Project Overview

This collection of trading cards was created by 5^th and 6^th graders at Shutesbury Elementary School in Shutesbury, Massachusetts, as part of a choice-based fictional reading project.

Each student selected a fiction book that he or she wanted to read and then created a set of cards based on the characters in the book. On the front of each card is a picture of a character – on the back is a concise, compelling character description for the character.

To maximize student engagement and connection with their hobbies collecting trading cards with other topics, the finished cards are standard trading card size. This allows students to purchase and use all the standard products created to display sports cards (notebooks, card protectors, card displays). The character portraits and typed character descriptions were originally produced by students at a large proportionate scale, and then reduced on a photocopy machine to the miniature size required, before coloring.

This format allows students to tangibly see how many characters, and the relationships between those characters, an author uses within a book.

The cards in this selection are from three different student’s work: four from one student and one each from two other students.