Skink—No Surrender

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Book Cover: Skink’s Next Adventure”

After reading about Skink and his deep connection to Florida’s natural environment, students will create book covers to demonstrate their understanding of the book’s characterization of Skink and how this characterization conveys messages about the book’s setting.

Now that you have finished Skink—No Surrender, you have a good understanding of both Skink’s character and his connection to Florida. Skink is a character who appears repeatedly in Carl Hiaasen’s books, and Florida is the main setting for many of Hiaasen’s stories. In this activity, you will imagine a new adventure for Skink that also occurs in Florida. You will create a cover for this imaginary book and then explain how your book cover demonstrates that you understand Skink’s character and his connection to the natural environment of Florida.

Create a Book Cover

• Look at the front and back covers of several books. What information do their images and text convey to a potential reader? What techniques do they use to try to persuade people to read the book?
• Create a front cover for your book, with a title and image that catch the reader’s attention and make the reader curious about the book.