Writing Assignment for English 9
Letter about Colin Singleton
Pretend you are someone who is well acquainted with Colin Singleton, the protagonist of John Green’s An Abundance of Katherines. You can be Hassan or Lindsey, or you can simply be yourself and imagine that Colin is your good friend.
Colin has applied for a job at a library, but he needs a character reference from you (which is basically a letter of recommendation).
You need to write a letter to Ms. Patricia Penciltip, the head of the library, telling her true things about Colin that you think will help him get hired.
· Be sure to use events and ideas from the book to make your point as you try to persuade Ms. Penciltip to hire Colin.
· Use proper formatting, with your address and Ms. Penciltip’s address (make it up) in the appropriate positions on the page.
· This letter must be at least one FULL page, typed, double spaced. If you handwrite it, it must be TWO pages, single spaced.
This is due on Monday, February 26 – so you have 12 days! There will probably not be any class time reserved for this assignment; it is a homework project. Still, if you have trouble getting started, please bring it up in class and I will set aside some time to work with you.
Good luck!
Terry
6 comments:
um, I love this assignment. Can I do it? I am going to do it. But no one is allowed to cheat off of me!
To: Ms. Patricia Penciltip, Librarian
From: Hassan Harbish
Re: Colin Singleton
Dear Ms. Penciltip,
I have been asked to provide a character reference for my best friend, Colin Singleton.
There is no question that Colin is well-qualified to work at your library. I mean, he IS a library. He speaks eleven languages. He is annoyingly familiar with most of the major works of reference. Also, he remembers pretty much everything he reads. And he reads hundreds of pages every single day, even when Judge Judy is on.
I know what you are thinking, Ms. Penciltip. You are thinking that you can't trust someone who would choose reading over the greatest television judge in world history. Colin Singleton is certainly not flawless. He is deeply self-centered. He can be a little condescending. Also, you should not put him within shouting distance of any girls named Katherine.
You can say a lot of bad things about Colin Singleton, and I'm not afraid to say them. But he is also loyal and generous and extrarodinarily hard-working. Also, he loves books and information. And unlike me, he actually WANTS a job. In short, he is more qualified to work in a library than any 18-year-old I've ever met.
Yours truly,
Hassan Harbish
Wow thats so cool! How do we really know it's him? ;)
Dear Ms. Penciltip,
I have been requested to write a letter for you telling how Colin Singleton is qualified to work at your library. I believe Colin is qualified because he is knows 11 languages. This shows that he would do very well with people who want foreign books. He would also be good for speaking with people that know little to no English.
On top of knowing 11 languages, he LOVES reading. He is the kind of guy you will see reading while watching television. This shows that he has an un-denying love for books. If this does not show that Colin is qualified for this job, than you will need to hire a lawyer.
Thanks for taking the time,
Hassan Harbish
Global Textile’s inc.
Oliver A. Berger
1143 Maybrook Dr.
March 12, 2007
1234 Fake Street
Ms. Patricia Penciltip
Dear Ms. Patricia Penciltip:
I am writing this letter of recommendation for Colin Singleton. In his time working for my company he’s has been the epitome of the perfect employ.
Often I would walk into the lunch room and find him read another book each day. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has read all of the book in the library. He is incredibly intelligent. If I remember correctly he was on the show “cranial kids” and won. I don’t but having a TV personality around may attract a crowd of new readers.
You must know what kids are like these with there “Hippidy hop” its hard to find a kid who likes to read out of his own free will. He also can speak 5 different languages. This always helped when we had foreign costumers.
Sincerely,
Oliver A. Berger, M.O.D “madden of drek”
5310 Zelzah Ave. Apt. 206
Encino, CA 91316
Ms. Patricia Penciltip
83091 8th St. Apt. 104
Chicago, IL 39021
Dear Ms. Penciltip:
I would like to submit a letter of reccomendation for Mr. Colin Singleton. Notwithstanding his age, Mr. Singleton is fairly well qualified to start a low-level job at Chicago Central Branch Library. Moreover, I believe people who are not legal adults are allowed to work at simple jobs. However, in some ways he is overqualified, being fluent in 11 languages (German, French, Latin, Greek, Dutch, Arabic, Spanish, Russian, 4 more – unspecified), able to anagram practically anything (which may be fairly useful in a buiding designated for the storage of words), and a mathematical genius (I kid you not – he has come up with a mathematical formula, the use of which is irrelevant, in the space of a few weeks).
However, Mr. Singleton must work part-time – not only is this required by law, as he is a minor, but he may have prior commitments during his off-hours (specifically speaking, his parents, his friend Hassan Harbish, and his girlfriend Lindsey Lee Wells). Mr. Singleton seems to be in a constantly unstable emotional state, and although this will not affect his ability to work, if a girl named Katherine comes to the front or information desk for help, it is advisable to send someone else. However, Mr. Singleton is a fairly reliable worker, and is easily able to do low-level work – checking out/returning books, sorting/storing returned items, etc. After all, Mr. Singleton is but human, although better than some – at least he knows how to work.
Mr. Singleton is quite capable of doing any job you may assign to him, as long as it consists of any level of mental activity and a low/moderate level of physical activity – he may be a former prodigy/future genius (you may hear either one, depending on his mood at a particular time), but he is unused to running errands for more than a few hours at a time. Mr. Singleton is able to do most common jobs, several specified above. Even though Mr. Singleton may not always be the best of workers, he is no doubt better qualified than at the very least a few of the other applicants, and should be considered. After all, he is quite a diligent worker, as I believe I have shown with the above fact: calculating a new mathematical formula in just a few weeks. This is no mean feat, I assure you. There is no easily found reason why Mr. Singleton should not be given at least an interview, at best a job.
If this letter of reccomendation is entirely unsatisfactory, then please notify me. After all, I see no reason why you cannot simply hire him for a short while. If he somehow turns out to be useless (unlikely, unless for some reason Ms. Wells dumps him), then you can just as simply fire him and put out another want ad. However, as Mr. Singleton is a diligent worker, is generally very organized, and can work with the visitors if need be. After all, it’s not as though he cannot do a fairly simple job – and working in a library is not very complicated for new employees. In summary, Mr. Singleton should definitely be considered, at the very least, for a starting position at the Chicago Public Library.
Respectfully,
Ms. Leonore Shtern
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