Book Jumped in what gangs taught me about violence, drugs, love, and redemption. by Jorja Leap.. Title : An Overview of why teenagers join gangs
Introduction
Summary of the book
Critique of the book
Conclusion
INTRODUCTION–in a book review, the introduction may run to several paragraphs.
Establish context:
mention the title of the book and its author.
Establish focus:
mention the author’s purpose. In a book, it is usually stated in the preface or introduction, or on the back cover.
comment on the appropriateness of the author’s purpose in terms of timeliness and importance of the subject.
mention what authority or expertise the author has to write on the subject.
State thesis:
give your general response to the author’s work: whether you agree or disagree or partly agree with it. Remember, you have to support this view in your critique and the structure of your critique depends on the overall impression of the reviewed material as given in your thesis statement.
Summary of the book:
the main purpose of the summary is to provide the reader with adequate information to understand the critical commentary that follows. The summary should be objective and should not include any personnel interpretation or discussion.
It is not possible to summarize an entire book so summarize the following:
controlling idea/thesis
main concepts that form the foundation for the controlling idea/thesis
development of the controlling idea/presentation of evidence
text structure, the topics covered and how they are organized and sequenced.
Critique of the book:
The purpose of the critique is to express your judgments and comments about the book you are reviewing. The purpose of this section is to support the personal opinion you have already expressed briefly in the Introduction. The critique consists of personal judgments, comments and opinions, it is subjective, unlike the previous section, which is objective.
It may be easier to handle to critique of a book if you examine the different aspects of the book and pass your judgment on each aspect separately. Your critical commentary should focus on the following aspects:
subject matter: describe the range of topics in the book and determine whether it is adequate and relevant. This may also help you pass judgment on the length of the book. Examine the organization of the topics and determine whether the sequence is appropriate.
style: determine whether the difficulty of words and sentence structure is appropriate for the intended audience. Determine whether the formality of the style is appropriate, is it too formal/casual in terms of subject matter and readers.
layout: express your opinion about the adequacy, suitability, and usefulness of the following:
contents and index pages
headings
typefaces
graphics
Make sure you present valid reasons for your judgment each time you comment on the different aspects of the book.
CONCLUSION
the conclusion relates to both your introduction and critique because it restates the most important comments from the introduction and sums up the main critical points of your critique. In the conclusion you need to:
restate the purpose of the book you have reviewed.
using your critique as a base, make a judgment about how successful the writer has been in achieving that purpose.
restate the thesis you included in the introduction.
support your thesis by commenting on whether or not the reviewed material makes a useful contribution to the body of literature already published in the field.
Reference:
Arnaudet, M.L. and Barrett, M.E. 1984. Approaches to Academic Reading and Writing. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Other tips: the review should give an account of the book’s arguments and structure as well as the author’s assumptions and presuppositions; it should evaluate the arguments advanced and indicate the extent to which the author backs them up with evidence. It should draw a balance sheet of the weaknesses and strengths of the book.
Evaluate the arguments advanced. Are they consistent? Are they coherent? What theoretical or philosophical assumptions does the author make? What does the author use as evidence?
Read other reviews that have been written about the book. What do the other critics say? You may use their comments in your review, you may agree/disagree with them. Reading other reviews also gives you ideas on how your review should be structured.
Read biographical information about the author. This information may help you understand the book.
The position you take on the book is not as important as how you defend that position.
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