Young Adult Author Research Lesson

Choose a favorite author and conduct an Internet search about the author. Use this information to create a PowerPoint about your author which answers the questions listed below.

Suggested Sites to Search

First, try these good websites for finding author biographies and information. Search for the author by the first letter of his or her last name.
For example, for James Patterson, you would search in the letter P.
Scholastic Author Bios
Book Browse Author Bios
Teen Reads
Book Browse:Links to Author Websites - many authors have their own websites, and they often include their biography along with information about each book they have written.

If you can't find your author on one of the above websites, go to www.ask.com, or www.google.com,
type the name of your author, put quotation marks around it and add the word bio.
For example, if your chosen author is Rick Riordan, enter
"Rick Riordan” bio
 in the search box. Correct spelling is important!

Create a PowerPoint presentation that answers these questions. Your presentation must have a minimum of 6 slides (one per question) but not more than 12 slides. You will present this PowerPoint to the class. You may use this PowerPoint template to help you create your author presentation:
http://www.district87.org/bjhs/templates/author_powerpoint_template.ppt  (Click on the link and save it to your My Documents folder first, then open it and use it to create your presentation.)

1. What is your author’s name? Find, copy, and paste a picture of the author. If you cannot find a photo of the author, copy and paste a picture of one of his or her book covers. You may also include both a photo of the author and a picture of one or more of the author’s books.
2. What books and/or series has he or she written? What genre or genres are these books? (Here is a list of genres and their descriptions.)
3. Write a brief biography of the author’s life. Provide at least four facts or events in his or her life.
4. What is your favorite book written by this author? Describe the plot without giving away the ending to the book.
5. Why do you like this author’s books? Give at least three reasons.

6. Sources used (you must have at least two):
What website or search engine provided the best, most complete information about this author?
URL: _________________________________________________________________

What other website has good information about this author or his or her books?
URL: _________________________________________________________________