book report project ideas for 3rd grade

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Book Report Project Ideas and Forms: Trading cards, book mobiles, and more.

May 8, 2015 by Evan-Moor | 1 Comment

Use these free printables for creative book reports from Evan-Moor’s How to Report on Books :

•   A character trading card project: This book project focuses on recalling facts about a character and creating trading cards.

• Book mobile project: This book project guides students in identifying setting/characters and problem/solution, and in creating a mobile.Tips: glue white paper to backs of construction paper for the illustrations (step #1); add a length of construction paper to increase the long strip to form a ring (step #2.)

• An exciting event pop-up: This book report project focuses on summarizing an exciting event from a fiction book and includes instructions on making a pop-up book report form.

Other engaging book report ideas include:

• Cereal box book report
• Trivia/board games
• Sandwich book report

See our Book Report Fun Pinterest board for more book report ideas such as making character puppets, comic strips, posters, story bags, puzzles, and awards.

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Free Book Report Templates: Printables for Grades 3-5 for Fiction or Nonfiction Books

Take a new spin on your book report assignment. 📚😍

The Nocturnals are fun-filled animal adventure books with companion nonfiction for elementary school classrooms. Check out The Nocturnals World , a resource hub with free turnkey printable activities and educator guides, and browse The Nocturnals bookstore!

Building lifelong readers is one of the most important things we can do in our classrooms. The benefits of reading are wide-ranging, from improving vocabulary skills to boosting cognitive development, concentration skills, and curiosity for learning. So, how do we get young learners excited about reading and sharing what they’ve learned? Check out our free book report template printables .

Four different activities are ready to print to help you take a new spin on your next book report assignment for fiction or nonfiction books. Students will love filling in their mini book report one-pagers or making their selections from the choice board to share details about what they read.

Worksheets Included:

My mini book report—fiction and nonfiction.

These book report one-pagers are a great way for students to reflect on their readings as they complete different sections of the worksheet. There’s a version for both fiction and nonfiction.

Book Report Choice Board

Give students choices on how they want to complete their book report assignment. This choice board offers eight fun options, from designing a comic to creating a playlist or writing interview questions, so students can let their creativity guide them.

Designing Water Bottle Stickers

Students are obsessed with stickers. In this unique activity, students will design water bottle stickers that the main character of the book would love to have, along with a short description of their choices.

Give students fun-filled books to choose from

Animal adventure books from The Nocturnals are the perfect way to get your upper elementary students excited about reading. Paired with nonfiction companion texts that explore nocturnal animal facts, this series is great for hi-lo readers. Visit The Nocturnals World for more free printable activities and educator guides.

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Raise the Bar Reading

A Reading Teacher's Blog

Nonfiction Book Report Templates and Ideas for 3rd, 4th and 5th Grade Students

Generally, when we think of book reports, we think of fiction reading response. However, nonfiction book report templates serve equally as important of a purpose for digging deep into nonfiction texts.  

Book reports are such a great way to encourage the use of many different reading skills with the same text. With one nonfiction text, students can practice skills like identifying main idea and details, analyzing text structure, finding nonfiction text features, summarizing, quoting, paraphrasing, finding the author’s purpose, citing text evidence, etc. The list goes on and on! 

By allowing students to practice so many skills at once, they are able to deeply analyze the text and think critically about the topic. Students can then form their own opinions on the topic and the author’s writing style, and ask important questions for further investigation.   

1. BACKPACK BOOK REPORT:

Backpack Book Reports are an engaging, hands-on twist on a classic book report. They are very easy to prep and make a great bulletin board display when completed. 

Each page focuses on an important nonfiction reading skill. These include: 

• Main Idea & Supporting Details
• Summarizing
• Nonfiction Text Features
• Author’s Point of View & Text Evidence
• Text Structure
• Academic Vocabulary
• Interesting Facts
• Back Up Opinions
• Reflection (What I Learned, My Connection, Questions I Still Have)

2. BOOK REPORT TAB BOOKS:

These tab books really bring nonfiction texts to life! Students re-create the cover of their informational book on the front of their book report. Then, each of the 10 tabs represent an important nonfiction reading response skill.  The tabs include:

They also come in full page option to maximize student writing space, or half page size to maximize wall space for a display.  

3. INFORMATIONAL TEXT LAP BOOK REPORT:

These lap books are great in that you can have students 1.) completely design their own lap books, or 2.) provide them with more structured directions.  

• Lap Book Free-Writes: The teacher tells students what nonfiction elements they are responsible for reporting on, but does not tell them exactly how to present them. The teacher provides students tools like paper, envelopes, scissors, etc. and students can present the information however they would like.

• Structured Lab Book: With this option, the teacher can set clear expectations and provide a model for how to present each nonfiction element on their lap books.

4. NONFICTION BOOK REPORT TEMPLATES:

Students can fill in each template and staple them together with the included cover page. These 10 templates are versatile in that if there’s a skill you haven’t yet covered, you can easily leave that page out until later into the school year and it won’t affect the finished book report product.

5. DIGITAL NONFICTION BOOK REPORT TEMPLATES:

These digital slides are the same as the nonfiction book report templates above, just in a digital Google Slides format. With this format, teachers can just delete any of the slides that cover skills that their students are unfamiliar with before making them their own copy. 

6. CEREAL BOX BOOK REPORT IDEAS:

Cereal boxes are a popular 3D way to have students present their book report since cereal boxes are easily accessible for any student to get their hands on. Students cover their boxes with paper to create drawing and writing space.  

The front of the box is transformed into a type of cereal that is fitting for the text they read.  For example, a student reporting on owls might name their box “Hoot Loops”. Then, the back and sides of their box are filled with information on the text. 

Similar to the lap book options described above, it is up to the teacher in how much structure they want to provide in this activity. Students can follow a model of how to present each element of nonfiction, or come up with their own ways to present each element on their box.

7. ONE PAGE BOOK REPORT (One Pager) :

Not every single book report we assign needs to take up tons of class time. A one-page book report option is an essential resource as it can be used as a quick, zero prep assessment tool. Although short, this type of report can still have students dig deep into reading comprehension.  

On the one pager that is pictured, students still use many important nonfiction skills. These include writing a nonfiction summary, identifying text structure, finding facts, giving an overall opinion, writing a recommendation, reflection on what they learned, and providing a rating.

8. PARAGRAPH WRITING WITH GUIDELINES:

If you are looking for a way to provide a lot of structure and clear expectations, you can give students a nonfiction book report writing rubric for what their reports need to include from the very start.

Students can also use graphic organizers that break down necessary points to include according to their rubric. Using a graphic organizer for prewriting is a great support for students in organizing their ideas before jumping into their drafts. 

No matter what book report format you go with, it is important that students know and understand what is expected of their writing content. Displaying a Nonfiction Book Report Bulletin Board is such a helpful way to provide students with steps to writing a book report as well as terms they will come across in their templates.

All of the nonfiction book report templates from this blog post are included in the Nonfiction Book Reports Bundle as well as the Fiction & Nonfiction Book Reports Megabundle !

Next up: Fiction Book Report Writing Ideas

Teaching Book Report Writing: Book Report Ideas and Formats (Grades 3-5)

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12 Creative Book Report Projects Your Students Will Love

Whether you’re teaching a whole-class novel, or finishing a round of independent reading or literature circles, post-reading assessments are always more engaging when they’re more than just a test or essay.

Below, you’ll discover a dozen fun book report ideas for your middle or high school ELA students, curated by a team of experienced English teachers.

Choose your favorite projects to offer to students as options on a book report project choice board.

Create a Board Game

When I gave “create a board game about the book you read” as a book report option for my students, I was pleasantly surprised at the results! Quite a few students excitedly chose this option and created some really fun-looking games centered on their books. 

This is a great project choice if you’re looking for something that students can’t create by just Googling the book.

Here are some tips and suggestions for assigning a board game book report:

• Give clear parameters and requirements to keep students on track, such as requiring game elements to represent certain literary elements of the book they read.
• Provide suggestions for game components and materials – encourage students to consider the game play and elements of their favorite board games and to use materials they already have at home to create them.
• For a whole-class novel study, consider allowing students to work in teams to create the novel-based board games, then setting aside a class period for students to play each others’ games and see who wins!

If you’re looking to save time… clear directions handouts, lots of suggestions, and a handy grading rubric for a board game post-reading assessment are all included in this resource . Take a look! 

For more independent reading response ideas, check out this post with ideas for fun post-reading projects.

Create a Journey Box

Engaging students in authentic conversations about books is a passion for Carolyn of Middle School Café .  In traditional oral book reports, students simply get up in front of the class and read a summary of the book they read.  Carolyn found this method of oral book reports painful for both her and her students.

Wanting to find a way to help her students talk about their book and keep her class engaged, Carolyn began incorporating Journey Box Book Reports.  A journey box is a shoebox (or bag) that contains artifacts from the story that help the reader share important events from the story. 

Students predetermine what events of the story are most important to share, then they create an artifact to share with the class or small group as they explain the plot.  As an example, Carolyn had a student who read The Diary of Anne Frank.   He created a small 3D tree that he displayed on the desk as he shared about how Anne looked out the window and dreamed of her former life.  It’s a small piece of the story that helps the student explain the plot point and gives the audience something visual to look at and stay engaged. 

Journey Box Book Reports have been successful for Carolyn in both her middle school and high school classrooms.  She does suggest, if using Journey Boxes in older grades, to have students share their stories in small groups.  

Create a Literary Food Truck

If there’s one thing kids love, it’s food – especially high schoolers – and with this in mind, one of Simply Ana P’s favorite ways to recap a class novel or an independent reading unit is with Literary Food Trucks. This is definitely not a new idea, but it’s one that will have you coming back for seconds 🙂 

Ana first tried this project at the end of The Odyssey , where students were able to decide which book(s) they wanted to make the focus of their trucks. The main requirement was that every single choice made had to be intentional and clearly relevant. With this in mind, students could start the planning process. 

You can make the truck’s requirements as simple or as detailed as you prefer, but Ana recommends having students plan: 

• Truck name, design, and branding colors
• Menu design and items (5 items minimum)
• Employee uniforms
• Merch 

Ana includes a writing component by having her students defend all of their selections in the form of a proposal. This is later used in their presentations, and the better (more intentional) their proposal is, the more likely they will win the class vote. This proposal can be anywhere from a few paragraphs to a few pages, depending on what writing goals you have for them, and should definitely include text evidence. 

Part of the beauty of this type of project is that it can be done digital or paper-based. Ana likes to walk her students through a Canva tutorial, where there are even menu templates that students can use so they don’t feel overwhelmed starting from scratch. Or, for more creative students, they can create their trucks on chart paper, poster board, or even 3D dioramas.  After students finish making their food trucks, it’s always fun to take a day for the in-class Food Festival, where students are invited to bring in items from their menus or simply some type of snacks. Some students get super hype about this day and even make/wear aprons or themed employee uniforms. Students are able to walk around, visiting each of their trucks, and casting their votes for Best Food, Most Relevant, and Most Detailed. Have fun and bon appetit !

Create a Mood Board

It can be hard to come up with creative post-reading assessments for your students when they’re done with a full class novel, literature circles, or a choice reading unit. In an attempt to combine 21 st century skills with literary analysis, Samantha from Samantha in Secondary decided to try something a little different. Enter: The Mood Board.

A mood board combines images to elicit a feeling from a viewer much like a writer does with words. The possibilities for using a mood board with your class are endless. Students can create a mood board for an overall book, a character, an event, a theme, a poem, etc. Then, have your students carefully curate a board that is aesthetically pleasing and considers color, space, and design in the execution. As students explain why they’ve made the choices they have, the upper-level thinking comes naturally.

Canva is an excellent tool to use to create your mood boards. Having students interact with software they may be unfamiliar with is a meaningful learning experience in and of itself. If you want to learn more about how to use mood boards in your own classroom, click here to read Samantha’s blog post about it or check out the resource she created that includes done-for-you student instructions, examples, and a rubric here .

Create a New App

How would a character’s life change if there was just the perfect app to solve their conflict??

This is the question Krista from @whimsyandrigor poses to her students as they finish a novel and begin to reflect on the character’s journey. Students begin by discussing all of the details surrounding the protagonist and what they experienced. In small groups and in whole-class discussions, students discuss the conflicts, both internal and external, and then brainstorm all of the realistic and not-so-realistic ways the character could have addressed their problems.

Once students have generated a healthy list of ideas, Krista tells them they get to become an app developer and they must create an app that would greatly benefit a character from their reading.

The requirements are:

• The app cannot already exist.
• The app can be totally unrealistic/not probable.
• The app developer must be able to explain how its features would benefit the character.
• The developer must also create an icon for the App Store.

Here is a print-and-go handout students use to get designing. 

Here are some example apps students could create: to help Will from Jason Reynolds’s Long Way Down , maybe an app that predicts his future would help him decide what to do once he steps off the elevator. Or maybe Romeo from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet would have benefited from a life-detection app that would accurately determine whether or not someone was actually dead.

When students sette on the conflict they want to address and the app that would help, they write a Spill the TEA paragraph, as explained by Krista in this YouTube video .  Using this paragraph organization strategy, students will introduce their app, use evidence to explain how it is necessary for the character, and explain how the app would have benefited or changed the protagonist’s journey.

Now they get to be a graphic designer as they design the app’s icon. Students may want to peruse the actual App Store to get ideas about how an icon is designed, what elements must be present, and how to create something that is eye-catching.

If space allows, Krista encourages you to display the icons and Spill the TEA paragraphs in the hallway for other students to see the in-depth critical thinking and character analysis your students did after finishing a novel. 

Who says technology is only a distraction for our students?! This activity proves technology can help students dive deep into a text and its characters!

Write a Vignette

Lesa from SmithTeaches9to12 often focuses on character-based activities for novel studies including a character profile activity , character conversations through text messages , or the writing of a good vignette. 

Vignettes can be a great way to assess students’ literary analysis skills and understanding of the text. Students write a short piece of about 500 words that is descriptive of a particular moment in time focusing on one of the book’s characters. These moments could be placing the character in a new setting, writing about a particular moment in the story that was less developed, or even extending to a moment beyond the book’s conclusion. Lesa provides students with some mentor texts, including “My Name” by Sandra Cisneros in The House on Mango Street or “The Prisoner Van” by Charles Dickens in Sketches by Boz or even one from a novel being read in class. Review the stories for structure, language choice, sentence structure, use of figurative language, and so on. This helps to co-create the criteria for the assignment. Then students write their own vignette. Build in some peer review as an accountability piece and voila!

Create a Character Collage

It’s safe to say that most English teachers have a bin of cut-up magazines somewhere in their classrooms. While these tattered copies of People and Us Weekly have definitely seen better days, they live on in the many collage creations of our students.

Katie from Mochas and Markbooks loves to use collages as visual representations of comprehension. After reading a novel or short story, creating a character collage to show how a character has evolved from beginning to end requires students to use higher order thinking skills to analyze, synthesize and demonstrate their understanding of characterization by dividing their page in half and choosing words and images to represent the character at the start and conclusion of the story on each side.

The results will show the depth of your students’ interpretation of character as well as their ability to use critical and creative thinking skills to represent their knowledge.

Other ways to use this idea instead of showing character evolution are to show two different sides to a character, for example, who they are with different people in their lives. 

If you are looking for other ways to incorporate collage and magazines into your post-reading assessments, check out this blog post for more ideas!

Design Shoe Charms

Crocs are not Olivia ’s shoe of choice, but when she noticed her students bedazzling their plastic footwear with shoe charms, it was a learning opportunity she just couldn’t pass up. Here’s how to make it work in your classroom:

First, have your students choose a character from the book they have finished reading. Then encourage them to find quotes from the book that reveal the character’s interests, values, or personality. Once they have found their quotes (she has her students find 4), tell them to design and color shoe charms that represent those interests, values, or personality traits. This helps students with inferencing, textual evidence, and even symbolism!

When your students have finished making their shoe charms, they can either tape the charms to their shoes for a fabulous, foot-themed fashion show, or they can glue them to a picture of a Croc for quirky classroom décor. Check out this Instagram post to see the charms Olivia’s students came up with!

Create a Movie Poster

When was the last time you went to the movies? Did you notice the posters along the way? If yes then you have walked down the movie studio promotional lane. Like trailers, studios create movie posters to grab the attention of movie-goers before they even enter the theater. Yes, you may have already purchased your movie ticket, but those posters were created for the future. After you finish watching Sonic 2 , what movie will you see next? You probably already pointed to that poster on the way into the theater and said, “That looks like it is going to be good. I want to see that!”   As a post reading idea, Sharena from The Humble Bird Teacher has her students create movie posters based on the text read in class. This allows her to complete a formative assessment on what the students learned from the text. Before having her class create a movie poster, she shows them examples of posters from different genres such as drama, action, family-friendly, and comedy. Then she hands out a piece of construction paper and goes over the basic requirements. On the movie poster, the students are required to have their actors names or image (characters), the title of the movie, a visual (setting or symbol from the story), and a tagline, and a short two to three sentence summary of the movie. Once her students are finished with the assignment, she displays them outside the classroom, so the students can have their own movie studio promotional lane.  If you are looking for more after reading ideas, click here .

Try Novel Engineering

Whether you’ve been hoping to collaborate with another department, or just really want to try something new, Novel Engineering is an amazing way to get students thinking outside of the box ! Staci from Donut Lovin’ Teacher has found that Novel Engineering requires students to actively comprehend and interact with a novel and get creative about how to help improve the lives of characters! Basically, students work to create a product that will help solve a character’s problem. Here’s how it works…

Before reading : Choose a narrative text where the character faces tangible conflicts. Model and practice the design process in small ways. Try using picture books like Mucha! Muncha! Mucha! in order for students to see and practice what they’ll be doing with a text at grade-level.

While reading : Emphasize the conflicts characters face and give students time to brainstorm possible products that would help solve said problem. Make sure students record evidence from the text so they can later justify the need for the product they design.

After reading : Give students time to draft, craft, and improve their designs that will help solve a problem faced by a character. You can give students options where they draw their creation, make their creation, or even plan a digital app like this, depending on time and resources. Whatever you choose, students will be sure to be pushed to use some skills they may not always practice in an ELA classroom!

Staci has some FREE Novel Engineering Digital Planning Pages or you can read more about her experience with novel engineering on the Donut Lovin’ Teacher blog .

Create a Tik Tok Video

How many times have you passed a group of students filming a TikTok in a hallway? Have you had students ask to film in your class once they finish assignments? You are not alone. Students love TikTok and Yaddy from Yaddy’s Room has figured out how to get students using TikTok for academic purposes!

Yaddy likes to challenge students to create TikTok videos that track a character’s development, encapsulates the main theme of the story, or that exemplifies a key conflict. These easy, low stress videos are great at getting even reluctant students to participate.

To incorporate TikTok videos as a means of assessing students after a novel or story, try the following steps:

1)      Get students to brainstorm which part of the novel they would like to use for their video.

2)      Ask students to start combing TikTok for an audio that fits with the portion of the text they chose

3)      Ask them to plan out how they will realize their vision

4)      Rehearse and film!

5)      Bonus: ask students to upload their videos to Google Drive and share the link with you so that you can make QR codes to post around your classroom!

Want to get started using TikTok videos for book reports? Check on Yaddy’s free planning sheet here !

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• Homeschooling

A third grader’s book report

by admin · March 5, 2016

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. When you buy through links on my site, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support.

I remember my first book report. I was in Fourth Grade, and it was about the Nancy Drew mystery, “The Clue in the Crossword Cipher.” In our reports, we had to write a plot summary, describe the setting and key characters, and explain if we liked or disliked the book. Nancy Drew was my first introduction to chapter books and marked the beginning of a lifelong habit of reading for pleasure.

When I started homeschooling Motito, I was determined to make him write book reports. I subscribe to the idea that children who think about what they read become thoughtful readers. The more they read and write about what they read, the better they get at doing so, and the more they like doing them.

For my son’s first book report, I searched the Internet for a template or format that did not look daunting to someone writing his first report.  This 3rd Grade Book Report Form on the Northshore School District web site was exactly what I needed. He had finished six Geronimo Stilton books, so I asked him to choose any two to write his book reports on.

The 3rd grade book report template has two pages and asks the reader to fill in the usual details, i.e. the setting, main characters, and plot summary. I had my son compose a draft of the plot summary before writing the final draft on the template. As Motito could sometimes be too detail-oriented, we spent some time paring down his initial draft, eliminating minor plot points in order to make his final draft fit the space provided by the book report form. It ticked him off when he had to cross out whole sentences describing what he thought were important to the story. I assured him that he could write 1,000-word plot summaries when he’s older. Kidding aside, it was a useful exercise to teach Motito how to distill a story to its bare essentials and how the same practice can be applied in conversations. Sometimes, I explained, people would like him to go directly to the point instead of going off on a tangent, which he is wont to do.

The 3rd grade book report was a lot of fun to do, and I can’t wait to have Motito try more creative approaches to making his next book reports.

Tags: book report Geronimo Stilton reading

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33 Free Book Report Forms and Templates for Kids

Published: April 11, 2019

Contributor: Annette Breedlove

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you decide to make a purchase via my links, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. See my disclosure for more info.

I loved writing book reports growing up. My kids, however, do not share the same sentiment. They love to read books and retell the stories to me, but they have a disconnect when it comes to putting it down on paper. That’s why I love using a free book report template to give them a little extra help. 

Fun Book Report Ideas

There are many different ways children can share about a book they read other than writing about it. Check out all of these fun ideas:

• Act it out. Young students and even older students may enjoy acting out a story that they read in lieu of writing about it. 
• Make a 3D diorama . This is a great way for students who like to work with their hands and create visuals.
• Draw it out on a poster . For young kids who don’t have strong writing skills yet, drawing out what they read is a great option.
• Make a comic book with a free comic book template we have included below. 
• Oral narration . Narrating back a brief summary of the book  they read is another alternative to writing a book report. You can see if your children comprehended what they read or at least got the main points of the story by asking them basic questions about the book.

Types of Book Reports

If you prefer using book reports, they come in a variety of types and styles. You can write plain-Jane ones or get a little more creative, like the comic strip option below for a different way to format a book report. Whichever you choose, having the option to use a book report template can be helpful for kids. 

While I enjoy book reports and see their value, I much prefer my kids enjoy reading a lot of books and sharing, over the finer points of proper form. So if we can use a simple book report template to keep them excited about reading and not dread the reports, I call that a win-win.

Mix it up with the different types of book reports that you assign to your children. Keep it fun and engaging and they will want to read more books and tell everyone about what they have read. 

Using Book Report Templates

As with anything we print out for school, I like to find cute printables with book report designs and age-appropriate graphics. This is especially for my middle school-aged daughter, who thinks some of the free worksheets I find are too childish.

Using a book report template for 3rd grade might look a little different than what I’d want to use for 7th grade. A pdf book report template for high school students definitely needs to be less kid-friendly and more informative.

There are simple book report templates for beginning writers and more advanced ones. The options are endless when it comes to choosing a book report template for your homeschool children.

Printable Book Report Forms

Whether you are looking for a short book report template or one for high school, book report templates will help students get their thoughts on paper. They will learn to organize their thoughts so that their finished book report project is a success!

Book report templates can encourage all the readers in your homeschool to crank out an organized, thorough book report that they are proud of! Once you select a free template, you can get started. Let your children choose one of their favorite books for their first report as it will help to keep them engaged.

How to Use a Book Report Template

When you are looking for the perfect book report template, keep in mind the age of your child. Some one-page forms are perfect for young children and beginning readers with boxes to draw, lines to write down main characters, setting, the plot, etc.

When you have a high school student needing to write a paper or a book report, you obviously need something more in-depth. A book report template can help them get their ideas on paper well enough to organize thoughts and personal opinions for an essay, or even a research paper. 

The key point of using worksheets for book reports is to have an easy way to get thoughts on paper. A book report template can help your student stay organized so they are able to draft a well-written paper. These types of graphic organizers make book reports a breeze!

What’s included in a book report?

• A good book report will consist of the book title, author’s name, main idea, main theme, plot points and important details.
• It will explain the narrative and setting, and cover the main elements of the story as well as describe important characters of the book.
• You’ll also want to include details on the time period, major conflicts and the book details, or rather a plot summary of the book.
• Don’t forget to include unusual facts and key elements that stand out. 

Character Description

Besides adding basic details about the key characters in the book, it’s a good idea to include character details. You will want to include details such as; appearance, interests, and list out some adjectives that describe characters on the book report form . 

Analyze what your character looks like so the reader of the book report gets a vivid description of the character. What color is their hair and skin? What is their clothing style like? Do they have a best friend or an animal that is constantly with them?

Is the character an animal? If so, what type of animal are they and what do they look like?

Character Development

Characters develop on in the story as you read about them. Make sure to make note of positive and negative character traits and how those change throughout the plot. Is there a hidden message or reason why the character is behaving the way that they are?

Make notes of how your character has changed and why you think they changed and the reasons for the actions that they took. You can take it a step further and explain how their actions either harmed or helped the story to move along.

Printable Book Report Templates and Forms

We’ve searched the internet to compile this  HSG FREE Resource Roundup  list for you. But if you  need or want something quickly , we recommend our DIY Book Report.

Scroll to the bottom of this post to find out how to get your FREE copy of our DIY Book Report today.

DIY Book Report Kit {works with ANY book} This printable book report template is more like a graphic organizer , in my opinion. You can print several different template pages to organize different aspects of the book so you can create a great book report. 

Free Book Report Template for Elementary Students Get your 1st -4th graders writing book reports with ease with these pdf book report pages.

Book Review Templates This cute pack of 5 different book report template pages would be perfect for early learners who know how to write . 

Printable Book Report Form I like this simple book report template that’s perfect for a new reader. The free printable book report template is organized and will prompt your kids to be creative. 

Elementary Book Reports Made Easy An easy one-page pdf download of a book report worksheet that would be good for elementary students.

Printable Book Report Forms (Non-Fiction, Fiction, Biography, Mystery & Fable) You have lots of different options for book report templates. Whether or not you need a book report form for a biography, non-fiction resource , or even a fable, there are several  different pdf templates to choose from. There are also multiple book report poster forms for those kids who prefer to draw.

7 Different Versions of Book Report – If you are looking for different versions for different age levels or grades then these reports are worth reviewing.

Easy Book Report – This features an easy form for younger students as well as outline form for older students.

Book Report Templates for Younger Students

There are different styles of book report templates that you will want to focus on for younger students. A book report template that you use with your middle school aged child will be too difficult for beginning writers.

You will want to look for a book report format with dashed lines, boxes to draw a picture in, and more. 

My Book Report Worksheets These book report worksheets are suitable for children in kindergarten or first grade. 

Comic Strip Book Reports If you have a reluctant writer , or a comic book lover, these free printable comic strip book report templates will likely make a book report less dreaded!

Reading Logs and Bookmarks

Reading Log and Book Report Templates If you are on the hunt for cute reading log printables, these are perfect for elementary students. There are a few different templates that offer options to rate the book and write a review. Using a creative book report template like this might take the sting out of writing book reports for reluctant writers. 

Free Reading Log and Book Report Forms   My Joy-Filled Life has a 2-page book report template and a printable reading log that you can slip into your homeschool binder . 

Free Reading Logs, Bookmarks and Charts – Encourage your readers with fun and colorful bookmarks and charts that they can use to track their reading time as well as the books they have read. Free Instant Download included!

Book Report Template

Book reports don’t have to be boring or something that your children dread. They may be overwhelmed because it is a new thing that they have never done before and may need just a little guidance to get started.

Our FREE DIY Book Report template pack includes four pages of graphic organizers, question prompts, illustration boxes, and more. It is a great start to guiding your children on how to write a book report in a non-threatening way. 

In Conclusion

The body of the book report should include the title, the author of the book, characters, setting, major conflicts, direct quotes, and plot. The conclusion can include a personal opinion. Book reports are a fun way to develop critical thinking skills and teach students how to gather information to format into a writing assignment.

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Annette Breedlove

Annette has been married to her husband and best friend since 2003. Together they are raising their six children to follow the Lord’s will, no matter what. Annette longs for the day when she will meet her angel babies who have entered heaven before her. She enjoys creating UNIT STUDIES and FREE PRINTABLES for homeschool families. You can follow her crazy life at In All You Do where she blogs about homeschooling, homemaking and marriage while trying to maintain her sanity. She is also the owner of Thrifty Homeschoolers where she shares her tips on homeschooling without breaking the bank.

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Cereal Box Book Reports – A Fun Alternative!

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If you’ve never tried Cereal Box Book Reports, I suggest you give it a try! Teachers are always looking for unique ways to assess their students’ comprehension of fiction books and novels they have read. Many teachers find traditional book report alternatives to be extremely helpful in getting students excited about reading. Sometimes, however, students crave s omething a little bit different . Enter Cereal Box Book Reports!

A few years ago, I started using  Cereal Box Book Reports  as a Reading  project. My students LOVED making them, I noticed a big difference in their engagement in the book report process, and they were so excited to share their final projects. We even left the finished products on display in the classroom!

CEREAL BOX BOOK REPORTS

I suggest having a parent helper work with you to cover all the cereal boxes with white bulletin board paper before you introduce the projects. It saves a TON of work!

Before we began the project, I gave each student a scoring rubric so they knew exactly what was expected. We went over the rubric together. 

Then, I explained that cereal names must correlate to the novel they had chosen to read. These two projects were for the books  Charlotte’s Web  and  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone .

My students loved having the freedom to choose their own novel (pre-approved) and get creative in matching the theme of their cereal box book report to the book! 

While creating their reports, students wrote the book summaries on one side panel of the cereal box.  They identified and described the setting and main characters on the other side panel.

On the back of the cereal box book report, students created a fun game or activity related to the book. Some made a word search, while others designed mazes, word scrambles, or riddles. 

The title, name of the author, and book ratings were added to the top of the cereal box book reports.

You can either create your own rubric and project directions for your own students, or if you would like to save time, check out my popular, ready-to-print Cereal Box Book Report Packet !

Take a closer look at the complete cereal box book report project below:

Looking for some more fun and creative book report ideas?  I’ve put together a list of  10 Book Report Projects that Kids Love .  Sometimes a fun book project is not enough, especially for those reluctant readers. Based on my experience, here is a helpful list of  25 of the best books for Tweens .

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Shelly Rees

Hi, I’m Shelly! Thank you for being here. I love helping third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers with fun and engaging activities that require no to little prep! Let me help you by taking some of the stress and work off your plate.

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Top 5 Creative Book Report Ideas That Guarantee Success in Class

Assigned reading helps students develop their critical analysis skill, and book reports test their progress. But it is not enough to simply analyze a literary work — you also need to express your creativity while presenting book report ideas. In this article, you will learn the definition of a literary report, its purpose, and five alternative book report ideas to show off your creativity in class.

What is a book (literary) report?

A book report is an overall summary and personal assessment of a book that includes key details like the title, writer, text type, and genre. Literary reports also include a concise retelling of the story's plot. It typically examines the main protagonists, motifs, and the writer's intentions. 

These reviews often include the reader's personal reflections, assessing the story’s strong and weak points and the impact it had on the audience. This type of assignment helps students improve their critical analysis, writing, and comprehension skills by encouraging them to engage deeply with the story.

Main goals of book reviews

Literary reports serve several key purposes in the educational process:

• Improving understanding of the written material. Book reports encourage students to demonstrate how they understood the story's content, themes, and messages. By making a summary of the story’s plot, analyzing motifs, and discussing characters, students engage deeply with the writing.
• Developing critical analysis abilities. Preparing a literary review requires students to critically analyze what they've read. They must assess the book's strong and weak points, the writer’s purpose, and the effect the story has on its audience.
• Encouraging personal reflection. Book reports often ask students to relate the motifs or circumstances of the book to their own experiences or to the wider world, fostering personal reflection and a deeper connection with the written story.
• Boosting communication skills. By discussing their opinions and interpretations in a book review, students find new ways to express their impressions and defend their viewpoints, which is an essential aspect of effective communication.

These purposes make book reviews a crucial part of your learning process. That’s why you need to put effort into your submission. And to make sure you get the highest score for your project, we prepared five fun book report ideas that you can use as your inspiration!

Top 5 alternative book report ideas

1. book report board game ideas.

A book report board game would probably be the most unexpected way of presenting your book review in school. This is a great idea to include the whole class in a playful manner while allowing them to learn about the story’s main motifs and messages in practice.

Here is a brief tutorial on how to make your book review into a full-fledged board game:

• Center your attention on the main storyline, its protagonists, and events from the book to form the game's foundation.
• Decide on the game goal that reflects the book's story, like reaching a destination or solving a mystery.
• Establish clear rules for movement, challenges, and interactions that closely follow the book’s plot.
• Introduce cards or dice to add randomness and represent plot twists or special actions.
• Playtest the game, adjust as needed, and explain how it connects to the book's motifs and setting when presenting.

With this option, you will surely present a unique and well thought-out book report idea in your class.

2. Soundtrack playlist

Music is one of the most beautiful art forms. Combining music and literature can result in a wonderful blend of emotions.

To use music as one of the alternative book reports, you can compile a playlist of songs that reflect the mood, motifs, or key moments of the story. For each song, prepare a short explanation of its relatability to specific protagonists, events, or the general vibe of the story.

3. Write a character diary

Character diaries are a solid project idea for a book report. This medium allows you to capture a character’s feelings and reflect on how they change throughout the progression of the book.

To create a character diary for a book review, use these steps:

• Select a main character whose perspective will offer deep insights into the story.
• Draft diary entries from this character’s point of view, capturing their ideas, feelings, and reactions to central events in the book.
• Include flashbacks on how the character grows throughout the book, highlighting significant changes or realizations.
• Incorporate details about the character’s relationships and how essential plot events affected their personal journey.

This report idea provides an unorthodox, personal perspective on the book’s narrative and gives you an opportunity to relive the character’s emotions and decisions.

4. Newspaper front page

In fiction, newspapers are often used to underline the importance of an event. So why not copy this idea and choose a newspaper as one of your creative book report ideas?

To do this, design a newspaper front page featuring headlines, articles, and images that report on the book’s major events as if they were real news. Include interviews, editorials, and advertisements related to the story. Don’t forget about the style of newspaper writing, and use it as another tool to make your review more creative and entertaining.

5. Book in a box

This is one of the most creative book report ideas. A book in a box refers to a hand-made project where you create a 3D representation inside a box to illustrate a significant scene or location from a book. The hand-made diorama should include detailed elements such as characters, objects, and the environment from the selected scene.

To make a book in a box report, use this short guide:

• Choose a key scene or setting from the book to depict.
• Use a box to build a replica of the chosen scene, including detailed backgrounds, characters, and plot-relevant objects.
• Label the details inside the box to explain their relevance to the scene or story.
• Prepare a short description of the scene to give your viewers necessary context.

This approach provides an interactive opportunity to showcase key events of the book, bringing the story's environment and pivotal moments to life.

Create fun book report ideas with Aithor!

With our trust-worthy AI generator, you can find the most creative book report ideas and amaze classmates. Simply give Aithor prompt to create a creative book project ideas and become the talk of your literature class!

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