Book Report Template

A book report that fits on one page

Small boxes run across the top for the title and author, the genre, the setting, the characters. Below them sits a large area for the summary. An illustration box and a star rating can each be switched off.

The small boxes are small on purpose. Give half a page to recording an author's name and the thinking gets squeezed out of whatever is left.

The summary box is where it succeeds or fails

Left alone, most children retell the plot from the beginning and keep going until the space runs out. What you get is a careful summary of the first three chapters and nothing at all about the rest.

One rule fixes it. The summary has to say what the character wanted, what got in the way, and how it ended. Three sentences in that shape. The retelling problem vanishes, and the child starts thinking about structure instead of sequence — which is the whole difference between summarising a book and listing what happened in it.

Say explicitly whether spoilers are allowed. A child hedging around the ending writes a much worse summary, and half of them will hedge unless told not to.

The star rating is not decoration

It is the only part of the sheet that asks for an opinion, and it is the part children fill in first.

Use it. "Why three stars and not four?" is the most productive question you can ask about a book report. It demands a reason and there is no right answer to guess at. A child who cannot defend the rating has not thought about the book. One who defends it well has done more than the summary box shows.

Turn it off for a formal assessment where a rating would be beside the point.

The illustration box

Ask for a specific moment rather than "a picture from the book". A drawing of the cover tells you nothing; a drawing of the scene where the character makes their decision tells you they know which scene that was.

It is also the escape route for the child who reads well and writes reluctantly. The box needs no sentences, so comprehension can still be shown. Worth having on the page for that alone.

Controls and printing

A title, the illustration box on or off, and the star rating on or off. A4 or US Letter.

Turning both off leaves a plain text-only report, which suits older students and takes the whole page for the writing.

Using a stack of them

Print a set at the start of term and leave them where children can take one. One report written the day a book is finished beats several written a fortnight later from memory, and the difference comes down almost entirely to whether a sheet was within reach.

Print at 100% on A4 or US Letter.