How to Make a Collage for a Book Report
SHELLEY FROST
CLASS
A collage puts a creative twist on the traditional book report, but the project requires more than gluing random pictures on a page. The selected images should relate to key elements of the story, such as the characters, setting and plot. Take a strategic approach to planning your book report collage to score points on the project.
1 Choose Base
You'll need a sturdy base for the book report collage, because the glue you use to hold the images in place might cause thin paper to wrinkle. Poster board or cardboard works well as the base. Check the assignment requirements to determine if you need a specific material or size for the base. Add to the creativity of the project by cutting your base material into a shape that's relevant to the story. For "Charlotte's Web" by E.B. White, you might cut the board into the shape of a pig or spider, for example.
2 Clarify Concepts
Before you start cutting out pictures, write an outline of the details you want to include. Review the assignment directions to determine the required elements. You'll likely need a title that includes the name of the book and author, in addition to images that represent the characters, plot and setting. You might also need to include the theme or lessons presented in the book. Write down each of the elements that are specific to your story, then decide which characters and settings are important enough to include.
3 Find Essential Images
Find images to represent the ideas you've deemed essential to include. Collages often use a mix of materials, such as magazine pictures, clip art and hand-drawn images. For "Charlotte's Web," you might cut out a picture of a farm from a magazine to represent the setting. Or you could cut out words from a magazine -- or letters that spell out a word -- that represents the story's theme, for example.
4 Put It Together
Resist the urge to glue the collage pieces in place right away. After you've chosen all of the images you want to include, lay them on the collage base to see how they fit together. You might arrange the pictures based on story elements -- characters in one section, setting in another and plot elements in chronological order on another part of the picture. A collage typically has no blank spaces around the pictures. You may need to cut the images or overlap them to cover the base entirely. Once you're satisfied with how the pictures fit together as a book report, lift a few up at a time and glue them. Use just enough glue to hold the images in place.
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