Writing a book report is a common activity students are required to go through today. Reading is one thing but the ability to summarize and analyze information is totally different. One can read a lot of books but still be unable to develop a good book report due to the lack of knowledge of what it should look like. Therefore, students often seek book report help in order to understand how to write one. In this article we are going to provide some good book report questions that will provide guidance as to which direction to go when choosing a format of a book report. Even if you have never faced the challenge of writing one, it is most likely that you will soon receive such assignment. And it is always better to face it prepared knowing what to do. So keep reading to get to know more about how to develop a good one. Even if you have written one or many reports by now, you can still find out more to polish up your writing skills. Questions for a book report provided below will serve a good foundation for every student.
❓ How to Write a Good Book Report
There is a difference between a book report and a book review which everybody should know prior to writing any of these. They are not the same although there are some similarities. A lot of students mix them up turning in reports when reviews are requested and vice versa. Book reports are all about explaining topical details and the storyline of the book. Those writing this type of assignment are to present biographical information about the author of the book (year of birth, marital status, his/her education and worldview, etc.). After the biographical information, there should go a brief summary of the book content – the main characters and the development of the plot.
Now a book review is different as it requires an in-depth analysis in addition to the things mentioned in a book report. The bio of the author along with the summary of the story also belongs in the review but the attention paid to these things should not be so significant. In other words, these things are not central in writing a book review. Instead, they are all considered a background information upon which one may analyze and evaluate the book in general. A book review is then more about analysis and evaluation where students are required to identify the author’s main message and ideas as well as to understand the meaning of symbolic elements present in the text. Now as we have managed to draw the line of separation between a book report and a book review, we can move on to how to write a book report.
Book reports can be of different types and formats. Most common forms of book reports are plot summaries, theme and character analysis. This type of assignment will help you practice expressing your own opinion about different aspects of the text and eventually expressing your thoughts on pretty much any subject in future. But no matter what type of book report you are about to write, there are some common things you have to include into your paper:
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Specify the kind of book report
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Include the title of the book
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Put the name of the author
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Indicate the time when the story takes place
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Mention the location of the events taking place in the book
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List the names of the characters briefly describing each one of them (at least those you will be discussing in the report)
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Add quotations in order to back up your opinions
📄 Plot Summaries
This type of book report assumes one has to explain own opinions about the plot and why he/she believes so. Your purpose should be to describe and characterize the plot and back up your opinions by some examples from the book.
🖋 Character Analysis
Here you can explore the traits of the main characters and how they affect the development of the plot in the book. There are many things you can pay attention to when analyzing the characters, such as clothing, moral flaws, dialogues, actions, etc.
📗 Theme Analysis
This form of book reports allows exploring the themes and big ideas that are interwoven within the entire story. You can simply choose a theme that seems to be the most important or the one you like the most and try to bring some of your thoughts to highlight the topic.
📚 Book Report Questions
What can help you write book reports efficiently is the list of questions to direct your thinking and writing. You can google phrases like “book report questions for high school” or “book report questions for middle school” depending on what your level of writing is. But in order to save some time for you, we have decided to come up with our own list of questions that should help develop a good book report. Therefore, there is no need to type something like “write my book report” in a google search tab in hopes to find someone who will do it all for you. Instead, you may consider the questions to ask for a book report and try to write it on your own. Here is the list:
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What genre does your book belong to? Fiction, non-fiction, etc.
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Do you like the book? Why so? If yes, would you recommend it to your friends?
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Can you come up with another title?
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What is the setting/background information?
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Who are the main characters?
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Are the names of the characters in any way descriptive?
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How does the story start? Why do you think the author chose to start his book this way?
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How does the story develop?
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Did you have any associations coming to your mind when you were reading the story?
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Did you find anything funny in the story?
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What’s your favorite part?
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Is there a problem in the story? What is this problem?
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Do you think that the author could have come up with a better solution (if there is one)?
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Is there the main idea that you can identify?
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Can you identify the purpose of the book?
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What are the lessons the book teaches (if any)?
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Is the topic of the book important? Why?
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Did any of the characters in the book do something you did not quite like?
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Can you identify the main purpose of writing the book?
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Did the book help you generate new ideas?
✅ Final Remarks
Now that you know what book reports are all about, we recommend you to try and write one. But when we say “write one”, we don’t necessarily mean that the very first thing you have to do in order to produce a good book report is to take a pen and start writing something. There are other things one should do before writing. We suggest you jot down the information you would want to take special note of when reading the book. Keep this piece of paper next to you when you read a book. As you read, take notes of the plot, characters and the main idea. Then you can go through the questions listed above – they should help you understand the book better. When you are done with the questions, organize your thoughts into an outline and draft the book report. From there you have to only edit and revise the draft to produce a perfect paper.
