My students are in the first stages of writing book reviews, and so I had them prepare some interview questions for each other about the books they were considering reviewing. The beauty of this assignment is that the other student need not have read the book; in fact it's better if he or she hasn't, because those questions help the reviewer figure out what the audience needs to know. The interviews also give the reviewer insight into who may or may not like the book. Plus it's a good way to get kids talking and thinking about books and writing.
Anyhow, my advice when they are writing the questions is for them to be as creative as possible. They will hear a brief summary of the book to begin with, so I encourage them to compose questions that will lead to a lively discussion.
I like it when my students follow the directions, and it pleases me when they are surprising, but I was a little shocked when I heard this question:
Which character would you be most likely to torture for information, how would you do it, and what would you want to know?
Fortunately? I know the student and how he thinks; the guy is just itching for adults to tell him he can't do something, so then he gets to debate the injustice of our authority rather than do the assignment. I don't usually pick that battle with him, but after a little prompting he amended his question to include this disclaimer:
In other words, who is your least favorite character and what would you say if you met them?
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