SAMPLE BOOK REPORTS

Teacher:

This book report was written by an ESL college professor for a reading class.

Call of the Wild

by Jack London

Buck is a dog who is stolen from his comfortable home in California and taken to Canada, where he must adapt to a harsh new life.

In California, the climate is sunny; in Canada, the climate is severely cold, snowy, and icy.   In California, he has one master, who treats him OK; in Canada, he has several masters, some of whom treat him very well and some of whom are abusive and neglectful.  In California, his master has no other dogs; in Canada, his masters have teams of dogs.  In California, he has no responsibilities; in Canada, he must help pull a sleigh.

In addition to adapting to all of these things, he later adapts to the wild when he leaves the world of men.

Buck learns several lessons as he adapts:  he must survive or die; he must help himself because maybe no one else will help him; if he doesn't cooperate with his masters, he will suffer; if he gets into a fight with another dog, he must kill or be killed; men can cause problems or they can provide solutions.

He learns to avoid being beaten with clubs by men.  He learns to be careful of unfriendly and wild dogs.  He learns how to steal food.  He learns how to sleep in the snow.

After he kills his chief enemy, who was the lead dog, he also learns to assert himself with men.  They choose another dog as leader, but he insists on being the lead dog.  Eventually they let him be the lead dog and discover that he is the best leader on their team.

Buck is willing to live with men, but his deepest desire is to live in the wild.  He has great love for his best master and shows strong loyalty to him by performing heroic feats to save his life and earn him money.  While with this master, he frequently makes trips into the wild, staying longer and longer each time.  During his trips into the wild, he is accepted by a pack of wolves.  When this master dies, Buck is very sad for a while.  But then he hears wolves. 

This is where the author gets the title to the story.  The howl of the wolves is the call of the wild.  Finally, Buck is free.

Student:

This is an unedited book report written by a sophomore ESL college student for a reading class.  The outline was suggested by, but not required by, the professor.

Summary:  Matty is fifteen and is leaving school in a few weeks time.  He wants to work with animal, and would like to get a job on a farm.  But his parents say he is too young to leave home - he must stay in the town and get a job in ship-building, like his father.  They also say he can't go on a camping holiday with his friends.  And they say he can't keep his dog, Nelson, because Nelson barks all day and eats his father's shoes.

But it is because of Nelson that Matty finds a new life026

The Plot:  is very nice and easy, so I could follow easily the plot of this novel.

Characters:

1)  The main character in the story is a boy his name is Matty and he is fifteen years old, who has a dog his name is Nelson.

2)  The second main character is Nelson, because of Nelson that Matty finds a new life.  Basically, it all began because of Nelson.

3)  Matty's parents, Mr. And Mrs. Doolin, especially his mother Mrs. Doolin, that she pushed Nelson out into the street, so Nelson died because of her, but she didn't mean that, she was angry from Matty because Matty stayed out all day, and the dog was barking for hours while she was waiting for him, so she pushed Nelson out into the street, then the car hit him.

4)  Mr. Funnell.  He was Matty's teacher in the school, but he also helped the children to find jobs when they left school.

5)  Willie and Joe, they are Matty's friends.  Also, the camping holiday was Willies's plan.  He, Matty, and Joe were best friends.

6)  Mr. Walsh, the farmer and Mrs. Walsh and her daughter Jessica, and Mr. Walsh's the two sheep dogs, the bigger dog her name is Betsy and the other one, her son, Prince.

Subplots:

1)  Staying out all day including the story of Nelson's death.

2)  Going for their first long walk.

3)  The storms story.

4)  The Matty's first real day on a farm.

5)  Matty and Jessica, having a talk in the barn.

6)  The story of Matty and Jessica's adventure on the hills.

Action: the action of the story is very interesting and dramatic.  There are six basic actions:

1)  Matty and Nelson

2)  Camping

3)  Blisters and storms

4)  Helping on the farm

5)  A night on the hills

6)  A new life for Matty

Themes:

Kindness, love, respect, cooperation, and helping are the main themes of the novel.

Moral:

The moral of the story is that if you want something in this life, you have to work to get it.

Opinion:

In my opinion, Matty was not young to leave home, because Mr. and Mrs. Walsh will be life second parents to him.  In addition, he will be very happy in his job, because he loves animals and he loves the hills and mountains.  But, I think, at fifteen, nobody really knows what he wants to do.  Also, perhaps Matty will be bore with his job after a few or many years.