Putting the Antagonist on Trial
In virtually every good novel, there is an antagonist who is dueling with the protagonist. In some cases, this antagonist isn't very easy to distinguish, as it could be the main character's adverse emotions, weather, dinosaurs, or even just a social stigma of the time. Nonetheless, there is always an antagonist present, and you can turn their evil doings into a fun class activity where this person or thing is put on trial. Set up a whole class day for this activity, and you can involve everyone in the class to question witnesses, question the antagonist, determine whether this person was guilty or not, and many other things. Before the activity, present your students with various roles, including other characters from the book, lawyers, and even jury members. Not only is this activity a great way of breaking the monotony of book reports, it always gives the whole class a detailed discussion about motives, plot events, and everything else related to the book.

News Reports
Every book always has a scene that is particularly important for all of the characters involved, and if you have found this scene fascinating, others might find them fascinating as well. This concept is similar to news reports, as reporters in real life situations describe interesting occurrences to other people who might enjoy hearing about these happenings as well. Therefore, a fun way to present major scenes in a book is to have your students report these events much like a news reporter. Similar to the television talk show activity, giving your students cameras can get them very involved with the activity. Encourage your students to make sets and use props. If your whole class read one book, then you can assign different scenes of the book to different groups of students so that the entire story is presented via your team of reporters.

Writing From the Perspective of a Character
Using drama to describe scenes from a book is an activity that isn't for every student, as teachers often have students who are shy or prefer not to perform in front of their classmates. Therefore, written book reports can be a valuable assignment for students who pay to do homework and enjoy using their creativity on paper. However, instead of the typical book report, you can make this homework even more enjoyable by having students write from the perspective of one of the characters. If the book is written in the first person, make sure that students choose other characters from the book so that different perspectives are presented. This activity can be very humorous as well, as students are able to use events, themes, and topics of the book and then completely create the character's frame of mind.

With all of the technology surrounding students' lives, it can be fairly difficult to get them to read more often. However, by integrating technology, modern concepts, and other things that are interesting to students, you can help them explore books in a whole new light. Whether you choose to utilize video cameras or mock trials in your class, you can help students really learn about the concepts and themes of literature in a format that they can remember. With a variety of alternative book topic ideas at your disposal, English class might become your students' favorite subject.