Independent Book Project
“Theme in a Bottle”
Due: Friday,
January 15th
Project Summary: A character in your novel wants
to express and share what he/she has learned from his/her experiences to help
others understand important life lessons. The character has decided to send a message in
a bottle.
Objectives: symbolism; major and minor literary themes;
character perspective, voice, tone
Requirements:
1.
Decorate a completely rinsed and dried clear bottle
with 3 or more symbols that relate to the main character’s life lessons
(plastic soda bottles work best).
Example: In Watsons Go To Birmingham, Byron learns a life lesson about what
life is “really like” in the South during the Civil Rights Movement. On the outside of a bottle, I would draw or
glue on a cross to represent the Baptist church that was bombed and a heart to
represent the love and strength of the Watson family.
2.
On the outside of
the bottle also include the title (underlined), author, your first and last
name, and class period neatly decorated or typed.
3.
Type a letter
from a main character’s point of view (use first person, I). The letter should express your feelings about
the life lessons you have learned throughout the novel. What big lessons have you (as the character)
learned? Summarize those lessons and
teach others by describing the thematic topics and how they apply to you as the
character. See example of a letter on
back side.
4.
Letter
requirements: typed, single or double
spaced, 12 point font size, no cursive or curly font styles, 1 page minimum. Rubber-band
the letter so that it is smaller than the bottle’s opening and type your first
and last name, class period, and title/author in the upper right corner.
Example
Notice the structure of the way the themes (highlighted) are woven into the summary. Avoid "block" organization where the summary comes in one paragraph and the themes come in another.
Mrs. Rice, 2*
Number the Stars
by Lois Lowery
May 1945
To Whomever Finds This Bottle:
My
name is Annemarie Johansen, and I am a twelve-year-old girl who lives in
Copenhagen, Denmark. Today the war
ended, and the Nazis have been defeated.
All over Denmark people are celebrating and bells are ringing. Finally, we are free!
In
the last two years, I have learned so much.
Encountering the Nazi soldiers and their dogs taught me that real
courage means facing your fears and moving through them to do what your heart
tells you is right and just. Because the
Danish people followed their hearts, we saved thousands of lives by hiding and
transporting our Jewish friends to safety.
I’ve
also learned how devastating and hideous war is. My heart ripped apart when a Nazi military
car ran over my sister Lise. My friends
as well as my family suffered grievously.
My best friend, Ellen Rosen, and her parents had to leave their home and
country just because they were Jewish.
The Nazis were killing the Jews by the thousands, so we had to protect
our friends by helping them escape. Then
Lise’s fiancé Peter, who saved hundreds of Jews’ lives, was captured and
executed in the public square at Ryvangen.
I wept for days and woke up screaming from nightmares in which I relived
Peter’s and Lise’s tragic deaths. I pray
for an end to man’s inhumanity to man.
But
even in the face of the evil and horror that surrounded us, love and goodness
prevailed because we acted with justice, compassion, courage, and
conviction. Each of us listened to that
still, small voice within us that guides us toward the light, and today the
light conquered the darkness.
If
you find this letter, read it to your friends and family. Pass it from house to house. Let people hear my message and create a world
where peace, justice, and human kindness prevail.
Love,
Annemarie Johansen
