Book Reports

Book reports will be due every month on the 15th starting in September.  
Due Dates:  September 15th, October 15th, November 15th, December 15th, January 15th, February 15th, March 15th, April 15th, and May 15th

Expectations: (Book Report Rubric will be distributed)
1)  Select a chapter book that meets the requirements (i.e. specific genre)
2)  Read for 20-30 minutes each day to give yourself enough time to complete the report
3)  Write a good summary of the book for the presentation- please see guidelines below
4)  Create a project to go along with the book.  Students may create any type of project they wish from a diarama, cereal box, poster, powerpoint, etc.  The project should be neat and look like they've put some effort into it.  One Rule:  They cannot pick the same project twice!

   

Book Report Guidelines (type or write legibly): 

Cover:  Include your name, author, illustration of book (hand made or printed)…

Introduction:  Things to include in the introduction: 

• The title (underlined) and author of the book
• Why you chose the book
• What kind of story is it?  (realistic fiction? Historical fantasy? Historical fiction? Narrative nonfiction? Biography? Expository nonfiction? …)

Body:  In this section you want to describe the main parts of a story: theme, setting, plot, and characters.  Then you give your opinions about the book.

• The Theme is the main idea of the story.  Some examples might be the importance of friendship or how to be courageous in a difficult situation.  Tell what you think the theme is and how you know.
• The Setting is the time and place of the story.  Is it set a long time ago or now?  Does it take place in another country or in an imaginary place?  How much time passes in the story – a day?  a year?  A lifetime? 
• The Plot is what happens. You want to tell what the story is  mostly about.
• What is the main event or conflict?  What things lead up to it?  What happens as a result?  How does the story end?  (Sometimes you want to avoid telling the ending, or giving away the secret of the story.)  Be careful not to re-tell the whole story in detail – you want room in your report to write about other things; instead, just say enough about it so the rest of your report will make sense. 
• The Characters are who the story is about.  The main character is called the protagonist.  Who are the other important characters?  Do they help or hinder the protagonist? 
• Once you have summarized the book, you can tell what you think about it.  You can write about whatever opinions you have.  Some questions you might want to answer  are:

1. Do you like the story?  Why or why not?
2. What was the best part of the book?  Why?
3. How did the story make you feel?  Did you feel different things at different points in the story?
4. Would you recommend it to friends?
5. Would you read other books by this author?
6. What new things did you learn from this book?

Conclusion:  This should be three or four sentences to sum up your report.  Give you overall opinion of the book and the most important thing you want other people to know about it.