Guidelines for writing English book reports
Things to be included in a book report:
1. Basic information of the book
Title: the name of the book
Author: the name of the writer
Publisher: the company that publish the book
2. Categories (Types of book)
Fiction
Classic Horror
Romance
Drama
Humorous / Comedy
Science Fiction
Fantasy
Modern adventure
Historical
Mystery
Crime
Fairy Tales
Legend
Ghost
Others
Non-fiction
Biography
History
Science
Business
Nature
Sports
Current events
Politics
Travel
Health
Religion
Others
3. Comments/reflections on the book
For all types of books, you need to have your comments/ reflections. You may use the following questions to help you.
Fiction:
Things to talk about |
Examples |
How do you feel of the book? Do you enjoy it? Give reasons to explain your answers.
|
I enjoy reading this book because this book is …
(educational, informative, well-written, enjoyable, inspirational, exciting, interesting) |
Who is your favourite character? Why? Would you like to be this character? Why?
|
My favourite character is … He/She is very…
(helpful, intelligent, gentle, honest, easy-going, generous, caring, thoughtful, brave, optimistic, sympathetic, considerate)
I would like to be… because… I… |
Which part of the story impresses you the most? Why? |
The part I like most is …
The part that impresses me most is… |
If you could change the ending of the story, what change(s) would you like to make? Why? |
If I could change the ending of the story, I would… |
What message(s) or lesson(s) does the story/ book want the reader to learn? |
After reading the story, I learnt that…
(e.g. we should be honest. / we should be kind to people. / we should work hard. …) |
Would you recommend this book to your friends? Why? |
I would recommend this book to…
(my friend, my brother, my sister, my classmates etc.) |
Non - fiction:
If the book you read is a non-fiction one, that means it is a true story or a general description of something.
If the book is about people:
Give a short description of the key person, such as name, age, personality, strengths and weaknesses.
If the book is about issues/ things:
Give a short description of the topic. What are the issues raised in the book?