (B Range)
In your response you:
- have written at least one post a week
- demonstrate that you have read a variety of fiction and non-fiction materials
- reflect on the books you read effectively- relate to the books you read
- retell only the most important information in your responses
- explain your interpretation of a written work clearly, supporting it with evidence from the work and from your own knowledge and experiences clearly.
- demonstrate that you are a critical thinker that examines characters, plot, setting and literary - devices effectively

Level 4 (A Range)
In your response you:
- have written more than one post a week
- demonstrate that you have read a good variety of fiction and non-fiction materials
- reflect on the books you read very effectively
- relate to the books you read very effectively
- retell only the most important information in your responses
- explain your interpretation of a written work clearly, supporting it with evidence from the work and from your own knowledge and experiences clearly and concisely.
- demonstrate that you are a highly critical thinker that examines characters, plot, setting and literary devices effectively