I've received some e-mails from you folks, asking me to help/advise you on the school reports based on Andre Norton's books. Since some of the problems recurred in most of the letters, I decided to compile a sort of guidelines, which will hopefully make your life a bit easier and your marks better.

Start your preparations as early as possible - do not postpone it to till the very last day. You won't have to hurry and in case something goes wrong (you don't understand something, somebody borrowed the only copy of the book from the library, etc.), you will still be able to finish your report on time.

Mind you - I do not mean "start writing" - there's a lot to do before that phase. Anyway, I don't know how you feel about it, but I just hate writing essays (it's just a waste of time) - on the other hand I love the preparation phase, because that's when you learn new things.

If you have time, read the book twice. When reading the book for the first time, read it for fun - Ms. Norton has written it mainly so that you could enjoy it (she emphasized this in many interviews). Don't let the essay spoil that. Make only one exception - if you find a passage that seems relevant to the subject - mark it (using a piece of paper, or just making a tick on the margin - remember to use a soft pencil, so that it wouldn't leave a mark when you erase it). After you finish reading the whole book, go back and analyse the sections you have selected.


What is "relevant"?

That of course depends on the subject you are writing about. If you are asked to characterize a person, mark all the passages the hero/heroine takes part in (when it's the main protagonist, this method unfortunately doesn't work that well). Remember - don't just look for passages that specifically describe the person (e.g. "She was usually quite shy ...") - the way people act and communicate with each other also speak volumes about them. For example, if our imaginary hero is in a hopeless position and despite that spits in the face of his enemy, it means that he's either very defiant and wants to show that he won't be broken whatever fate awaits him or he's just angry and at the same time stupid enough to do that.

Another thing to look at is the way people speak - it's easy to tell a peasant from somebody of noble blood, as their style of speech and vocabulary differ.

If you're writing a report of the "tell me about your favourite book" type, which requires you to summarize the plot - look for major events and mark them, but don't worry how to put that in your own words - not until you've read the whole book. Only then will you have a "bird's-eye" view on what happened and will be able to chose the important events and discard the unrelevant ones.


"I don't understand some parts of the book"

Firstly, try to read them again and just imagine what is going on. What is your attitude towards the events and characters - is it positive or negative? Try to tell what you've read in your own words. Is there still a problem? Ask your friends/siblings/parents to tell you what they think about it. Ask your teacher - that's what she/he is for - to assist you. Finally, you can ask your grandparents or other elderly people you know - they usually (well, again, not always) have more time, like books (and would be glad to know that you do not only surf the Net the whole day, but also read real books) and are willing to help.

Remember that asking other people to explain you something or to express their opinion is perfectly legitimate … as long as you don't copy their exact words. None of us knows everything - it's impossible. On the other hand, remember that it's your own work and the teacher will look for some "personal insight" that show that you can think by yourself and can get to the true meaning of the information you receive. Do the research, ask people - but don't let your report be just a collection of quotations.

Before you start writing anything, put together all the information you've managed to collect and think about it for a while (don't forget about the structure of you report, with the introduction-main body-conclusions division). Can you derive any more information from these? Are there any obvious conclusions? Imagine that nothing was told about our hero's past and in general you know very little about him. Suppose, however, that although he is dressed very simply and looks like a poor peasant, but speaks in very elaborate words, suitable for somebody from a higher class. I'd conclude that he might really be a nobleman, who had to escape a deadly peril in a guise of a peasant. As long as you have enough facts and follow simple logic (which may easily be checked: just tell somebody else what you know and ask if he/she would deduct the same and how possible this would be), put it down in your essay.


Visit the websites

Looking for information?
Visit Norton websites!

Norton websites are a good source of information, so spend some time browsing them. You've already found this one - take a look around and see if there's any relevant article. Also be sure to visit other websites, since they complement each other - you'll find different material on each of them. You don't have to search them all out by yourself, just go to the Links page.


Ask other Norton fans

The Net community of Ms. Norton's fans is like a big family and we're always glad to meet new people sharing our interest. Not only that - we're also ready to assist you in your project. As long as any of us has any expertise in the subject or has read the book you're asking about, we'll be glad to help you. We can also advise you which books to choose and where to buy them. But don't expect us to write your report!

You should try out these adresses:

• The Andre Norton Message Board
  http://www.xenite.org/boards/anorton/an_board.htm
  
  
• The Andre Norton Mailing List
  http://andre-norton.org/list/

Be sure to visit the archives - they might contain the answer to your questions, but be warned that it's easy to dig into them and spend hours just browsing (the Message Board has archives of over 1000 messages that were posted since its creation). If you don't see anything relevant, don't hesitate to post a message on the Board and send e-mail to the Mailing List.

That's it really. If you managed to force yourself to read all the guidelines, my guess is that you're a dilligent person and if you follow those, you shouldn't worry about the mark that much, as the chances are it'll be high. <grin>

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, I lived through this horror - I can take the next thing that comes along ... You must do the thing you think you cannot do." - Anne Eleanor Roosevelt