Senior High School

Reading and Writing

Quarter 4: Module 5 - Lesson 1
What is the Book about?

1
Reading and Writing – Senior High School
Module 5 – Lesson 1: What is the Book about?
First Edition, 2020

Republic Act 8293, section 176 states that: No copyright shall subsist in any work of
the Government of the Philippines. However, prior approval of the government agency or office
wherein the work is created shall be necessary for exploitation of such work for profit. Such
agency or office may, among other things, impose as a condition the payment of royalties.

Borrowed materials (i.e., songs, stories, poems, pictures, photos, brand names,
trademarks, etc.) included in this book are owned by their respective copyright holders. Every
effort has been exerted to locate and seek permission to use these materials from their
respective copyright owners. The publisher and authors do not represent nor claim ownership
over them.

Printed by the Department of Education – Regional Office 5

Regional Director: Gilbert T. Sadsad
Assistant Regional Director: Jessie L. Amin

Development Team of the Module

Writer: Ronald M. Mandane

Editors: Liny B. Grefal

Evangeline B. Meteoro
Ivy Jill H. Valmores
Princess Anne G. Grajo

Reviewers: Maricel M. Dineros & Albay Division (headed by Mai Anne D. Rondola)

Layout Artist: Lemuel F. De Ramon

2
 MODULE 5 – LESSON 1

What is the Book about?

In this lesson you will learn about a Book Review or an Article Critique. You will sharpen
both critical reading and critical thinking skills as the session requires you to read, evaluate
and compose an essay about a material read. This will also show the importance of this type
of academic writing.

After this module, you are expected to;

✓ identify the unique features of Book Review or Article Critique.
✓ compose a Book Review or an Article Critique.

Here is a list of words you will encounter in our discussion.

1. Critical reading – an active reading where reader is in complex engagement with the
text through analyzing, interpreting and evaluating.
2. Personal prejudice – biased judgments of a reviewer.

Pool Me Out

Book Review Thesis statement

Biosketch Readership

Study the following statements. Pick out the term from the word pool that is referred to
by each statement. Write your answer on your answer sheet.
_________________ 1. A brief writing informing the reader of an account in
person’s life highlighting major achievements.
_________________ 2. Critical examination or evaluation of a material read.

1
_________________ 3. Composed of several pages with printed or handwritten
information, fiction or nonfiction, fastened together.
_________________ 4. A number or group of people who read a material.
_________________ 5. The claim of the writer that is the subject for discussion.

What score did you get from the activity? Are those terms in any way familiar to
you? You will come across those words again in the module. Are you now ready
to learn more about book review?

If you are used to reading weekend-released newspaper you may have come across
article that determine the merits and drawbacks of books. We call it book review or article
critique. Book review is a form of literary criticism in which book is objectively analyzed,
evaluated and commented based on content, style and merit. Its purpose is to provide an
informed analysis that will help potential readers decide whether to read or not the book being
evaluated.
Similarly, article critique analyzes and comments on an article or text instead of the
entire book. Though “critique’’ may have negative connotation, it includes merit recognition,
since article critique can be part of book review. In this module, we shall treat them as one.

Elements of Book Review or Article Critique

Book review or critique may contain some or all of the elements below.
1. Summary. It summarizes in detail the main ideas and important contents of the
book.
2. Reviewer’s statement. The reviewer explicitly states his thesis where his review
will focus on. He will then thoroughly discuss his thesis statement relating his analysis
of the work.

3. Brief Biographical Sketch. It gives a short biographical sketch of the intellectual

life of the author and relates his background to the book for review.
4. Relevance to other works. A discussion must be provided by the reviewer whether
the book under review has relevance to previous works of the writer or has it any
similarities or differences to other works in the field.
5. Objective evaluation. Objective evaluation must be clearly presented and well-
supported. Every statement of the reviewer must be supported with explanation and
excerpt from the text reviewed.

2
6. Quotations. Selected quotations from the book under review may be used to
represent the theme, tone and style.

The Structure
In formal writing, such as book review or critique, organization
is always an element to consider. Organization in your book review
may be achieved by interweaving the elements mentioned above.
This will help the review to be clear, focused, logical and effective.
This structure may be adopted.

Title. Starts the book review or critique with a striking title. Do not use the same title
as work for review, though it may be included. Your readers must have a sense of
work’s content and reviewer’s perspective.
Introduction. Introduces the bibliographical information of the book for review. It also
includes general statement from the reviewer that indicates the work’s content and
reviewer’s reaction to it. This statement usually serves as the thesis statement of the
review.
Body. Contains the summary of the work for review, purpose of the book and
evaluation. Each will be at least one paragraph. The length of the review varies with
the extent of what to say and the nature of the review.
Summary. Emphasizes the important points of the writer. It should state the overall
impression of the book.
Purposes of the book state in the foreword or introduction. Author’s background may
be included to establish connection with previous works.
Evaluation discusses the negative and positive features of the book for review. Your
judgment as a reviewer must be clear and must be supported with evidence from the
work especially when you challenge the assumption of the writer. This may be done
through paraphrasing and quoting excerpts from the material.
Conclusion. Restates the overall impression of the book. No new information must
be included. Explain why you recommend or not recommend the book. Some review
structure includes rating, but this is optional.

Why is book review important?

While writers and book lovers enjoy the importance of book review, senior high
school students begin to appreciate it when after finishing this module.
Book reviews save reader’s time. With the book reviewer presenting the
features of the book, it shortens the time of decision-making on whether to read the
book or not. It also decreases risk to readers. Potential readers become familiar with
what a book is all about that it gives them the idea of how they might react to it.

3
 Book reviews give book greater visibility and greater chance of being found by
more readers. Compared to books with few or no review, reviewed books are likely
recommended for reading. Online book clubs, blogging communities and bookstores
amplify reviews thus, increase popularity of reviewed book. Reviews help increase
sales. The more reviews the book have, the more it increases its popularity. Its
popularity makes more people curious and interested to buy it. However, some authors
are taking advantage of this that they make their own book review. This is unethical.

Practice Task 1. Read Me

Read the Book Review sample of Caroline Hau’s ‘Tiempo Muerto’. Study
how the reviewer, Ruel S. De Vera, developed his review of the novel “Tiempo
Muerto.” and answer the questions that follow on your answer sheets.

Caroline Hau’s ‘Tiempo Muerto’ is a powerful first novel that explores distance and
identity
By: Ruel S. De Vera Philippine Daily Inquirer / 04:01 AM January 20, 2020

1
On the scarred surface, Lia Agalon and Racel Panindagat can’t have anything in
common save for their location. At the beginning of Caroline Hau’s “Tiempo Muerto: A
Novel” (Bughaw-Ateneo de Manila University Press, Quezon City, 2019, 275 pages),
the two are still both in Singapore. Lia is the daughter of a wealthy Filipino family
married to a wealthy Singaporean executive and Racel is an overseas Filipino worker
working as a nanny for the Wong family.
2
But it turns out the two are connected in powerful ways—Hau constructs the
connections one artery at a time. Lia’s story is told in third person; Racel is the
daughter of Lia’s own nanny, Yaya Alma and tells her story in first person. The two
alternate chapters and share a past on the fictional location of Banwa Island.
3
“Tiempo Muerto” kicked into motion when the two return to the Philippines, sent into
motion by telephone calls. Racel must hurry home because her mother has gone
missing. Lia escapes Singapore after a divorce due to a tabloid-exposed affair with
her personal trainer. They return to Manila first, and, of course, eventually back to
Banwa.
4
But not yet. Racel and Lia must go on journeys of their own, forward and back, before
what is obviously going to be a fateful meeting.
In the meantime, there is a lot of story to be told. As Racel says: “Most of what I know
5

my mother told me; the rest I make up.”

6
As Racel returns to Banwa in search for her mother, she increasingly becomes aware
of just how little she knew about Nanay, especially after Racel had left for Singapore:
“It does not surprise me that Nanay has been martyred and canonized over and over.
I do not know this stranger. To me, she is just Nanay.”

4
7
Despite sharing the narrative with Lia, Racel is clearly the dominant character and
narrator. It is through her that the reader more heavily navigates the mined sugarcane
field of memories and questions within “Tiempo Muerto,” some of them resonant to
this day.
Dead season
8
The novel takes its name from the tiempo muerto, the “dead season” between
planting and harvest, when sugarcane workers go hungry because they have no paid
work: “Our stomachs understood the difference between pain and hunger. We knew
what it was like year after year, to walk the purgatory between life and death.”
9
Hau is a respected writer of literary history and criticism; she has also written two
excellent collections of short fiction, 2015’s “Recuerdos de Patay and Other Stories”
and 2019’s “Demigods and Monsters.”
10
The issues and techniques she deployed in those collections are in full force, in
conjunction, in her debut novel. Banwa Island is very much a character by itself. There
is a lot touched on in between Racel and Lia’s stories: the heart-wrenching OFW
experience, the death of marriages, the possible haunting of a balay daku,
indoctrination, oppression, a long-delayed slow-burn romance, family tensions and the
turbulence of the Marcos years: “The dead season of 1985 was different, for the
demons had come unshackled and roved the countryside,” Racel recalls. “Turning
Banwa into an inpierno for the living.”
11
It explores the nature of distance and identity between people. Yet it works because
Hau doesn’t miss a thing. There is an unusually clinical quality to Hau’s prose, but
instead of putting you off, you just wind up admiring theseobviously carefully
constructed complicated doll houses of plot. There are entire pages of just details piled
on top of each other, but they’re never over-written, and perfectly balanced.
Incidentally, Hau had included the Agalons in a previous short story. Can we call the
connective space between all her stories the Hau-verse?
12
By the time Lia and Racel inevitably meet toward the end of “Tiempo Muerto,”
readers will know they have experienced something extraordinary, the coming
together of two characters who had been so far away from each other yet never really
apart over all these years and miles. Those connections were more powerful than you
imagined or dreaded. This is a powerful debut novel from Caroline Hau. There is just
so much story in “Tiempo Muerto” that one is reminded of Nanay Alma’s admission to
her confused daughter: “You can leave whenever you want to, but as the years grow
heavy, you feel as if you no longer have any choice.”
Source: https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/355673/caroline-haus-tiempo-muerto-is-a-powerful-first-novel-that-
explores-distance-and-identity/#ixzz6RrKlssYt

1. Do you think the setting Banwa Island is in existence in real life? Why?
2. What does the writer mean when he said “walk the purgatory between life
and death’?
3. Based on the review, what do you think is the theme of the novel by Hau?

5
Practice Task 2. Elements in Review
Refer to the Book Review in Practice Task 1. Fill in the table below by writing
the paragraph numbers where an element of review or critique can be found. Also,
identify the elements observed. Do this on a different sheet of paper.
Paragraph or Line Number Element

Practice task 3. Remembering the Book

Remember the book you recently read. Take note of the details from cover to
the end of the book. Answer the guide questions on the first column. On the third
column write your comment or opinion on items you find significant to comment
on. Do this on a different sheet of paper.
Book Features Answer Comment/Opinion
On features
What is the title of the book?

6
Does the title suggest
anything?

Is the title of the book

adequate to its content?

Who wrote the book?

When was it published?

What is the relevance of the

cover illustration to the topic
of the book?

Book type
What type of book is it?
Fiction or non-fiction?

What genre does it

represent?

On contents
Are there charts, graphs,
photographs. Etc.?
What do the photographs
show?

Do they have something to

do with the theme of the
book?
Do the photographs reveal
something about the author?

What does the material

present?

On topic

What is the general topic of

the book?
What are the author’s main
arguments?
What did the author want to
accomplish?
What message did the
author want to convey?
Why was the book written?

On writing style
Is the author’s writing style
technical or simple?

Is it logical or emotional?

7
 How did the writer reveal the
character?
On readership
Who is the intended reader
of the book?
Are the terms and
vocabulary appropriate to
the readers?

You are one step closer to finishing this module on book review. You are
expected to have learned the content and acquired the necessary skills in
composing a book review. You will now be assessed of your content knowledge.
Answer this assessment.

Fill in the blank with appropriate word that will complete the statement.
Write your answer on a separate sheet of paper.
1. After a thorough evaluation of the book, the reviewer may decide to give a
_____________ of the book to potential readers to influence them to read the material.
A. analysis B. recommendation C. commendation D. visibility
2. In the book review organization, the bibliographical information is usually placed in
the _________________.
A. summary B. body C. introduction D. title
3. Book review helps reduce _______________ to potential readers on how they react
to the content of the book.
A. time B. sales C. visibility D. risk
4. One importance of book review is that it shortens the decision ________ because
the reviewer had presented the features of the book.
A. making B. risk C. time D. visibility
5. It is _______________ for the author himself to make a review of his own book just
to gain popularity and to boost sales.
A. ethical B. unethical C. distinction D. interesting
6. Although the word __________ always has a negative connotation, it also gives
merit to the work not purely criticizes the book or article for review.
A. article B. criticism C. critique D. comment

8
7. Clear presentation of your analysis with quotations and excerpts from the text helps
create an objective _________________.
A. comment B. evaluation C. review D. opinion
8. A book usually caters a particular group of people as its _______________.
A. readership B. audience C. on-lookers D. spectators
9. The _____________ highlights the intellectual life of the author. It gives authority to
the reader.
A. biographical sketch B. background C. journey D. experience
10. __________________ has no place in the book review. Suggestions or proposal
may be addressed to author but must be clearly stated.
A. prejudices B. anger C. recommendation D. impartiality

You have now reached the final level of learning about book review. To
demonstrate how well you are able to understand the lesson, write a well-written
book review or critique of a book or an article you have read. Be guided by the rubric
below.

OUTSTANDING SATISFACTORY UNSATISFACTORY POOR SCORE

INTRODUCTION Bibliographical Bibliographical Thesis statement is Title and
information is information is expressed. author is
20 clearly stated. stated. Thesis Bibliographical omitted.
Thesis statement statement is information lacks Bibliographical
is expressed with expressed. detail information do
solid not catch
catchphrase. attention
SUMMARY Summary Summary Summary consists Summary is
consists of major consists of of discussion of mostly an
30 themes ideas discussion of major themes, ideas outline of the
and characters major themes, or character. book and does
providing ideas from the Summary reveals not discuss
exemplary ideas work. Summary ending of novel (too opinion or new
from work. does not give much) and /or lacks ideas.
Summary does away key events, details. Summary
not give away but may lack reveals too
too much. detail. much, in
general, or
entirely lacks
an overview.
CRITIQUE The body The body The body contains The body
contains critical contains critical analysis of the book. contains
30 analysis of the analysis of the It contains less your analysis of the
book. It contains book. It contains book.

9
 your reaction on less your reaction on the
the theme, the reaction on the theme
appreciation of theme,
how well the expresses
book is written. reaction to the
theme
ORGANIZATION There is smooth There is smooth Some parts of the Very limited
& VOICE flow of ideas. flow of ideas. paragraphs are not ideas in are
The writer uses The writer uses connected Limited connected
10 transition words faulty transition use of transition from each
to connect ideas words to in words. other.
from paragraph connecting ideas
to paragraph. from paragraph
to paragraph.
MECHANICS Uses a variety of Uses a variety of Uses a limited Uses a limited
&LANGUAGE sentence sentence variety of sentence variety of
structures and structures and structures. sentence
10 contents. contents. Sentences express types.
Sentences Sentences ideas Fragments are
express clearly express ideas observed
ideas with wide with wide use of
use of vocabulary.
vocabulary.

This rubric is adapted from

https://www.wintonwoods.org/userfiles/557/AGS/Summer%20Assignments/Rubric%20for%2
0book%20review.pdf

“I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in.”

– Robert Louis Stevenson

Book review or article critique is a form of literary criticism that analyzes, evaluates
and comments on a book for review. As a rule, you cannot review a book without
reading it. Personal prejudices have no place in this form writing.

10
Answer Key

11
12
References
Website
https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/twc/sites/utsc.utoronto.ca.twc/files/resource-
files/CriticalReading.pdf
https://www.tcc.edu/wp-content/uploads/archive/writing-center-handouts/essay-types-book-
review-critique-guidelines.pdf
https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/book-review.pdf
https://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/twc/sites/utsc.utoronto.ca.twc/files/resource-
files/CriticalReading.pdf
https://www.dudleycourtpress.com/book-reviews/
https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/355673/caroline-haus-tiempo-muerto-is-a-powerful-first-novel-
that-explores-distance-and-identity/#ixzz6RrKlssYt

13
For inquiries or feedback, write or call:
Department of Education – Region 5
Regional Center Site, Rawis, Legazpi City 4500
Contact: 0917 178 1288
Email: region5@deped.gov.ph