s/o what does literary criticism mean?

[delaney]

DS has to do a "report" on a book and he chose to do a new book jacket design. He needs to include literary criticism which I assume means like a critics review?

[Susan in TN]

Well, my "I'm still trying to get a handle on this myself" definition of literary criticism is to read a work and then figure out what the author is "really" saying - about life, what it means to be human, what is good, what is bad, what is real, what is important, etc.

[KarenAnne]

It's difficult to know; literary criticism can have broad range of meanings and approaches. Is he taking a class from someone else, over the internet, or at a co-op? If so, I'd ask the teacher for clarification. If it's an assignment from a curriculum or book you're doing on your own with him, you get to design what is acceptable.

Your son is a middle-schooler, so I'd go for any kind of commentary that does not focus exclusively on plot (although introducing elements of the plot is a standard opening for book reviews and the material inside book jackets on the front flap). What's the writer's style like? Who tells the story? Is the focus on plot, character development/change, conflict with some other person or force? SWB has a list of questions for logic-stage kids along these lines (pp. 345-6 in the third edition).