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• Grades 6-12
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42 Creative Book Report Ideas for Students

Inspire your students to share their love of books.

Responding to what you read is an important literacy skill. Reading about other people’s experiences and perspectives helps kids learn about the world. And although students don’t need to dive deeply into every single book they read, occasionally digging into characters, settings, and themes can help them learn to look beyond the prose. Here are 42 creative book report ideas designed to make reading more meaningful.

1. Concrete Found Poem

This clever activity is basically a shape poem made up of words, phrases, and whole sentences found in the books students read. The words come together to create an image that represents something from the story.

2. Graphic Novel

Have students rewrite the book they are reading, or a chapter of their book, as a graphic novel. Set parameters for the assignment such as including six scenes from the story, three characters, details about the setting, etc. And, of course, include detailed illustrations to accompany the story.

3. Book Snaps

Book Snaps are a way for students to visually show how they are reacting to, processing, and/or connecting with a text. First, students snap a picture of a page in the book they are reading. Then, they add comments, images, highlights, and more.

4. Diary Entry

Have your students place themselves in the shoes of one of the characters from their book and write a first-person diary entry of a critical moment from the story. Ask them to choose a moment in the story where the character has plenty of interaction and emotion to share in a diary entry.

5. Character To-Do List

This fun activity is an off-the-beaten-path way to dive deep into character analysis. Get inside the head of the main character in a book and write a to-do list that they might write. Use actual information from the text, but also make inferences into what that character may wish to accomplish.

6. Mint Tin Book Report

There are so many super-creative, open-ended projects you can use mint tins for. This teacher blogger describes the process of creating book reports using them. There’s even a free template for cards that fit inside.

7. Fictional Yearbook Entries

Ask your students to create a yearbook based on the characters and setting in the book. What do they look like? Cut out magazine pictures to give a good visual image for their school picture. What kind of superlative might they get? Best looking? Class clown? What clubs would they be in or lead? Did they win any awards? It should be obvious from their small yearbooks whether your students dug deep into the characters in their books. They may also learn that who we are as individuals is reflected in what we choose to do with our lives.

8. Book Report Cake

This project would be perfect for a book tasting in your classroom! Each student presents their book report in the shape of food. See the sandwich and pizza options above and check out this blog for more delicious ideas.

9. Current Events Comparison

Have students locate three to five current events articles a character in their book might be interested in. After they’ve found the articles, have them explain why the character would find them interesting and how they relate to the book. Learning about how current events affect time, place, and people is critical to helping develop opinions about what we read and experience in life.

10. Sandwich Book Report

Yum! You’ll notice a lot of our creative book report ideas revolve around food. In this oldie but goodie, each layer of this book report sandwich covers a different element of the book—characters, setting, conflict, etc. A fun adaptation of this project is the book report cheeseburger.

11. Book Alphabet

Choose 15 to 20 alphabet books to help give your students examples of how they work around themes. Then ask your students to create their own Book Alphabet based on the book they read. What artifacts, vocabulary words, and names reflect the important parts of the book? After they find a word to represent each letter, have them write one sentence that explains where the word fits in.

12. Peekaboo Book Report

Using cardboard lap books (or small science report boards), students include details about their book’s main characters, plot, setting, conflict, resolution, etc. Then they draw a head and arms on card stock and attach them to the board from behind to make it look like the main character is peeking over the report.

13. T-Shirt Book Report

Another fun and creative idea: Create a wearable book report with a plain white tee. Come up with your own using Sharpie pens and acrylic paint. Get step-by-step directions .

14. Book Jacket

Have students create a new book jacket for their story. Include an attractive illustrated cover, a summary, a short biography of the author, and a few reviews from readers.

15. Watercolor Rainbow Book Report

This is great for biography research projects. Students cut out a photocopied image of their subject and glue it in the middle. Then, they draw lines from the image to the edges of the paper, like rays of sunshine, and fill in each section with information about the person. As a book report template, the center image could be a copy of the book cover, and each section expands on key information such as character names, theme(s), conflict, resolution, etc.

16. Act the Part

Have students dress up as their favorite character from the book and present an oral book report. If their favorite character is not the main character, retell the story from their point of view.

17. Pizza Box Book Report

If you’re looking for creative book report ideas that use upcycled materials, try this one using a pizza box. It works well for both nonfiction and fiction book reports. The top lid provides a picture of the book cover. Each wedge of the pizza pie tells part of the story.

18. Bookmark

Have students create a custom illustrated bookmark that includes drawings and words from either their favorite chapter or the entire book.

19. Book Reports in a Bag

Looking for book report ideas that really encourage creative thinking? With book reports in a bag, students read a book and write a summary. Then, they decorate a paper grocery bag with a scene from the book, place five items that represent something from the book inside the bag, and present the bag to the class.

20. Reading Lists for Characters

Ask your students to think about a character in their book. What kinds of books might that character like to read? Take them to the library to choose five books the character might have on their to-be-read list. Have them list the books and explain what each book might mean to the character. Post the to-be-read lists for others to see and choose from—there’s nothing like trying out a book character’s style when developing your own identity.

21. File Folder Book Report

Also called a lap book, this easy-to-make book report hits on all the major elements of a book study and gives students a chance to show what they know in a colorful way.

22. Collage

Create a collage using pictures and words that represent different parts of the book. Use old magazines or print pictures from the Internet.

23. Book Report Triorama

Who doesn’t love a multidimensional book report? This image shows a 3D model, but Elisha Ann provides a lesson to show students how to glue four triangles together to make a 4D model.

24. Timeline

Have students create a timeline of the main events from their book. Be sure to include character names and details for each event. Use 8 x 11 sheets of paper taped together or a long portion of bulletin board paper.

25. Clothes Hanger Book Report Mobile

This creative project doesn’t require a fancy or expensive supply list. Students just need an ordinary clothes hanger, strings, and paper. The body of the hanger is used to identify the book, and the cards on the strings dangling below are filled with key elements of the book, like characters, setting, and a summary.

26. Public Service Announcement

If a student has read a book about a cause that affects people, animals, or the environment, teach them about public service announcements . Once they understand what a PSA is, have them research the issue or cause that stood out in the book. Then give them a template for a storyboard so they can create their own PSA. Some students might want to take it a step further and create a video based on their storyboard. Consider sharing their storyboard or video with an organization that supports the cause or issue.

27. Dodecahedron Book Report

Creative book report ideas think outside the box. In this case, it’s a ball! SO much information can be covered on the 12 panels , and it allows students to take a deep dive in a creative way.

28. Character Cards

Make trading cards (like baseball cards) for a few characters from the book. On the front side, draw the character. On the back side, make a list of their character traits and include a quote or two.

29. Book Report Booklets

This clever book report is made from ordinary paper bags. Stack the paper bags on top of each other, fold them in half, and staple the closed-off ends of the bags together. Students can write, draw, and decorate on the paper bag pages. They can also record information on writing or drawing paper and glue the paper onto the pages. The open ends of the bags can be used as pockets to insert photos, cut-outs, postcards, or other flat items that help them tell their story.

30. Letter to the Author

Write a letter to the author of the book. Tell them three things you really liked about the story. Ask three questions about the plot, characters, or anything else you’re curious about.

31. Book Report Charm Bracelet

What a “charming” way to write a book report! Each illustrated bracelet charm captures a character, an event in the plot, setting, or other detail.

32. Fact Sheet

Have students create a list of 10 facts that they learned from reading the book. Have them write the facts in complete sentences, and be sure that each fact is something that they didn’t know before they read the book.

33. Cereal Box TV Book Report

This book report project is a low-tech version of a television made from a cereal box and two paper towel rolls. Students create the viewing screen cut-out at the top, then insert a scroll of paper with writing and illustrations inside the box. When the cardboard roll is rotated, the story unfolds.

34. Be a Character Therapist

Therapists work to uncover their clients’ fears based on their words and actions. When we read books, we must learn to use a character’s actions and dialogue to infer their fears. Many plots revolve around a character’s fear and the work it takes to overcome that fear. Ask students to identify a character’s fear and find 8 to 10 scenes that prove this fear exists. Then have them write about ways the character overcame the fear (or didn’t) in the story. What might the character have done differently?

35. Mind Maps

Mind maps can be a great way to synthesize what students have learned from reading a book. Plus, there are so many ways to approach them. Begin by writing a central idea in the middle of the page. For example, general information, characters, plot, etc. Then branch out from the center with ideas, thoughts, and connections to material from the book.

36. Foldables

From Rainbows Within Reach , this clever idea would be a great introduction to writing book reports. Adapt the flap categories for students at different levels. Adjust the number of categories (or flaps) per the needs of your students.

37. Board games

This is a great project if you want your students to develop a little more insight into what they’re reading. Have them think about the elements of their favorite board games and how they can be adapted to fit this assignment. For more, here are step-by-step directions .

38. Comic strips

If you’re looking for creative book report ideas for students who like graphic novels, try comic strips. Include an illustrated cover with the title and author. The pages of the book should retell the story using dialogue and descriptions of the setting and characters. Of course, no comic book would be complete without copious illustrations and thought bubbles.

39. Timeline

Create a timeline using a long roll of butcher paper, a poster board, or index cards taped together. For each event on the timeline, write a brief description of what happens. Add pictures, clip art, word art, and symbols to make the timeline more lively and colorful.

40. Cereal Box

Recycle a cereal box and create a book report Wheaties-style. Decorate all sides of the box with information about the book’s characters, setting, plot, summary, etc.

41. Wanted Poster

Make a “wanted” poster for one of the book’s main characters. Indicate whether they are wanted dead or alive. Include a picture of the character and a description of what the character is “wanted” for, three examples of the character showing this trait, and a detailed account of where the character was last seen.

42. Movie Version

If the book your students have read has been made into a movie, have them write a report about how the versions are alike and different. If the book has not been made into a movie, have them write a report telling how they would make it into a movie, using specific details from the book.

What creative book report ideas did we miss? Come share in our We Are Teachers HELPLINE group on Facebook.

Plus, check out the most popular kids’ books in every grade..

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15 Creative and digital book report ideas that will get your students excited to read

Not all students are excited to read a book. So how can you make reading a book more engaging and fun? This is a huge challenge for most teachers, so I hope I can help you out!

Here’s what you’ll find in this blog post (click on the title if you want to jump to the section directly)

5 tips to get your students excited about reading

• 15 creative and digital book report lesson plans (free & ready to use!)
• The complete collection of book report lesson ideas in one assignment (your students get to choose!)

Instructions on how to use these digital book report lesson activities

Before you dive into the book reports, you have to get your students excited about reading first. In this previous post about reading, I’ve listed 10 tips that will encourage your students to read . I’ve come up with 5 more amazing tips! Here we go:

1. Use AR apps

Here are a few apps with amazing storylines and AR books.

• Wonderscope , for example, is an excellent storytelling tool. It uses augmented reality to transform ordinary places into real-time stories. Students also learn to read with the app. They ask questions to the characters in the story and listen to the characters’ answers.
• The Ghostkeeper’s journal and field guide : This book is an immersive adventure for readers aged 10 and up, offering several AR experiences to enhance the storyline. These are accessed via a mobile app “ Ghost-o-Matic ”.
• Bookful creates an engaging reading experience and brings stories and characters in books to life. The app holds the world’s largest 3D/AR library with hundreds of titles from leading publishers and brands such as: The Tale of Peter Rabbit, DK’s Encyclopedia, and children’s favorites such as Barbie, My Little Pony, Thomas & Friends, Transformers, and The Smurfs.

2. Escape lessons

Here are 3 fun ready-to-use escape lessons to spark your students’ joy of reading:

• A Halloween Murder : Let your students investigate the murder of the victim: Brat Spook. When they find the murderer, they get their “inspector” badge. Let them look for evidence in the murder scene, talk to suspects, analyze lab results, and so on!
• Finding Rudolph : Save Christmas by helping Santa find back Rudolph. Students go through different challenges, talk to eye-witnesses, and follow Rudolph through a winter maze, so Santa can deliver all the presents to the children.
• Easter Bunny Substitute : Can your students find a good Easter Bunny replacement? In the last breakout game for the classroom, the Easter Bunny is hurt, so your students need to interview the possible applicants and take tests to replace the Easter Bunny themselves. If they succeed in the challenges, they get an Easter Bunny substitute badge.

3. Storytelling

If you bring cultural elements into your lessons by telling a story, your students will be more eager to learn. Storytelling makes students want to “live the story”. And they do this by reading it. If your story is strong enough, your students will love learning and reading. They will even remember the lesson content better.

Here’s a fun & ready-to-use example: The life of William Shakespeare

4. First chapters

5. Books & sleepovers

You can even add different parts to your sleepover. For example, let students read their favorite passage in a book of choice out loud, and 1 hour before bedtime, all your students take their book and read in silence. Or how about creating cozy themed corners? Fantasy, science fiction, detectives,… When your students are reading in themed corners, they get the full experience. They can even dress up as a character in their book whilst reading.

15 Creative and digital book report lesson plans

Step 1: Get your students excited about reading. ✅ Step 2: make sure they don’t lose their interest when you’re announcing the book report assignment! ☑️ This part can be demotivating.

As the lower grade students often still get fun book report assignments, the higher grade students often get a dull worksheet where they have to describe the characters and give a summary. Change up your book report assignments with these creative, free & ready-to-use lesson ideas.

Take a look at all these ready-to-use and free digital book report activities. They’re all made with BookWidgets . You can even make exercises like these yourself in your own BookWidgets account.

Keep on reading to find out how to use these exercises in your lessons.

How did your students experience the book? Let them fill the glasses with drawings of the storyline/the book. The glasses represent the view of the students. Students can get really creative and use the toolbar at the bottom to draw and type.

You can ask your students to present their book report artworks to the other students as well. This way, your students can explain what’s on their drawing.

2. Bookworm

3. Timeline

This interactive book report asks your students to create a timeline of the story. When did what happen, chronologically? The have to add the biggest events in the story to the timeline.

4. Comic book

In this book report exercise, your students have to write a comic book based upon the book they’ve just read. When they click on the “start” icon, they can choose fitting text balloons to go with their story.

Here are three other fun websites that let students create comic books: Storyboard That , Comic Life , and Toonytool . They already give you creative templates and drawings. This is a bit easier for students. This way, they don’t have to start from scratch.

5. Character portrait

6. Randomness task

Just… add a little spice. I’ve turned the ordinary book report task, where students have to describe characters, the setting, plot, etc., into an exciting one. Your students don’t know yet what they’ll have to describe. They spin the randomness wheel and their task appears. The fun thing about this one is that all of your students will write a different book report.

7. Book cover

Here, students get to be creative and invent their own book cover (front and back) of the book they just read. Or maybe just a cover for of a piece of text you’ve read out loud. They can use the whiteboard tools: pencil, type tool, switch colors, add images, etc.

8. Character family tree

This digital mind map exercise allows your students to add boxes with text and connect them to each other. This is perfect for a book report activity focusing on the characters in their book.

9. Facebook Profile

Modern days call for modern book report lesson ideas. Image the main character having a Facebook profile. What would be on it? That’s exactly what your students have to figure out here. Create a Facebook profile about the main character.

10. Book Collage

Here, students have to add 10 pictures or images that have to do with the book. They can do so by clicking on the photo icon and adding images into their collage.

11. Mirror selfie

In this creative book report, students have to dress up like the character in their book, including holding 3 attributes that refer to the personality of the main character. They have to take a picture or mirror selfie of themselves dressed up, and add that picture to the whiteboard. You can ask them to come forward and present their images and explain why they’ve chosen those specific attributes.

The fun thing about all of these exercises is that they work on smartphones as well. So in this case, students can just open the exercise on their smartphones, take a mirror selfie with their phones and add it to the mirror in the digital whiteboard exercise.

12. Email to the author

Your students have the chance to write a friendly email or letter to the author of the book they just read. Students have to share:

• their opinion;
• the character in the book they liked most, and why;
• their favorite part of the book and why;
• questions that they have about the book.

If you have an email address of the author, ask your students to submit their works to you, the teacher, first. After having given feedback on their letters, they can make some changes and send it over to the author.

If you have the author’s postal address, it’s much more fun to write a classic letter.

13. Conversation between characters

There is something called a “texting thumb” or a “smartphone pinky”. This shows that students like to send texts. A lot of them. So why not include it in your book report lesson plan? In this digital book report, students have to invent a conversation between two characters in their book.

14. Movie vs. Book

A lot of books have a movie version too. If your students choose a book that also has a movie, it’s interesting to let your students make a comparison. With this book report exercise, you’re also sure your students actually read the book instead of just watching the movie and write a summary of the movie and not the book.

15. Emoji summary

The last exercise is also one students can relate to. Nowadays, we use emojis after almost every sentence when we’re communicating with friends. Emojis also have a strong meaning and can be used to express feelings or say something without actually saying it.

The complete collection of book report lesson ideas in one assignment

All these book report exercises are so much fun and yet they don’t take up a lot of time. Perhaps they just ask your students to only describe a certain part about the book. Cue… the planner widget.

With this type of BookWidgets activity, you can combine several lessons into one. You can let your students take matters into their own hands and choose which book report activities they’d like to finish.

It’s actually pretty easy. Your students read the instructions in the instructions widget and then start adding at least three book report activities to their planner. They finish the activities, submit them to their teacher, check off their planner, and that’s it!

Above, you can find the 15 ready-to-use book report activities. You can use these lesson examples for free. Since they’re all made with BookWidgets, I’ve listed them in this BookWidgets group . Here’s what you need to do:

• Click on this link . It will immediately bring you to the group with all of the book report activities. If you don’t have a BookWidgets account yet, you’ll have to sign up first for free .
• Duplicate all the book report activities. Click on the settings wheel , select all widgets , click on the settings wheel again, choose duplicate selected widgets . Choose where you want to save the activities in your BookWidgets account.
• Go to your saved book report lessons. You can now click on the black dropdown arrow next to the ‘Show’ button of a particular exercise and select Edit . You can make some changes to this activity (if you want). If it’s perfect for you, click on Share in the upper right corner.
• Share this link with your students. When they click on it, they can fill it out. A lot of the book report examples above have been made with BookWidgets’ Whiteboard widget, in which students can use the tool menu at the bottom to switch tools (draw, type,…), and to switch colors. When done, they can submit the book reports to you by clicking on the envelope in the upper right corner.
• As a teacher, you go to “Grades & reporting” in BookWidgets to find your students’ answers.

Of course, now that you’ve got your own BookWidgets account, you can also create book report activities or other assignments yourself!

Attention! Once your free trial runs out, you’ll only be able to use the widgets you’ve already finished/shared with students. While your BookWidgets account will still work and you’ll still get your students’ results with the free BookWidgets version, you won’t be able to duplicate widgets nor create new widgets yourself anymore.

So that’s it! I hope these lesson ideas are useful for your classroom or at least give you lots of new ideas for your book report lessons! You can even create ones yourself!

Create your first digital book report with BookWidgets

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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

If you want a book report template quickly, simply scroll to the bottom of this post to download ours FREE.

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. 

You can download it for free in our subscriber library . 

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.

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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Mega List of Biographies for Kids

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Free Resources for Studying C.S. Lewis & His Works

Tales from a Teacher’s Bookshelf + FREE Hardcover Book (Limited) & Giveaway

Mega List of Mystery Books for Kids

Free Resources for Studying Shakespeare & His Works

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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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Book Report Ideas: Creative Ideas for Book Reports

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Book reports are a curriculum mainstay, but their format is a bit tired. 

Spice up your assignment with these creative book report ideas!

This article contains affiliate links to things that you might like.

Book Report Ideas

Book reports are a great educational tool because they teach students to identify the framework of a story and analyze its structure and style. 

They are also a welcome chance to practice persuasive writing and presentation.

Book reports’ very utility is why they are assigned so often (and why students start to dread them). 

You can turn all this around by jazzing up a book report in one of two ways.

The first way to add creativity to a book report is to alter the form of the report. 

Instead of summarizing the story, plot, setting, and characters and ending with a recommendation (“I liked this book because…”), you ask for something more creative .

The second way to add creativity is to change up the presentation. 

Who says a book report need always be on 8.5 x 11 paper? 

Why not creatively present the report (and perhaps incorporate art as well)?

Creative Ideas for Book Reports

Here are some book report ideas that ask for creative content:

Ask the Therapist Book Report

Imagine you are a therapist analyzing a character in the story. 

What does the character fear? 

Give specific examples from the story. 

Magazine Interview Book Report

Imagine you are a reporter interviewing the main character for an article. 

What would you ask the person? 

Write an engaging article about the background of the character, their personal life, and what’s next on the horizon.

5W’s + H Book Report

Keep it simple and have the student answer these basic questions (the main components of a story sequence chart).  

• Who are the main characters?
• When does it take place?
• Where does it take place?
• What is the problem?
• How is it resolved?
• Why did you like/dislike it?

Newspaper Article Book Report

Take the 4W’s + H questions above (leave off the “Why” question) and turn it into a newspaper article. 

You can illustrate it.

Villain’s Book Report

Imagine that the villain of the story (as an alternative, pick a minor character) read the book. 

What would his/her book report be like? 

How would the villain describe the main character and the action? 

What would the villain think about the way the author told the story?

Collage Book Report

Hunt through magazines to find pictures that tell the story. 

Assemble them and give a presentation of your book report with that as a visual aid.

Book Report Acrostic

Use the title of the book (or even the letters of the alphabet ABC…) to generate an acrostic poem about the book. 

If the book is Tom Sawyer , T could be “Tom is a clever and hilarious boy.” O could be, “Over and over you see Tom get into mischief.”

Book Report Project Ideas

Here are some book report project ideas that involve creative presentation:

The World’s Tiniest Book Report

Stick to the basics and assemble a mini book report. 

You can fit it in a mint tin or jewelry box.

Origami Book Report

Put the 5W’s and H in an origami creation like the classic “cootie catcher” (alas, that is what the kids call it and what you have to put in the search engine).  

Illustrated Book Report

Don’t just stop at writing–add art!  

Diorama Book Report

Create a diorama of the most important scene in the book. 

Have the student give a presentation on what is happening in the scene and why she feels it is pivotal.

Keep in mind that you’re probably going to have to teach your students how to make a diorama because it’s pretty much a lost art!

Book Report in a Bag

Decorate a grocery bag with the title of the book and illustration. 

Fill the bag with the paragraphs of a book report, each written on their own paper in fun shapes. 

Reach your hand into the bag and pull out the info on the book!

Pizza Box Book Report

Ask a local pizza company to donate some unused boxes. 

Create paper book report pizzas that tell about the book on each slice. 

Decorate the inside lid of the pizza box like a project board advertising your book.

Cover Design Book Report

Create a new dust jacket for the book. 

How would you illustrate it? 

What content would you put on the back to entice the reader to buy the book? 

Don’t forget to invent quotations from other famous authors or celebrities!

Creative Book Reports and Projects

Your students have likely had enough of the traditional book report. 

Add pizzazz to the task with these creative ideas for book reports.

You May Also Like:

• Post Reading Activities
• Fun Writing Activities for Middle School
• How to Teach Informational Writing to K-2

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How to Write a Book Report

Use the links below to jump directly to any section of this guide:

Book Report Fundamentals

Preparing to write, an overview of the book report format, how to write the main body of a book report, how to write a conclusion to a book report, reading comprehension and book reports, book report resources for teachers .

Book reports remain a key educational assessment tool from elementary school through college. Sitting down to close read and critique texts for their content and form is a lifelong skill, one that benefits all of us well beyond our school years. With the help of this guide, you’ll develop your reading comprehension and note-taking skills. You’ll also find resources to guide you through the process of writing a book report, step-by-step, from choosing a book and reading actively to revising your work. Resources for teachers are also included, from creative assignment ideas to sample rubrics.

Book reports follow general rules for composition, yet are distinct from other types of writing assignments. Central to book reports are plot summaries, analyses of characters and themes, and concluding opinions. This format differs from an argumentative essay or critical research paper, in which impartiality and objectivity is encouraged. Differences also exist between book reports and book reviews, who do not share the same intent and audience. Here, you’ll learn the basics of what a book report is and is not.

What Is a Book Report?

"Book Report" ( ThoughtCo )

This article, written by a professor emeritus of rhetoric and English, describes the defining characteristics of book reports and offers observations on how they are composed.

"Writing a Book Report" (Purdue OWL)

Purdue’s Online Writing Lab outlines the steps in writing a book report, from keeping track of major characters as you read to providing adequate summary material.

"How to Write a Book Report" ( Your Dictionary )

This article provides another helpful guide to writing a book report, offering suggestions on taking notes and writing an outline before drafting. 

"How to Write a Successful Book Report" ( ThoughtCo )

Another post from ThoughtCo., this article highlights the ten steps for book report success. It was written by an academic advisor and college enrollment counselor.

What’s the Difference Between a Book Report and an Essay?

"Differences Between a Book Report & Essay Writing" ( Classroom)

In this article from the education resource Classroom,  you'll learn the differences and similarities between book reports and essay writing.

"Differences Between a Book Report and Essay Writing" (SeattlePi.com)

In this post from a Seattle newspaper's website, memoirist Christopher Cascio highlights how book report and essay writing differ.

"The Difference Between Essays and Reports" (Solent Online Learning)

This PDF from Southampton Solent University includes a chart demonstrating the differences between essays and reports. Though it is geared toward university students, it will help students of all levels understand the differing purposes of reports and analytical essays.

What’s the Difference Between a Book Report and a Book Review?

"How to Write a Book Review and a Book Report" (Concordia Univ.)

The library at Concordia University offers this helpful guide to writing book report and book reviews. It defines differences between the two, then presents components that both forms share.

"Book Reviews" (Univ. of North Carolina)

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s writing guide shows the step-by-step process of writing book reviews, offering a contrast to the composition of book reports.

Active reading and thoughtful preparation before you begin your book report are necessary components of crafting a successful piece of writing. Here, you’ll find tips and resources to help you learn how to select the right book, decide which format is best for your report, and outline your main points.

Selecting and Finding a Book

"30 Best Books for Elementary Readers" (Education.com)

This article from Education.com lists 30 engaging books for students from kindergarten through fifth grade. It was written by Esme Raji Codell, a teacher, author, and children's literature specialist.

"How to Choose a Good Book for a Report (Middle School)" (WikiHow)

This WikiHow article offers suggestions for middle schoolers on how to choose the right book for a report, from getting started early on the search process to making sure you understand the assignment's requirements.

"Best Book-Report Books for Middle Schoolers" (Common Sense Media)

Common Sense Media has compiled this list of 25 of the best books for middle school book reports. For younger students, the article suggests you check out the site's "50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12."

"50 Books to Read in High School" (Lexington Public Library)

The Lexington, Kentucky Public Library has prepared this list to inspire high school students to choose the right book. It includes both classics and more modern favorites.

The Online Computer Library Center's catalogue helps you locate books in libraries near you, having itemized the collections of 72,000 libraries in 170 countries.

Formats of Book Reports

"Format for Writing a Book Report" ( Your Dictionary )

Here, Your Dictionary supplies guidelines for the basic book report format. It describes what you'll want to include in the heading, and what information to include in the introductory paragraph. Be sure to check these guidelines against your teacher's requirements.

"The Good Old Book Report" (Scholastic)

Nancy Barile’s blog post for Scholastic lists the questions students from middle through high school should address in their book reports.

How to Write an Outline

"Writer’s Web: Creating Outlines" (Univ. of Richmond)

The University of Richmond’s Writing Center shows how you can make use of micro and macro outlines to organize your argument.

"Why and How to Create a Useful Outline" (Purdue OWL)

Purdue’s Online Writing Lab demonstrates how outlines can help you organize your report, then teaches you how to create outlines.

"Creating an Outline" (EasyBib)

EasyBib, a website that generates bibliographies, offers sample outlines and tips for creating your own. The article encourages you to think about transitions and grouping your notes.

"How to Write an Outline: 4 Ways to Organize Your Thoughts" (Grammarly)

This blog post from a professional writer explains the advantages of using an outline, and presents different ways to gather your thoughts before writing.

In this section, you’ll find resources that offer an overview of how to write a book report, including first steps in preparing the introduction. A good book report's introduction hooks the reader with strong opening sentences and provides a preview of where the report is going.

"Step-by-Step Outline for a Book Report" ( Classroom )

This article from Classroom furnishes students with a guide to the stages of writing a book report, from writing the rough draft to revising.

"Your Roadmap to a Better Book Report" ( Time4Writing )

Time4Writing offers tips for outlining your book report, and describes all of the information that the introduction, body, and conclusion should include.

"How to Start a Book Report" ( ThoughtCo)

This ThoughtCo. post, another by academic advisor and college enrollment counselor Grace Fleming, demonstrates how to write a pithy introduction to your book report.

"How to Write an Introduction for a Book Report" ( Classroom )

This brief but helpful post from Classroom  details what makes a good book report introduction, down to the level of individual sentences.

The body paragraphs of your book report accomplish several goals: they describe the plot, delve more deeply into the characters and themes that make the book unique, and include quotations and examples from the book. Below are some resources to help you succeed in summarizing and analyzing your chosen text.

Plot Summary and Description

"How Do You Write a Plot Summary?" ( Reference )

This short article presents the goals of writing a plot summary, and suggests a word limit. It emphasizes that you should stick to the main points and avoid including too many specific details, such as what a particular character wears.

"How to Write a Plot for a Book Report" ( The Pen & The Pad )

In this article from a resource website for writers, Patricia Harrelson outlines what information to include in a plot summary for a book report. 

"How to Write a Book Summary" (WikiHow)

Using Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone as an example, this WikiHow article demonstrates how to write a plot summary one step at a time.

Analyzing Characters and Themes

"How to Write a Character Analysis Book Report" ( The Pen & The Pad )

Kristine Tucker shows how to write a book report focusing on character. You can take her suggestions as they are, or consider  incorporating them into the more traditional book report format.

"How to Write a Character Analysis" (YouTube)

The SixMinuteScholar Channel utilizes analysis of the film  Finding Nemo to show you how to delve deeply into character, prioritizing inference over judgment.

"How to Define Theme" ( The Editor's Blog )

Fiction editor Beth Hill contributes an extended definition of theme. She also provides examples of common themes, such as "life is fragile."

"How to Find the Theme of a Book or Short Story" ( ThoughtCo )

This blog post from ThoughtCo. clarifies the definition of theme in relation to symbolism, plot, and moral. It also offers examples of themes in literature, such as love, death, and good vs. evil.

Selecting and Integrating Quotations

"How to Choose and Use Quotations" (Santa Barbara City College)

This guide from a college writing center will help you choose which quotations to use in your book report, and how to blend quotations with your own words.

"Guidelines for Incorporating Quotes" (Ashford Univ.)

This PDF from Ashford University's Writing Center introduces the ICE method for incorporating quotations: introduce, cite, explain.

"Quote Integration" (YouTube)

This video from The Write Way YouTube channel illustrates how to integrate quotations into writing, and also explains how to cite those quotations.

"Using Literary Quotations" (Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison)

This guide from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Writing Center helps you emphasize your analysis of a quotation, and explains how to incorporate quotations into your text.

Conclusions to any type of paper are notoriously tricky to write. Here, you’ll learn some creative ways to tie up loose ends in your report and express your own opinion of the book you read. This open space for sharing opinions that are not grounded in critical research is an element that often distinguishes book reports from other types of writing.

"How to Write a Conclusion for a Book Report" ( Classroom )

This brief article from the education resource  Classroom illustrates the essential points you should make in a book report conclusion.

"Conclusions" (Univ. of North Carolina)

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Writing Center lays out strategies for writing effective conclusions. Though the article is geared toward analytical essay conclusions, the tips offered here will also help you write a strong book report.

"Ending the Essay: Conclusions" (Harvard College Writing Center)

Pat Bellanca’s article for Harvard University’s Writing Center presents ways to conclude essays, along with tips. Again, these are suggestions for concluding analytical essays that can also be used to tie up a book report's loose ends.

Reading closely and in an engaged manner is the strong foundation upon which all good book reports are built. The resources below will give you a picture of what active reading looks like, and offer strategies to assess and improve your reading comprehension. Further, you’ll learn how to take notes—or “annotate” your text—making it easier to find important information as you write.

How to Be an Active Reader

"Active Reading Strategies: Remember and Analyze What You Read" (Princeton Univ.)

Princeton University’s McGraw Center for Teaching and Learning recommends ten strategies for active reading, and includes sample diagrams.

"Active Reading" (Open Univ.)

The Open University offers these techniques for reading actively alongside video examples. The author emphasizes that you should read for comprehension—not simply to finish the book as quickly as possible.

"7 Active Reading Strategies for Students" ( ThoughtCo )

In this post, Grace Fleming outlines seven methods for active reading. Her suggestions include identifying unfamiliar words and finding the main idea. 

"5 Active Reading Strategies for Textbook Assignments" (YouTube)

Thomas Frank’s seven-minute video demonstrates how you can retain the most important information from long and dense reading material.

Assessing Your Reading Comprehension

"Macmillan Readers Level Test" (MacMillan)

Take this online, interactive test from a publishing company to find out your reading level. You'll be asked a number of questions related to grammar and vocabulary.

"Reading Comprehension Practice Test" (ACCUPLACER)

ACCUPLACER is a placement test from The College Board. This 20-question practice test will help you see what information you retain after reading short passages.

"Reading Comprehension" ( English Maven )

The English Maven site has aggregated exercises and tests at various reading levels so you can quiz your reading comprehension skills.

How to Improve Your Reading Comprehension

"5 Tips for Improving Reading Comprehension" ( ThoughtCo )

ThoughtCo. recommends five tips to increase your reading comprehension ability, including reading with tools such as highlighters, and developing new vocabulary.

"How to Improve Reading Comprehension: 8 Expert Tips" (PrepScholar)

This blog post from PrepScholar provides ideas for improving your reading comprehension, from expanding your vocabulary to discussing texts with friends.

CrashCourse video: "Reading Assignments" (YouTube)

This CrashCourse video equips you with tools to read more effectively. It will help you determine how much material you need to read, and what strategies you can use to absorb what you read.

"Improving Reading Comprehension" ( Education Corner )

From a pre-reading survey through post-reading review, Education Corner  walks you through steps to improve reading comprehension.

Methods of In-text Annotation

"The Writing Process: Annotating a Text" (Hunter College)

This article from Hunter College’s Rockowitz Writing Center outlines how to take notes on a text and provides samples of annotation.

"How To Annotate Text While Reading" (YouTube)

This video from the SchoolHabits YouTube channel presents eleven annotation techniques you can use for better reading comprehension.

"5 Ways To Annotate Your Books" ( Book Riot )

This article from the Book Riot  blog highlights five efficient annotation methods that will save you time and protect your books from becoming cluttered with unnecessary markings.

"How Do You Annotate Your Books?" ( Epic Reads )

This post from Epic Reads highlights how different annotation methods work for different people, and showcases classic methods from sticky notes to keeping a reading notebook.

Students at every grade level can benefit from writing book reports, which sharpen critical reading skills. Here, we've aggregated sources to help you plan book report assignments and develop rubrics for written and oral book reports. You’ll also find alternative book report assessment ideas that move beyond the traditional formats.

Teaching Elementary School Students How to Write Book Reports

"Book Reports" ( Unique Teaching Resources )

These reading templates courtesy of Unique Teaching Resources make great visual aids for elementary school students writing their first book reports.

"Elementary Level Book Report Template" ( Teach Beside Me )

This   printable book report template from a teacher-turned-homeschooler is simple, classic, and effective. It asks basic questions, such as "who are the main characters?" and "how did you feel about the main characters?"

"Book Reports" ( ABC Teach )

ABC Teach ’s resource directory includes printables for book reports on various subjects at different grade levels, such as a middle school biography book report form and a "retelling a story" elementary book report template.

"Reading Worksheets" ( Busy Teacher's Cafe )

This page from Busy Teachers’ Cafe contains book report templates alongside reading comprehension and other language arts worksheets.

Teaching Middle School and High School Students How to Write Book Reports

"How to Write a Book Report: Middle and High School Level" ( Fact Monster)

Fact Monster ’s Homework Center discusses each section of a book report, and explains how to evaluate and analyze books based on genre for students in middle and high school.

"Middle School Outline Template for Book Report" (Trinity Catholic School)

This PDF outline template breaks the book report down into manageable sections for seventh and eighth graders by asking for specific information in each paragraph.

"Forms for Writing a Book Report for High School" ( Classroom )

In this article for Classroom,  Elizabeth Thomas describes what content high schoolers should focus on when writing their book reports.

"Forms for Writing a Book Report for High School" ( The Pen & The Pad )

Kori Morgan outlines techniques for adapting the book report assignment to the high school level in this post for The Pen & The Pad .

"High School Book Lists and Report Guidelines" (Highland Hall Waldorf School)

These sample report formats, grading paradigms, and tips are collected by Highland Hall Waldorf School. Attached are book lists by high school grade level.

Sample Rubrics

"Book Review Rubric Editable" (Teachers Pay Teachers)

This free resource from Teachers Pay Teachers allows you to edit your book report rubric to the specifications of your assignment and the grade level you teach.

"Book Review Rubric" (Winton Woods)

This PDF rubric from a city school district includes directions to take the assignment long-term, with follow-up exercises through school quarters.

"Multimedia Book Report Rubric" ( Midlink Magazine )

Perfect for oral book reports, this PDF rubric from North Carolina State University's Midlink Magazine  will help you evaluate your students’ spoken presentations.

Creative Book Report Assignments

"25 Book Report Alternatives" (Scholastic)

This article from the Scholastic website lists creative alternatives to the standard book report for pre-kindergarteners through high schoolers.

"Fresh Ideas for Creative Book Reports" ( Education World )

Education World offers nearly 50 alternative book report ideas in this article, from a book report sandwich to a character trait diagram.

"A Dozen Ways to Make Amazingly Creative Book Reports" ( We Are Teachers )

This post from We Are Teachers puts the spotlight on integrating visual arts into literary study through multimedia book report ideas.

"More Ideas Than You’ll Ever Use for Book Reports" (Teachnet.com)

This list from Teachnet.com includes over 300 ideas for book report assignments, from "interviewing" a character to preparing a travel brochure to the location in which the book is set.

"Fifty Alternatives to the Book Report" (National Council of Teachers of English)

In this PDF resource from the NCTE's  English Journal,  Diana Mitchell offers assignment ideas ranging from character astrology signs to a character alphabet.

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10 Book Report Ideas That Kids Will Love

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Fun book report ideas for fourth, fifth and sixth graders.

Book reports don’t need to be painfully boring. In fact, they can be a ton of fun, and with the right project, students will love the entire process of creating and sharing meaningful book projects. There are loads of great book report ideas out there just waiting to happen in your classroom!

Here are 10 book report ideas that kids will love:

1. cereal box book report.

These oh-so-cool reports were always the top-ranked project by my fifth graders. Students loved creating an original book report display using a covered cereal box and ready-made templates. The finished projects made a great classroom display, and students loved looking at their classmates’ creative reports. Read more about Cereal Box Book Reports HERE .

2. Paper Bag Book Report

This is a super simple idea that is quite fun for students. Provide each student with a lunch-sized paper bag. Tell them to think about 5 objects that relate to the main character of their book . The objects have to be small enough to fit into the bag . Send the bags home and have students place the 5 objects in the bag and bring them back to school. On the day they are due, have students take turns sharing the objects in their bags and explaining how they relate to the main character of the book. You can even make a great display with the bags, objects, and books to pique the interest of other students.

3. Character Day

Have students dress up as the main character of their book. Then, have each student take a turn standing in front of the class and telling their character’s story in first person point of view.

4. Book Report Lap Book

you need are two file folders, some cardstock or construction paper, scissors, glue, and the FREE book report template found here . The finished products are quite amazing, and your students will probably keep theirs forever! Check out my photo tutorial for making a lap book .

5. Book Scene Diorama

Have students construct a diorama of one of the main events of their book. They will make a 3-dimensional scene, including models of characters, the setting, and objects. A shoebox makes a great place to build a diorama. Require students to write a description of the scene.

6. Book Report Posters

This might be the easiest option of the book report ideas. Have students first sketch their posters on a sheet of notebook paper. Then, provide students with a large piece of poster paper or chart paper. Posters must identify main characters, setting, title, problem, and solution. Display finished posters in the classroom or on hallway walls.

7. Book Report Mobiles

Mobiles are easy to make, and it’s fun to watch students use their creativity in designing their own projects. A paper plate folded in half makes a great base/topper for mobiles. Have students write the title of the book on this paper plate semi circle and hang the mobile pieces from it. Provide students with construction paper, yarn, markers, paper hole punches, and any other materials they might need.

8. Book Report Mini Books

With just one piece of paper, your students can make a complete, creative book report!

In these clever book projects , students identify:

• Title/Author
• Main Character

No tape, glue, or staples required! Photo directions are included in this download.

9. Design a Book Jacket

Show your students several examples of some outstanding book jackets. Point out the front with the title and illustration, the spine and its information, and the back with the book summary. Also show the two inside flaps with information about the author and a smaller summary. Provide them each with a larger piece of paper and have them design a jacket for the book they have just read.

10. Ready-to-Print Templates

Use NO PREP book report templates to save your sanity AND to keep things fun for your students. You could print out all 12 templates in this Book Report Templates Packet and let students choose the one they want to do each month! There is even a really nice digital option for Google classroom included!

Regardless of which of these book report ideas you choose, be sure to clearly outline the expectations before your students begin. It’s best if you can model a project to demonstrate the quality of work your students should strive for.

Keep it fun and engaging, and your students will be excited to invest their time in their projects!

Check out these ready to go, easy to use book report projects in my store:

SAVE THIS POST FOR LATER!

Pin this to your favorite classroom Pinterest board  so you can come back for these book report ideas!

To recap, the 10 Book Report Project Ideas are:

• Cereal Box Book Report
• Paper Bag Book Report
• Character Day
• Book Report Lapbook
• Book Scene Diorama
• Book Report Posters
• Book Report Mobiles
• Design a Book Jacket
• Ready-to-Print Templates

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.

Hi, I'm Shelly

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Book reports may be a staple of elementary and middle school education, but they are far less frequently assigned in the higher grades. High school ELA teacher Nancy Barile thinks that should change. Students in 6th grade and above can learn a lot when they are challenged to use higher order thinking skills to understand and interpret the literature they read via a good old-fashioned high school book report template. 

To start, Barile recommends that students choose the books they want to write about themselves—with teacher approval, of course. See the book list at the end of this article for engaging young adult titles and book report ideas, including books with thematic elements that are particularly appealing to older readers. 

Writing the Report

To structure the book reports, Barile recommends eight sections of analysis that will “require students to provide evidence of their choices and reasoning, which helps them think more deeply about what they have read.” For each section, students should give examples from the book to back up their analysis. The below book report template can help. 

If your students need to review the elements of fiction before beginning this assignment, Teaching Powerful Writing is a great resource. This collection of personal narratives and writing activities highlights different writing techniques and covers literary elements such as voice, using flashback, and point of view.

Book Report Breakdown

Students should identify the setting of the novel and explain why the setting is important.

• How are the time and place significant to the events of the story?
• How does the setting contribute to the overall meaning of the novel? 

2. CHARACTERIZATION

Beginning with the protagonist and then moving on to the supporting characters, students should discuss the characterizations in their novel. 

• Is the character well-developed, or are they a stock or stereotypical character? 
• Is the character static (unchanging throughout the story) or dynamic (changes by the end of the novel)? 
• What personality traits does the character possess, and how does this affect the outcome of the novel? 
• Do the character's inner thoughts and feelings reflect their outward actions? Explain. 

3. POINT OF VIEW

Students should identify the novel’s point of view and why it is significant.

• What advantages does telling the story in (first person/second person/third person) have? Why?
• Why do you think the author chose this point of view? 

4. CONFLICT

What is the primary conflict in the novel? Is it human vs. human, human vs. nature, human vs. society, or human vs. themselves? Your students should delve into conflict much more deeply than they may have in the past. If their story has more than one major conflict, they should detail the additional conflicts as well.

• Explain the conflict and how the protagonist deals with it. 
• Does the protagonist overcome the conflict? Or do they succumb to it?

Students should identify the theme of the novel and the specific meaning of the book they chose. They should avoid stock themes such as “Don’t judge a book by its cover” and think more critically on their author’s message.

• What was the author’s purpose in writing the book?

What are the symbols in the novel and how are they significant?

• How do the symbols help develop the story and contribute to the overall meaning of the book?

7. FORESHADOWING

Students should identify the foreshadowing in their novel and give examples from the text.

• Did you know what was going to come? Why? 
• Were there any hints as to what might occur? 
• Why do you think the author chose to use or not use foreshadowing? 

Finally, students should evaluate the ending of the book.

• Was the ending justified? (Was the ending viable and believable?) 
• Was it a satisfactory ending that fit the rest of the novel? 
• Was there a catharsis of some kind? Explain.

If your students follow this structure in their book report, it will help them explore each of the elements of fiction in a very specific way. As Barile discovered in her decades of teaching: “Students who explain, interpret, and synthesize what they have read gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of literature.”

Shop great classroom titles for book reports below! You can find all books and activities at The Teacher Store .

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• My Storyboards

Book Report Planning Sheets

Customize book report planning sheets.

If you're assigning this to your students, copy the worksheet to your account and save. When creating an assignment, just select it as a template!

What is a Book Report?

It is a written summary and analysis of a book's content, intended to provide an overview of its key elements, themes, characters, and plot. It is often used as an educational tool to assess a reader's understanding of a book and their ability to critically analyze its various aspects. They can vary in structure and complexity depending on the grade level and educational objectives.

What are Book Report Planning Worksheets?

They are effective tools that teachers assign to students to organize ideas before beginning a larger, more in-depth report. This simple form is meant to highlight the main idea, plot, setting, and main characters of a book, while also showing that students understand what they read, and that they are able to present information about the pages they've read. Planning an outline ahead of time with a Storyboard That template is an essential step towards an incredible and unique project. This planning can be done in class or as homework in note form.

Why are they Important and How are they Best Used?

They are important because they help students create a plan before executing a large project. Students are able to take what they know from the book, and write it all down in one place. They are also able to decide what they want to include, or not include, in their reports by having all of the information laid out in front of them.

In the world of education, fostering reading comprehension and critical thinking skills is a vital mission. These worksheets provide a structured framework that guides the class through a journey of analyzing, understanding, and reflecting on the books they read.

Types of Projects

• The Traditional Report: The traditional approach involves key elements such as the title and author, summarizing the plot, character analysis, setting description, and personal opinions. These worksheets serve as book report forms that students can use to structure a specific idea, as well as their thoughts and insights. Kids are prompted to identify the main ideas, describe the book's aspects, and offer their opinions on their favorite parts.
• Character Analysis: Delving into characters is a fantastic way to enhance reading comprehension. Students can identify character traits, motivations, and changes throughout the story. By using a book report template for kids, teachers guide elementary-age children to critically think about the characters' development and role in the narrative.
• Setting Exploration: Settings often play a significant role in shaping the story's atmosphere and events. Our worksheets offer a structured platform for students to identify and describe the settings, as well as analyze how they impact the plot and characters. This free printable tool engages middle school students and elementary age kids in a deeper understanding of the story's context.
• Comparative Analysis: Comparing and contrasting two books with similar themes or genres is an enriching exercise. Students can analyze characters, plots, themes, and writing styles side by side. This activity encourages critical thinking as students identify similarities and differences between the two works, honing their ability to critically assess literature.
• Book-to-Movie Comparison: In an age where many books find themselves on the silver screen, comparing a book to its movie adaptation can be captivating. With our worksheets, students can highlight the differences and evaluate how successfully the adaptation captures the essence of the novel. This engaging activity invites children to express their opinion on how well the story transitioned from page to screen.
• Critical Book Review: Encouraging critical thinking is a cornerstone of education. Our handouts can be transformed into platforms for students to review what they've read with a discerning eye. By using a book report generator, students can evaluate plot development, character depth, and writing style, strengthening their analytical skills.
• Alternate Conclusion, Ending, or Sequel: Nurturing creativity is equally important. Our templates can serve as springboards for students to imagine alternate endings or sequels to the book. By completing a book report planning form, grade school children create new narrative possibilities, fostering their imaginative thinking.
• Letter to the Author: What better way to engage students than allowing them to interact with the author? Worksheets can include sections for students to write letters to authors, sharing their thoughts, questions, and reactions. This activity bridges the gap between the author's creation and the student's interpretation.
• Book Advertisement: These worksheets can take the form of designing advertisements or promotional posters for the book. By focusing on key aspects, students not only comprehend the book but also learn to present their understanding in a visually appealing manner.
• Timeline of Events: Understanding the chronological sequence of events is crucial in comprehending stories. Templates can be adapted to create timelines of important events from the book. Students fill in the report form with short summaries of events, identifying their significance, and arranging them chronologically.

Tips for Making a Template

• Understand the Purpose: Begin by understanding the purpose. It's a tool designed to guide students through the process of analyzing and summarizing a book's content.
• Identify Your Audience: Determine whether the worksheet is intended for elementary-grade students or middle-school students.
• Choose a Format: Decide on the format of your worksheet. You can use a no prep printable book report template, or create a custom design.
• Incorporate Structured Sections: Include sections for various aspects of the book such as a short summary, character analysis, and personal reflections.
• Utilize Free Resources: Search for free book report templates online to gather ideas and inspiration for your worksheet's layout and content.
• Consider Grade-Level Appropriate Language: Tailor the language used in the worksheet to suit the reading comprehension level of the students for whom it's intended.
• Add Visual Elements: Enhance engagement by incorporating visuals, like images or icons, to make the worksheet visually appealing.
• Provide Prompts for Analysis: Offer prompts and questions that encourage critical thinking. Include questions like "What is a book report?" and "What are some ideas to make your project unique?"
• Offer Space for Personalization: Include sections that allow students to share their personal opinions, a favorite part of the book, and creative insights.
• Include Organizational Tools: Utilize a book report maker or book report generator to create a professional-looking worksheet. A book report graphic organizer can also help students structure their thoughts effectively in their own words.

By incorporating elements like templates, book report planning forms for grade school, and relevant book report examples, you can design a worksheet that guides students through a comprehensive exploration of the book's content while fostering their creativity and critical thinking skills.

More Storyboard That Resources and Free Printables

• Creative Writing Worksheets
• Plot Diagram Template
• Student Planner Template
• Graphic Organizer Templates

How to Make a Book Report Worksheet

Choose one of the premade templates.

We have lots of templates to choose from. Take a look at our example for inspiration!

Click on “Copy Template”

Once you do this, you will be directed to the storyboard creator.

Give Your Worksheet a Name!

Be sure to call it something related to the topic so that you can easily find it in the future.

Edit Your Worksheet

This is where you will include directions, specific images, and make any aesthetic changes that you would like. The options are endless!

Click "Save and Exit"

When you are finished, click this button in the lower right hand corner to exit your storyboard.

From here you can print, download as a PDF, attach it to an assignment and use it digitally, and more!

Happy Creating!

Frequently Asked Questions About Book Reports

Do book report worksheets limit creativity.

No, they don't inherently limit creativity. While they provide structure through elements like book report templates, they can be adapted to encourage creative analysis. By exploring how to write a report that allows creativity, educators can strike a balance between structured analysis and imaginative insights. Ideas can be integrated to spark imaginative thinking. A well-designed book report template for kids allows room for personal expression while maintaining organization.

Do book reports differ based on grade levels?

Yes, they vary by grade level. Elementary reports focus on simple summaries and character descriptions. Middle school reports delve into themes and analysis. High school and college projects demand deeper analysis, including writing style and context. Worksheets and free book report templates can guide each level.

Are book reports limited to novels?

They extend beyond novels to include non-fiction, biographies, and more, and free book report templates adapt to different genres. A versatile book report template for kids accommodates various reading materials, and ideas cater to diverse literary forms.

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Unique and Fun Book Reports: Projects, Ideas, and Lesson Plans For Teachers

Free: 5 page book reports bulletin board display banner!

Click here to download this reading banner: Free: Dive Into Reading!

Free: Reading Award Certificate

Click here to download this reading award: Free: Dive Into Reading Award

What activities do you provide your students with after they have read a book on their own or together as a class?

• Do your activities focus on reading comprehension?
• Are your students eager to use their best effort to complete their reading projects?
• Do your activities focus on the entire process of writing a first draft, editing, revising, and then completing a polished final draft?
• Do you use a grading rubric for both you and your students to evaluate their work?
• When your students have finished their projects, are they proud of their work and do they provide eye catching displays on your classroom bulletin boards?
• Are your students eager to begin reading their next books so that they can start working on their next reading response activity?

Examples of Book Report Project Templates:

Below : The reading response projects that I have created come in a variety of different shapes, sizes, and themes. Your students will find these uniquely shaped book report projects fun and challenging to complete.

Above : The writing responses are different for each book report set and are related to the project's shape and theme.

Below is a list of the book report projects that are available on Unique Teaching Resources:

Most popular:.

• Cheeseburger
• Character Body

CHARACTER RELATED TEMPLATES:

• Biography Newspaper
• Wanted Poster
• Main Character Vacation Suitcase

FOOD TEMPLATES:

• Pizza Venn Diagram
• Birthday Cake

ANIMAL TEMPLATES:

• Extra Large Turtle
• Butterfly Sets (2)
• Caterpillar Sets (2)
• Dive Into Reading (fish templates)

NATURE RELATED TEMPLATES:

• Cause and Effect Tree
• Mountain Story Map

TECHNOLOGY TEMPLATES:

• Movie Camera

BUILDING TEMPLATES:

Transportation templates:, other categories:.

• 1st Place Trophy / Favorite Book (Ideal for a beginning or end of year activity.)

I hope that your students have

Completing these one of a kind book report activities, what is the "key" that i use to get my students to love reading and writing about literature.

• I use engaging and creative book report templates.
• Each of my students have a reading sticker chart to record the number of books that they have read.
• I display all of my students' finished projects in my classroom.

It really is that simple and most importantly, it works! My students are excited to read books independently and complete their fun reading projects!

The students in my class read a new book and complete a reading response project every two to three weeks. My students produce a polished final draft that is unique in style, shape, and content. Since my students find these response templates fun and challenging, they are engaged and interested in using their best effort to complete their projects.

My templates emphasize reading comprehension and the writing process, and they also include an art component.

All of my students are given an individual reading file. Inside their reading files are: their book, reading sticker chart, book mark, and their first draft worksheets for their book projects. Students proofread and edit their first drafts on their own, with a partner, or with me before they begin on their final draft templates.

When students have completed the final drafts of their reading projects, they receive a sticker on their reading sticker charts.

Download a Free Reading Sticker Chart :

Below is a free reading sticker chart that you can download from Unique Teaching Resources . Click on the link below the picture to go to the page where you can find more information about this free teaching resource.

Above: FREE Sticker Chart Templates: Click here to go to this page: Puppy Reading Sticker Charts Set

I believe that every child's work should be displayed, not just the "best" ones. I have found that this motivates all of my students to use their best effort.

Since my book reports are large and colorful, and I provide a free display banner for you to use on your bulletin board, it is easy to make a brilliant bulletin board display of your students' work!

My students are proud of their final drafts and enjoy evaluating their own work using my grading rubrics. They love to see their projects displayed in the classroom, and they later place them in their educational portfolios to show to their parents with pride.

All of my book reports include the following components:

• assembling directions
• first draft writing worksheets (the writing lines on the first draft worksheets match exactly with the writing lines on the final draft book report templates)
• final draft book report templates
• color final draft book report templates of the project for you to use as a finished example to show to your students
• grading rubric for both the students and the teacher to fill out
• five page color banner to display on your bulletin board
• most of these sets include bonus accent pieces for you to use as decorations for your classroom bulletin board display

Reading Sticker Charts:

If you are interesting in using sticker charts to motivate your students to read, be sure to check out my reading sticker charts page. By using reading sticker charts, you can easily track how many books each student has read.

Reading sticker charts are a great motivational tool to encourage your students to read books and to read across a variety of different genres of literature!

If you are interested in viewing the sticker charts found on Unique Teaching Resources, please click on the link below:

Reading Sticker Charts

Examples of Book Reports That Are Available on Unique Teaching Resources:

Thank you for visiting this book reports page.

Please be sure to check out the other pages on Unique Teaching Resources for a large variety of fun lesson plan activities that will engage your students in learning and save you valuable time.

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Daniel C. Dennett, Widely Read and Fiercely Debated Philosopher, 82, Dies

Espousing his ideas in best sellers, he insisted that religion was an illusion, free will was a fantasy and evolution could only be explained by natural selection.

By Jonathan Kandell

Daniel C. Dennett, one of the most widely read and debated American philosophers, whose prolific works explored consciousness, free will, religion and evolutionary biology, died on Friday in Portland, Maine. He was 82.

His death, at Maine Medical Center, was caused by complications of interstitial lung disease, his wife, Susan Bell Dennett, said. He lived in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.

Mr. Dennett combined a wide range of knowledge with an easy, often playful writing style to reach a lay public, avoiding the impenetrable concepts and turgid prose of many other contemporary philosophers. Beyond his more than 20 books and scores of essays, his writings even made their way into the theater and onto the concert stage.

But Mr. Dennett, who never shirked controversy, often crossed swords with other famed scholars and thinkers.

An outspoken atheist, he at times seemed to denigrate religion. “There’s simply no polite way to tell people they’ve dedicated their lives to an illusion,” he said in a 2013 interview with The New York Times .

According to Mr. Dennett, the human mind is no more than a brain operating as a series of algorithmic functions, akin to a computer. To believe otherwise is “profoundly naïve and anti-scientific,” he told The Times.

For Mr. Dennett, random chance played a greater role in decision-making than did motives, passions, reasoning, character or values. Free will is a fantasy, but a necessary one to gain people’s acceptance of rules that govern society, he said.

Mr. Dennett irked some scientists by asserting that natural selection alone determined evolution. He was especially disdainful of the eminent paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould , whose ideas on other factors of evolution were summarily dismissed by Mr. Dennett as “goulding.”

Not surprisingly, Mr. Dennett’s writings could elicit strong criticism as well — to which he sometimes reacted with fury.

Daniel Clement Dennett III was born on March 28, 1942, in Boston, the son of Daniel Clement Dennett Jr. and Ruth Marjorie (Leck) Dennett. His sister, Charlotte Dennett, is a lawyer and journalist.

Mr. Dennett spent part of his childhood in Beirut, Lebanon, where his father was a covert intelligence agent posing as a cultural attaché in the United States Embassy, while his mother taught English at the American Community School.

He graduated from Harvard University in 1963 and two years later earned a Ph.D. in philosophy from Oxford University. His dissertation began a lifelong quest to use empirical research as the basis of a philosophy of the mind.

Mr. Dennett taught philosophy at the University of California, Irvine, from 1965 to 1971. He then spent almost his entire career on the faculty of Tufts University , where he was director of its Center for Cognitive Studies and most recently an emeritus professor.

His first book to attract widespread scholarly notice was “Brainstorms: Philosophical Essays on Mind and Psychology,” published in 1978.

In it, Mr. Dennett asserted that multiple decisions resulted in a moral choice and that these prior, random deliberations contributed more to the way an individual acted than did the ultimate moral decision itself. Or, as he explained:

“I am faced with an important decision to make, and after a certain amount of deliberation, I say to myself: ‘That’s enough. I’ve considered this matter enough and now I’m going to act,’ in the full knowledge that I could have considered further, in the full knowledge that the eventualities may prove that I decided in error, but with the acceptance of responsibility in any case.”

Some leading libertarians criticized Mr. Dennett’s model as undermining the concept of free will: If random decisions determine ultimate choice, they argued, then individuals aren’t liable for their actions.

Mr. Dennett responded that free will — like consciousness — was based on the outdated notion that the mind should be considered separate from the physical brain. Still, he asserted, free will was a necessary illusion to maintain a stable, functioning society.

“We couldn’t live the way we do without it,” he wrote in his 2017 book, “From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds.” “If — because free will is an illusion — no one is ever responsible for what they do, should we abolish yellow and red cards in soccer, the penalty box in ice hockey and all the other penalty systems in sports?”

Already with the 1991 publication of his book, “Consciousness Explained,” Mr. Dennett had expounded his belief that consciousness could be explained only by an understanding of the physiology of the brain, which he viewed as a kind of supercomputer.

“All varieties of perception — indeed all varieties of thought or mental activity — are accomplished in the brain by parallel, multitrack processes of interpretation and elaboration of sensory inputs,” he wrote. “Information entering the nervous system is under continuous ‘editorial revision.’”

By the 1990s, Mr. Dennett had increasingly sought to explain the development of the brain — and illusions of a separate consciousness and free will — in terms of the evolution of human beings from other animal life.

He believed that natural selection was the overwhelming factor in this evolution. And he insisted that physical and behavioral traits of organisms evolved primarily through their beneficial effects on survival or reproduction, thus enhancing an organism’s fitness in its environment.

Critics, like Mr. Gould, cautioned that while natural selection was important, evolution would also have to be explained by random genetic mutations that were neutral or even somewhat damaging to organisms, but that had become fixed in a population. In Mr. Gould’s view, evolution is marked by long periods of little or no change punctuated by short, rapid bursts of significant change, while Mr. Dennett defended a more gradualist view.

Underlying the increasingly acrimonious debate between the scholars was a natural friction in the scientific and philosophical communities over which side merited more credibility on the subject of evolution.

Mr. Dennett also plunged into controversy with his strident views on atheism. He and a colleague, Linda LaScola, researched and published a book in 2013, “Caught in the Pulpit: Leaving Belief Behind,” based on interviews with clerics of various denominations who were secret atheists. They defended their decision to continue preaching because it provided comfort and needed ritual to their congregations.

Interviews with clergy from the book became the basis of a play by Marin Gazzaniga, “ The Unbelieving ,” which was staged Off Broadway in 2022.

Eight years earlier, Mr. Dennett’s views on evolutionary biology and religion were the subject of “Mind Out of Matter,” a 75-minute-long musical composition by Scott Johnson performed in a seven-part concert at a theater in Montclair, N.J. The composer used recordings from Mr. Dennett’s lectures and interviews.

Mr. Dennett’s fame and following extended to both sides of the Atlantic. As he grew older, he was accompanied by his wife on his lecture tours abroad. In addition to his wife, his survivors include a daughter, Andrea Dennett Wardwell; a son, Peter; two sisters, Cynthia Yee and Charlotte Dennett; and six grandchildren.

While Mr. Dennett never held back in contradicting the views of other scholars, he bristled at harsh comments about his own work. This was especially the case when Leon Wieseltier, a well-known writer on politics, religion and culture, strongly criticized Mr. Dennett’s 2006 best seller, “Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon,” in The New York Times Book Review .

Contending that Mr. Dennett was intolerant of people who didn’t share his basic belief that science could explain all human conditions, Mr. Wieseltier concluded: “Dennett is the sort of rationalist who gives reason a bad name.”

In a lengthy, angry rebuttal , Mr. Dennett denounced Mr. Wieseltier for “flagrant falsehoods” that demonstrated a “visceral repugnance that fairly haunts Wieseltier’s railing (without arguments) against my arguments.”

An earlier, more positive appraisal of another of his best sellers, “Kinds of Minds: Toward an Understanding of Consciousness” (1996), that ran in New Scientist magazine might have come closest to explaining Mr. Dennett’s enduring appeal.

While he admitted that many of the questions he raises in his work “cannot yet be answered,” wrote the reviewer, Mr. Dennett “argues that putting the right questions is a crucial step forward.”

Kellina Moore contributed reporting.

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Stop children using smartphones until they are 13, says French report

Children should be banned from most social media until 18 amid attempts to ‘monetise’ them, says Macron-commissioned study

Children should not be allowed to use smartphones until they are 13 and should be banned from accessing conventional social media such as TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat until they are 18, according to a report by experts commissioned by Emmanuel Macron .

The French president had asked scientists and experts to suggest screen use guidelines for children with a view to France taking unprecedented steps on limiting their exposure . It was unclear how the government might now proceed after the report’s publication. Macron said in January: “There might be bans, there might be restrictions.”

The hard-hitting report said children needed to be protected from the tech industry’s profit-driven “strategy of capturing children’s attention, using all forms of cognitive bias to shut children away on their screens, control them, re-engage them and monetise them”.

Children were becoming “merchandise” in this new tech market, the report said, adding: “We want [the industry] to know we’ve seen what they’re doing and we won’t let them get away with it.”

A three-month study by scientists and experts led by a neurologist, Servane Mouton, and Amine Benyamina, the head of the psychiatry and addiction service at Paul-Brousse hospital, said children under three should have no exposure to screens – television included – and no child should have a phone before the age of 11.

Any phone given to a child aged between 11 and 13 should be a handset without access to the internet, it said, setting the minimum age at which they should be allowed a smartphone connected to the internet at 13.

The report said a 15-year-old should be able to access only what it called “ethical” social media, such as Mastodon. Conventional, mass-marketed, profit-driven social media such as TikTok, Instagram or Snapchat should not be available to teenagers until they reached 18, it found. Teenagers should also receive better education on the science behind the need to get enough sleep.

The report made equally stringent recommendations for the very young, saying phones and screens should be limited as much as possible on maternity wards to help parents bond with their babies. Phone use should also be addressed among childminders, it said.

For children up to the age of six, screens of all kinds should be “strongly limited” and only very rarely used for education content when sitting with an adult. Screens should be totally banned from nursery schools for children under six. In primary schools, children should not be given individual tablets or digital devices to work on, unless it was for a specific disability.

The report also suggested banning connected toys, except those used as audio for storytelling.

“Before the age of six, no child needs a screen in order to develop,” Mouton said. “In fact, screens can stop them developing properly at this age.”

The scientists said they did not want to chide parents, who themselves were “victims of a powerful tech industry”. They said parents should instead be helped to avoid what they called “techno-ference” – when parents constantly checking their own phones interfered with their ability concentrate on talking to, eating with or playing with their children.

This was harming young people’s emotional development, the report said. It included adults scrolling on their phones while feeding young children, or homes where a television was constantly on in the background.

Scientists said parents were not to blame and more should be done in society as a whole, such as allowing adults to properly disconnect from work out of hours, limiting screens in public places, introducing screen-free restaurants and cafes, or parents putting their phones in a box when they got home from work.

The scientists said “parental controls” should not be seen as a sufficient means of protecting children. Rather, they were an ineffective distraction, peddled by the tech industry “to get itself off the hook” for creating algorithms, particularly within social media, designed to addict and monetise children.

Benyamina said: “Tech is and will remain a fantastic tool, but it has to act in people’s service, not people being reduced to serving a product.”

He said screens had negative effects on children “in terms of their eyesight, their metabolism … their intelligence, concentration and cognitive processes”.

He said addictions to screens were not to the product itself but to content. He said: “Algorithms that re-engage and stimulate the pleasure system and are built to avoid you losing interest in the content have a type of addictive dynamic.”

He said people should be vigilant on social media if they noticed that content was re-engaging them. “If you decided you wanted to look at one or two videos and you were on it all evening, you need to question it.”

• Emmanuel Macron
• Social media
• Smartphones

More on this story

UK ministers considering banning sale of smartphones to under-16s

Generation Anxiety: smartphones have created a gen Z mental health crisis – but there are ways to fix it

‘It went nuts’: Thousands join UK parents calling for smartphone-free childhood

‘Our kids are suffering’: calls for ban on social media to protect under-16s

Social media algorithms ‘amplifying misogynistic content’

Kids are on their phones more than ever. We asked parents what they’re doing about it

Children now ‘biggest perpetrators of sexual abuse against children’

‘Put learners first’: Unesco calls for global ban on smartphones in schools

Mobile phones and other devices to be banned from Dutch classrooms

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What If He Actually Did It?

I argued that Jens Söring was wrongfully convicted of a double murder, and in 2019, he was released on parole after three decades in prison. Then I started having doubts about the case.

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I had been avoiding my friend Jens Söring for months. Whenever his emails arrived, I’d open a reply window and stare with dread at the blinking cursor. I no longer knew what to say to him, this man who had spent 33 years in prison for a double homicide he swore he didn’t commit.

Jens had been convicted of murder in 1990. I had been convicted of murder nearly 20 years later. But the parallels between our cases were striking. While studying abroad in Italy in 2007, I had been accused of killing my roommate Meredith Kercher with the help of a man I’d been dating for just a week. Jens, too, had been studying abroad—he was a German citizen attending the University of Virginia— and he, too, had been accused of a brutal killing , allegedly with the help of his girlfriend, Elizabeth Haysom. The murder weapon in both cases was a knife. Elizabeth had been portrayed in the media as a psychologically disturbed femme fatale; I’d been called “Luciferina” in the courtroom and “Foxy Knoxy” in the tabloids. Both of our cases involved a confession obtained without legal counsel present. And in both of our cases, biological evidence played an important role. I was freed only after independent experts debunked the supposed DNA evidence linking me to the crime. DNA analysis wasn’t available when Jens was tried—but applied decades later, it could be interpreted to support his claim of innocence. For a long time, I believed the major difference between Jens’s case and mine was this: I eventually got justice.

In 2015, eight years after being arrested, I was definitively acquitted of the murder of Meredith Kercher by Italy’s highest court per non aver commesso il fatto —“for not having committed the act.” A man named Rudy Guede had already been identified as the killer, and had been convicted. I spoke with Jens for the first time a few years later, in 2019, through the prison phone system at Buckingham Correctional Center, in rural Virginia. By then, as a writer and podcaster, I had become an advocate for the wrongly convicted. Jens had already been imprisoned for 33 years—longer than I’d been alive. He would die in prison, if the Commonwealth of Virginia had its way.

After talking with lawyers and advocates, impartial experts, and Jens himself, I had come to believe that Jens was innocent of murder, though he had admittedly, and foolishly, helped cover up murders in their aftermath. I publicly advocated for his release. And I offered him advice and served as a bridge to the community of wrongly convicted people in the United States and abroad, a community that had been essential to my own mental health. In our many exchanges, Jens came across as intelligent, bookish, and quick to laugh, but with a deep melancholy beneath the surface, an emotion I knew all too well. Listening to his voice, I often felt as if I were peering through a looking glass into another, sadder dimension. He seemed to me like a tragic version of myself. Our bond was more than a friendship; it was a kind of kinship.

Amanda Knox: Who owns Amanda Knox?

But now, armed with new information, I believed there was a strong possibility that Jens had been lying to me from the very beginning. I wrote the email, explaining the doubts I had. Jens was angry. “Let me say this quite bluntly,” he replied, in what would prove to be our last communication. “There is way more DNA evidence incriminating you than there is me … I mean, Amanda, WTF.”

D erek and Nancy Haysom were murdered in their home outside Lynchburg, Virginia, on March 30, 1985. The Haysoms were wealthy—Nancy was an artist whose family was related to the Astors; Derek, who was born in South Africa and eventually moved to Canada, had made money in steel and finance. A Bedford County detective named Chuck Reid described the crime scene as a “slaughterhouse.” Derek, in particular, had put up a fight, and had been stabbed 36 times. Both he and Nancy had had their throats cut so deeply that they were nearly decapitated. The crime shocked the local community and quickly became a media sensation. The investigators wondered at first whether this had been a Manson Family–style “thrill kill,” but eventually came to the view that the excessive violence suggested someone with a personal motive. This aligned with evidence that the killer was someone whom the Haysoms had welcomed into their home. They had been eating dinner, and their plates were still on the table. Nancy was wearing a housecoat. There were no signs of forced entry. Nothing had been stolen. Detectives interviewed roughly 100 people in the months following the murders, and only in the fall did they become suspicious of the Haysoms’ daughter, Elizabeth, and her boyfriend, Jens Söring.

Both were promising young students at UVA. Jens, the son of a German diplomat, was a Jefferson Scholar. Elizabeth had been educated at boarding schools in Europe. Their relationship had begun the previous fall. Jens and Elizabeth hardly seemed like the kind of people who would commit a double homicide. In any case, the pair had an alibi—they’d been in Washington, D.C., on the weekend of the murders. They had hotel receipts and movie-ticket stubs to prove it, along with a rental-car agreement.

But a Bedford County investigator named Ricky Gardner took a closer look at that last item, and noticed a discrepancy in the mileage—429 miles beyond the distance from Charlottesville, where the car had been rented, to D.C. and back. Those excess miles would account for an additional round trip between Washington and the Haysom residence. Elizabeth and Jens offered an explanation for the excess mileage—getting lost—but its vagueness and implausibility invited further scrutiny; the drive from Charlottesville to D.C. is a straight shot on U.S. Route 29. Finally, in late September, the detectives asked Elizabeth to submit fingerprints, footprints, and blood samples, which she provided. A few weeks later, facing the same request, Jens declined. Not long after, both fled the country, on separate flights.

Seven months passed before a young couple, Christopher and Tara Lucy Noe, were detained in London at a Marks & Spencer department store, on suspicion of fraud. An in-house detective had witnessed them entering together with shopping bags, acting as if they didn’t know each other while inside, returning merchandise for cash, buying more clothes with checks at different registers, and then meeting up again out front. A call was made to Scotland Yard. Detectives Kenneth Beever and Terry Wright questioned the couple and obtained permission to search their apartment, which yielded evidence of a sophisticated check-fraud operation, together with wigs and other disguises. Authentic passports revealed the couple’s true identities: Jens Söring and Elizabeth Haysom. Detectives also found a large cache of letters the couple had written to each other and a joint travel diary that the pair had been keeping, which indicated that Jens and Elizabeth had been scamming their way across the globe, from Luxembourg to Thailand to the United Kingdom, using false IDs. More intriguing were references to a possible murder and the wiping of fingerprints. There was also a mention of “officers Reid and Gardner” in a place called Bedford.

When asked about this, Jens at first claimed that the diary entries were ideas for a crime novel he was writing. But after a painstaking search of the many American towns named Bedford—this was in the pre-internet era—Detective Wright located Ricky Gardner in Virginia, and learned that Jens and Elizabeth were wanted in connection with the murders of Derek and Nancy Haysom. Shortly thereafter, Jens confessed to the murders in multiple official interviews over the course of four days, giving a detailed account of how he had killed Elizabeth’s parents. The information relayed in his confessions corresponded with many aspects of the crime scene.

Elizabeth confessed separately to participation in the murder scheme, admitting that she harbored a deep animosity toward her parents because of their controlling behavior and their disapproval of Jens. She said that she had planned the murders with him. According to her story, she had stayed in a hotel in Washington to help Jens fake an alibi, and he had driven to Lynchburg, killed the Haysoms, and then returned to the hotel. “It was my will that made him kill my parents,” she told the detectives, “and he wouldn’t have done it, I’m sure, if he hadn’t loved me so much and I he.”

Elizabeth did not fight extradition, and in 1987, charged with two counts of accessory before the fact to capital murder, she pleaded guilty, forgoing a trial . During her sentencing hearing, Elizabeth condemned Jens as the killer and downplayed her own role in planning the crime. Any talk of killing her parents, she testified, had been merely “grotesque, childish fantasies”; she had failed to realize that Jens was taking the idea far more seriously. This claim was inconsistent with Elizabeth’s prior statements during interviews with detectives in London. Prosecutor James Updike’s cross-examination dug into this inconsistency, and by citing passages from her letters, he was able to damage her credibility, arguing that her original statements were truthful and that this new gloss was an attempt to lessen her culpability. Ultimately, Elizabeth was given two consecutive 45-year prison sentences for her role in the murder of her parents.

Jens fought extradition, leading to a determination by the European Court of Human Rights, in 1989, that the potentially lengthy process of awaiting execution in the United States, were Jens to be convicted and sentenced to death, would violate Article III of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits inhumane and degrading treatment. Jens was extradited to Virginia only after the state agreed that it would not seek the death penalty.

Jens stood trial in 1990, and to everyone’s surprise he pleaded not guilty. Hadn’t he already confessed? Yes, he said, but only because he had been trying to save Elizabeth from the death penalty by taking the blame himself—hoping that his status as a diplomat’s son would yield a relatively brief sentence as a youth offender in Germany. It was Elizabeth who had committed the murders, he now maintained. He had stayed behind in the hotel, thinking he was providing her with an alibi while she delivered a shipment of drugs—a long story involving a debt she supposedly owed to some dealers. Only later, he said, did he learn that she had killed her parents.

In Jens’s telling, he was noble but naive, willing to risk prison time to save Elizabeth’s life. Could he really have been so in love that he’d help cover up a murder, lie to the police, flee the country, and then confess in her stead? His story was supported by the diagnoses of two psychiatrists who’d examined both Jens and Elizabeth while the pair were in custody in London. Elizabeth was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder; Jens was diagnosed with what his psychiatrists called folie à deux, now commonly known as shared psychosis, a rare disorder in which delusional beliefs are transferred from one person to another in a close relationship. And Elizabeth was the older and more sophisticated of the two.

Updike, the prosecutor, made a case against Jens based on many pieces of evidence: the excess rental-car mileage; those diary entries and especially the letters, which revealed a deep hatred of the Haysoms, fantasies about their deaths, and hopes for an inheritance; Elizabeth’s testimony against Jens; and, of course, Jens’s multiple confessions.

And Updike had something else. Although DNA analysis was not yet in use at the time, technicians had collected dozens of samples from bloodstains at the crime scene. Serology tests revealed that many of the samples tested as type A, a number of them tested as type AB, and two tested as type O. Derek Haysom had type A blood, and Nancy Haysom had type AB blood. Was it possible that the killer had been injured in the attack and left behind some of his or her own type O blood? The only suspect with type O blood was Jens Söring.

The defense countered that 45 percent of the population has type O blood, but neither that nor the folie à deux defense was enough to sway the jury. After only four hours of deliberation, the jury convicted Jens of two counts of first-degree murder. He was given two consecutive life sentences.

J ens appealed his conviction multiple times between 1990 and 1998, and the state courts ruled against him every time. Jens then appealed in a federal court, claiming that he had received ineffective assistance of counsel and that crucial evidence had not been shared with him during his trial. In 2000, the federal court also ruled against him. Eventually Jens appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear his case.

With that, his routes to freedom were closed, save for a pardon or parole, both of which were unlikely. But alongside his legal efforts, Jens had also been making literary ones. In 1995, with the help of a friend on the outside, he self-published an ebook called Mortal Thoughts , laying out his version of events. In his telling, Elizabeth comes across as manipulative, sexually mature, and caught in the grip of drugs; he, by contrast, was a young and sober virgin, helpless against her charms. Over the next few years, he wrote dozens of articles and several more books, including volumes on prison reform and Christian meditation, gaining him a handful of supporters, including a Catholic bishop. He slowly expanded what he called his “circle of friends,” finding advocates in the U.S. and in Germany. Some of them were critics of the U.S. penal system; they saw Jens as a model prisoner who had clearly reformed, even if he might be guilty. Others believed his story—that he had provided an alibi for the killer, yes, but that he was no killer himself.

His big break came in 2007, when a German journalist, Karin Steinberger, wrote an article for the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung called “Forgotten Behind Bars,” portraying Jens as a victim of flawed and brutal American justice, and endorsing his claim that he had confessed only to protect Elizabeth. Jens’s circle of friends began to expand rapidly. Supporters organized a document archive, maintained a website, managed social-media profiles, and sent information to journalists to lay out their case. They noted, for instance, that the presence of type O blood was hardly conclusive, and they pointed to certain mistakes in Jens’s confessions. He’d gotten Nancy Haysom’s outfit wrong, for instance, and incorrectly described the position of the bodies. This could be seen as consistent with his claim that he had not been at the scene himself but was only repeating what Elizabeth had told him afterward.

The strongest argument that emerged in Jens’s favor appeared to come from DNA evidence. This was new, and it was ultimately what drew me into his corner. The DNA evidence arrived in two stages. The first came in 2009, when tests were conducted on 42 evidence swabs that had been collected at the crime scene in 1985. After more than two decades, many had degraded so badly that they yielded no information, but a significant number provided usable results. And none of those samples produced DNA that was consistent with Jens’s. That didn’t prove him innocent, but it gave heart to his supporters. In 2010, the outgoing Virginia governor, during his last days in office, agreed to transfer Jens to Germany, but the action was rescinded by his successor.

From the June 2016 issue: The false promise of DNA testing

In 2012, the president of the European Parliament advocated for Jens to be transferred to a prison back home. That was followed by a request for extradition from more than 100 members of the Bundestag. Then, in 2016, came the documentary Killing for Love , the work of the journalist Karin Steinberger and the filmmaker Marcus Vetter. It was nominated for a major documentary prize in Germany and picked up by Sundance. The following year, Christian Wulff, a former president of Germany, petitioned the Virginia parole board to transfer Jens to his native country. Angela Merkel, then the German chancellor, reportedly lobbied President Barack Obama on Jens’s behalf .

The Commonwealth of Virginia was unmoved, and Jens was repeatedly denied parole. But in 2016, Jens’s postconviction attorney, Steven Rosenfield, had an insight that pushed the DNA analysis to a second stage. The insight involved looking at the 2009 DNA test and the 1985 serology test side by side. The two blood swabs that had tested as type O in 1985 had both produced male DNA inconsistent with Jens’s. Two other swabs had tested as type AB—and were assumed to have come from Nancy Haysom—but analysis showed the presence of male DNA, and it was also inconsistent with Jens’s. Based on these facts, Rosenfield and two experts—Thomas McClintock, a forensic scientist at Liberty University, in Lynchburg, and Moses Schanfield, a forensic scientist at George Washington University, in Washington, D.C.—maintained that Jens could not have been the source of the type O blood (because the DNA from the samples was inconsistent with his) and that Nancy Haysom could not have been the source of the type AB blood (because the DNA from the samples was male). Rosenfield made the logical inference that the attack had been carried out by two unknown male suspects—one with type O blood and one with type AB blood. Presumably, both had suffered some sort of injury in the attack, enough to leave blood residue.

It was a compelling theory, and soon a host of other high-profile advocates came to Jens’s defense, including the novelist John Grisham, the actor Martin Sheen, and my friend Jason Flom, a founding board member of the Innocence Project. Even Chuck Reid, the Bedford County detective, expressed doubts about Jens’s conviction. Rosenfield filed a petition for an immediate and absolute pardon. The petition was denied.

It was around this time, in early 2019, that I first became aware of Jens Söring. In affiliation with SundanceTV, I had begun to host a podcast called The Truth About True Crime , which I co-produced and co-wrote with my husband, Christopher Robinson. Each season corresponded with a documentary on the Sundance channel, and for Season 3 we were asked to produce a series that tied in with Killing for Love , the German documentary about the Haysom murders. I had told my partners at Sundance that I would host the podcast only if I could form my own opinion about the various cases we covered, even if it contradicted the viewpoint of the associated documentaries. Sundance was fine with that. I went into the Haysom case with no preconceptions.

In preparing my podcast, I watched Steinberger and Vetter’s documentary. I also read Jens’s 2017 book, A Far, Far Better Thing . I grew sympathetic toward Jens, but the opinions of McClintock and Schanfield were what solidified my belief in his innocence. Their forensic credentials were solid, and both had written letters in support of Jens. I spoke with McClintock for the podcast. He was convinced that the type O blood couldn’t have come from Jens and that the DNA revealed the presence of two unknown men. Jens, he believed, was likely innocent. At the very least, if the DNA evidence had been available at his original trial, Jens almost certainly would not have been convicted.

For the podcast, I went on to speak with Andy Griffiths, a former detective from Sussex, England, and an expert on police interrogations. In a 2016 report written for Jens’s team, Griffiths had pointed out that Jens had been questioned without an attorney present, and that his statements to the police tracked a pattern in false confessions by young suspects: They often take the blame to protect others. While some saw Jens’s detailed knowledge of the crime scene as evidence of his guilt, Griffiths focused on inconsistencies that he believed the detectives should have pursued further. As Griffiths saw it, Jens, in his police interviews, was either looking for clues from the detectives as to what to say “or he has derived his crime-scene information from a third party.” He speculated that the “third party in this case would obviously be Elizabeth.”

The police had also dismissed a lead about two local “drifters,” as they were described, named William Shifflett and Robert Albright, who were later arrested for a separate murder that occurred in a neighboring county around the same time as the Haysom killings. Could they be the two unknown males suggested by Rosenfield and his team?

In my own mind, some of the most convincing evidence came in the form of Jens himself—that is, from the kind of person he seemed to be. I interviewed him many times in the course of producing the podcast, each tinny phone call limited to 20 minutes until the female voice of the prison phone system (“You have one minute remaining”) signaled the end of our time. Jens jokingly referred to that voice as “my girlfriend,” a rather dark bit of humor, given that the only real girlfriend he’d ever had was Elizabeth. Jens was educated and witty, like a professor you’d meet at a dinner party. He was also desperate, grasping for any hope of escape. I acutely understood how I, with my particular and very public history , offered him hope by way of example.

In the end, Chris and I produced an eight-part podcast for Sundance about the case. We even butted heads with the network when we refused to play by the typical rules of the whodunit genre—that is, holding back the reveal—and insisted on framing this story as a wrongful conviction from the very first beat.

F reedom finally came for Jens, but not the way he thought it would. In November 2019, I was in the baking aisle of a grocery store when my phone rang and a recorded voice announced a prepaid call from an inmate in the Virginia Department of Corrections. The first words Jens uttered had a muted jubilance I’d never heard from him before. “This is the last time I’ll ever call you from a prison phone,” he said.

Jens had not been pardoned. He had been granted parole. Apparently, political pressure had finally worked. Elizabeth had been granted parole too: The authorities could not release a convicted double murderer while refusing to release someone who had pleaded guilty to accessory charges. The board’s official reasoning was based on the youth of the pair at the time of the offense, their “institutional adjustment” while behind bars, and the amount of time served. Both were to be permanently expelled from the country. Elizabeth, then 55, was deported to Canada, where she held citizenship. Jens, then 53, was deported to Germany. In legal terms, he was still a convicted double murderer. But he was free.

Chris and I were eager to meet Jens in person. When I first arrived home from Italy, after four years in prison, what I’d needed, more than words or letters or welcome-home gifts, was hugs from my family and friends, who had been flattened into photographs and distant voices. I wanted to give Jens the longest hug. The pandemic, unfortunately, crushed any immediate hope of traveling to Germany.

Jens and I spoke often on the phone, and I became something of a mentor. It was a strange mentorship, given that he was so much older than me and had spent many more years in prison. But for the past decade, I’d been struggling to rebuild my life in freedom, and had had to do so under the eye of the media, a path on which Jens was just starting out. I gave him advice on interview requests, on therapy, on public speaking, on dating, on self-care, on taking his time . My own instinct had been to rush back into my life to make up for all the years I’d missed. That led me to trust the wrong people at times, and at other times to avoid seeking help. I didn’t want Jens to make the same mistakes.

Read: Amanda Knox and the 21st-century witch hunt

Jens was particularly concerned about a man named Andrew Hammel, whom he described as a persistent troll. He ’ s trying to destroy my life , Jens told me. He keeps writing article after article saying I ’ m guilty. I’d experienced attacks like these. To this day, there is a devoted community of Amanda Knox “guilters” who run websites arguing that I’m a murderer. In the past decade and a half, I’ve been subjected to sensational treatment in the press in all its variety: in the tabloids, in books, in documentaries, in made-for-TV movies. Not long ago, I wrote an article for this magazine, “Who Owns Amanda Knox?,” reflecting on how the film Stillwater —a loose interpretation of my own story, made without my consent—reinforced an image of me as guilty. The stigma of a murder conviction never goes away, even after you’ve been exonerated. I told Jens to ignore Hammel; the people who mattered were those who believed in his innocence. I told him to enjoy his freedom and not be consumed by the battle to prove every last skeptic wrong. I’d had to accept this myself.

In November 2021, as the pandemic abated, Chris and I flew to Hamburg with our four-month-old daughter to meet Jens and do a follow-up interview with him for our new podcast, Labyrinths , which told stories of people who’d felt lost or trapped and how they’d found their way again. It was an emotional few days. We strolled together through Hamburg, and Jens showed us his first-ever apartment and the decor he had carefully chosen; after three decades in the ugliness of prison, he’d embraced the chance to make his own space beautiful. He reflected on the years and opportunities he’d lost, and teared up while holding my infant daughter in his arms.

While in Germany, I also sat for an interview with Charlotte Theile, a German reporter, to talk about my case. She was familiar with Labyrinths , and through correspondence, I’d grown to trust her acumen and thoroughness. A few months later, she reached out and said that she had listened to the new Labyrinths episode we’d put out, “The Ultimate Putz,” in which Jens reflected on how unwise he had been to try to take the blame for Elizabeth’s actions. Theile had then gone back and listened to the full season about Jens that we’d made for the Truth About True Crime podcast, which she said she’d enjoyed.

But, she went on, she had then decided to listen to a new German podcast, Das System Söring (released in English as The Soering System in late 2023). The podcast, produced by Alice Brauner and Johanna Behre, featured interviews with Andrew Hammel, the man Jens had warned me about, and with Terry Wright, the British detective who’d taken Jens’s confessions in London. The “system” of the title referred to the way Jens had cultivated a perception of innocence and a network of supporters. Theile told me that she had approached the podcast with skepticism but ultimately had come away believing that Jens was very likely guilty.

She urged me to read the Wright Report , a 454-page document compiled by Wright and officially titled A True Report on the Facts of the Investigation of the Murders of Derek and Nancy Haysom . It had been made available in January 2020, after my original podcast devoted to Jens’s case came out, on the website of the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , where it appeared alongside an article by Hammel. This was the first I’d heard about it.

“I know that Jens Söring is a friend of yours,” Theile wrote. “But for me it just doesn’t feel right that you linked your case so closely to Jens Söring. He is not a version of you that got to spend more time in prison. His case is completely different from yours. He lived in London as a criminal, wearing fake beards and stealing from banks”—this last being a reference to the check-fraud scheme that had ultimately led to his arrest. “He had lots of criminal energy. And from what I can see, he is still trying to manipulate people.”

I did not dig into the Wright Report immediately. I was raising a child and working on other projects. Jens was already paroled and living as a free man in Germany. Looking further into his case would have meant less time advocating for potentially innocent people still in prison. In the meantime, Jens was telling me to avoid Hammel at all costs. Beware, he may try to reach out to you. Don’t respond. Hammel, he said, was an obsessive troll, a crackpot conspiracy theorist. I had grown to trust Jens, so I took his word for it.

But eventually, I did confront the Wright Report , prepared to encounter what I was certain would be half-truths and mischaracterizations. That isn’t what I found.

W hen Terry Wright learned, in 2016, that none of Jens’s DNA had been found at the crime scene, and that the DNA that had been recovered seemed to indicate the presence of two unknown males, he was curious about the findings and open to revising his opinion. He began reviewing the 30-year-old case, thinking that if the evidence really did support Jens’s innocence, he would write a letter to the governor of Virginia, urging him to issue a pardon. But what Wright found only further convinced him of Jens’s guilt. His report goes into every element of the case, with a particular focus on Jens’s confessions as well as on the DNA.

Wright argued that the DNA results were not exonerating after all. Specifically, they did not indicate the presence of two unknown males, which Jens’s defenders had come to accept as a basic premise. Wright made three fundamental points.

First, the evidence samples in the Haysom case were not vials of blood, like you’d find in a hospital lab. They were cotton swabs that had been rubbed on bloodstained surfaces, and the swabs would have picked up other material, such as skin cells, saliva, and sweat. The testing done on these swabs in 2009 could not indicate where the DNA had come from, only the fact of its presence. The DNA from the blood may have been too degraded to capture.

Second, although the DNA from the swabs was degraded and partial, the results that were usable appeared to be consistent with one another. Which meant that although the various swabs held different blood types, the DNA on them appeared to come from a single male.

Third, the consistent male-DNA profile was highly likely to belong to Derek Haysom. A formal DNA sample had never been collected from Haysom—this was 1985—but that conclusion made sense. The killings had taken place in his house, and his skin cells, saliva, sweat, and other nonblood DNA would have been everywhere, and picked up by the swabs wherever they were rubbed.

If Wright’s argument was correct—that the DNA on the swabs hadn’t necessarily come from the blood on the swabs—it meant that the type O blood could still very well have come from Jens. Crucially, it also meant that there was no evidence to support the idea that two unknown males had been present at the crime scene.

I was not equipped to assess whether Wright’s theory was plausible, and even if it was, it didn’t prove that Jens was guilty. But the very idea of an alternate interpretation of the DNA shook my confidence.

I should have known better than to give the original interpretation such weight, because of the lessons from my own case. Once the prosecution claimed that it had DNA proof of my guilt—my DNA on the handle of a knife, Meredith’s DNA on the blade—every piece of exonerating evidence was cast aside by the jury and the media as irrelevant: DNA doesn ’ t lie . Well, it did when it came to the accusations against me. Independent experts eventually determined that the supposed DNA evidence was the result of lab contamination. Without it, the evidence in my favor was overwhelming.

Yet I had made a similar mistake in Jens’s case, albeit in reverse. Once I’d learned that the DNA excluded Jens as a source of the type O blood—and then, more important, that forensic evidence pointed to a pair of unknown men as the killers—I’d found reasons to discount every piece of evidence pointing to his guilt. I’ve long been aware of how cognitive bias affects one’s thinking. We all bring preconceptions to the information we encounter. That’s why it’s best if a fingerprint analyst isn’t told that a suspect has confessed, and why a medical examiner should not be made aware of witness testimony or DNA evidence. I’ve advocated for practices such as these, but I failed to heed similar precautions. The supposed DNA exoneration of Jens Söring, which had been my starting point, became my sole point of reference. If the DNA evidence proved his innocence, then logic dictated that everything else, no matter how circumstantially damning, had to have some rational explanation. But now, reading the Wright Report —and with DNA findings removed from consideration—I was seeing all of that evidence with fresh eyes.

From the very first moment, there were signs pointing to Jens, not Elizabeth, as the actual killer. When the detectives had initially asked Elizabeth and Jens for fingerprints, footprints, and blood samples, Elizabeth had complied. Jens had stalled, offering a rambling excuse about his diplomatic status, and how being involved in a homicide investigation could compromise his scholarship and lead to deportation. Then, a few days later, after wiping all the fingerprints from his car and apartment and emptying his bank account, he’d fled the country.

The confessions were particularly troubling. Though it was true that Jens had not had an attorney present—as Andy Griffiths noted—he had repeatedly been given British and American legal warnings, and he’d explicitly waived his right to an attorney both verbally and in written statements. (When Jens claimed on appeal that he’d been denied access to a lawyer, the court determined that there was “clear and convincing evidence” to the contrary.) Jens had confessed to the murders many times and on multiple days, often speaking to the detectives at his own request. He had done so in front of British detectives, American investigators, and a German prosecutor. The story he told was highly specific. He explained how Derek and Nancy had let him into their home and offered him a drink; how he’d confronted them about their disapproval of his relationship with Elizabeth; and how he’d snapped and killed them, even demonstrating how he’d come up behind Derek to slit his throat. He described how he’d fled the scene and hit a dog with the car as he sped away; how he’d thrown away his bloody clothes; how he’d returned to the Washington, D.C., hotel. He even told the detectives that hotel security-camera footage should be able to confirm this last point. (As it happened, the hotel cameras provided only live feeds and did not save a backup record.) Jens knew who had been sitting where at the dinner table, what the Haysoms had been eating and drinking, and how they’d been killed. He even showed the detectives a scar on his hand from a wound he said he’d suffered during the attack.

I felt particularly sick recalling that detail. At his trial, prosecutors had produced eyewitness testimony that Jens wore a bandage on one hand at the Haysoms’ funeral, corroborating that bit of his confession. In his defense, Jens had unspooled a counter-narrative—that he’d injured his hand in a car accident. Believing that the DNA findings exonerated Jens, I took this explanation as fact. In other ways, too, I had been predisposed to dismiss potential evidence of Jens’s guilt, especially his confessions. A false confession had helped seal my own guilty verdict, and a part of me had felt vindicated to find further evidence that confessions were not a gold standard. But without the exculpatory DNA, I began to see how many reasons there were to believe that Jens’s confessions were genuine.

Jens did not recant his confession immediately, the way I had recanted my false confession hours after I was released from the interrogation room. He kept to his story for four years, until 1990, when his trial was set to begin. Explaining away the confessions had been a huge challenge for his defense. In pretrial hearings, Jens accused Detective Beever, in London, of threatening to harm Elizabeth if he didn’t confess. That story wasn’t supported by evidence, so Jens pivoted, finally landing on the story he has kept to ever since: that he lied to save Elizabeth from the death penalty. In light of all this, the minor errors he’d made—Nancy Haysom’s outfit (he got the right color but the wrong type of garment), the position of the bodies (he got the right rooms and positions but the wrong orientations)—were likely attributable to simple memory lapses in recalling the event more than a year later.

The love letters and diary entries highlighted in the Wright Report were also damning. I am by nature wary of such evidence. My own accusers pointed to a short story I’d written in college as proof that I harbored rape fantasies. But the letters and diary entries weren’t creative-writing assignments. In letters written before the murders, Jens had written comments such as “My God, I’ve got the dinner scene planned out.” And this: “I can see myself depriving people of their property quite easily—your dad, for instance. Even more easily can I see myself depriving many souls (if they exist) of their physical bodies (which might not exist, either) in the course of fulfilling my many, many excessively bizarre sexual fantasies.” Jens speculated that he and Elizabeth could use a spate of local burglaries for cover: “That there have been many burglaries in the area opens the possibility for another one with the same general circumstances, only this time the unfortunate owners …”

I had not seen these letters and diary entries until reading the Wright Report . Believing that the DNA evidence exonerated Jens, I’d found no reason to dig through circumstantial evidence like this. Now I couldn’t look away.

Perhaps most frightening of all was this passage: “I’ve felt this, I’m feeling it now inside me, this need to plant one’s foot in somebody’s face, to always crush … I have not explored the side of me that wishes to crush to any real extent—I have yet to kill, possibly the ultimate act of crushing.”

As I read those words, Jens’s face flashed in my mind, his gentle smile, his eyes looking down at my infant daughter in his arms.

M y inquiries led me next to Jens’s biggest critic, Andrew Hammel. I had at first assumed that Hammel must be part of the niche online movement of “innocence fraud” activists. I had a personal window into this community, a loose cluster of podcasters and YouTubers who seem to believe that Innocence Project lawyers and advocates are working to free killers because they’re hopelessly deluded. “You, of all people, should be distrustful of reporters,” Jens had written in our final email exchange. “And you, of all people, should be distrustful of reports and documents produced by people who are strongly motivated to prove a defendant’s guilt.”

But when I actually read Hammel’s writing, including his book Martyr or Murderer: Jens Soering, the Media, and the Truth , he didn’t come across as the troll I was expecting. He was more of a provocateur. Of course, that didn’t mean his arguments were correct. But he seemed to be a logical thinker and a thorough researcher who engaged with evidence in good faith. I asked if I could interview him for Labyrinths .

Hammel, I learned, was a lawyer who had done death-penalty defense work for a decade before turning to academia and journalism. He was intimately aware of the efforts of the Innocence Project. He told me that, in his view, debunking fraudulent innocence claims was essential to the work of exonerating people who really were innocent: It provided a record of hard-edged credibility.

Hammel made a compelling case for Jens’s guilt, his arguments mostly tracking those in the Wright Report . He also provided important context for the DNA testing. The analysis done in 2009 had been ordered by Virginia as part of a review of thousands of cases. It had not been requested by Jens or his defense counsel. In fact, Jens had refused to file the petition necessary to do more DNA testing in his case. As Hammel saw it, that is what you would expect from someone who worries that DNA testing would be incriminating rather than exonerating.

Hammel also told me about the work of two journalists in Charlottesville, Courteney Stuart and Rachel Ryan. They had made a podcast, released after mine, called Small Town, Big Crime . Through records requests, they had obtained DNA profiles from the supposed alternate suspects in the Haysom murders, Shifflett and Albright. They had then asked Jens’s own expert, Tom McClintock, to compare their DNA to the DNA recovered from the Haysom scene. He did, and found the samples to be inconsistent. That ruled out Shifflett and Albright. “I was bummed out, I’m telling you,” McClintock acknowledged on the Small Town, Big Crime podcast. Those specific findings about Shifflett and Albright lent weight to Terry Wright’s broader evaluation of the DNA evidence—that it failed to substantiate any two-unknown-males theory.

Hammel gave me one more lead, and it involved someone Jens had never mentioned: Dan E. Krane, a forensic scientist and biology professor at Wright State University, in Ohio. Krane was a DNA expert who in 2018 had participated in a special segment about Jens’s case on 20/20 —a segment that leaned in favor of Jens. He had confirmed on the program that none of Jens’s DNA had been found at the scene, a simple statement of fact. But Krane’s expert views, Hammel told me, aligned with those of Terry Wright on one key point. I decided I needed to speak with Krane.

In advance of our conversation, conducted on Zoom, Krane forwarded to me a report he had written in 2017 that began by laying out his credentials. He had published more than 50 scholarly papers on subjects such as the use of DNA typing in forensic science. He had testified in more than 100 criminal proceedings that involved forensic DNA. He was the author of a widely used textbook on bioinformatics.

“Saliva is a remarkably good source of DNA,” Krane told me. “A milliliter of saliva will have 10 times as much DNA in it as a milliliter of blood. We’re transferring saliva DNA all over the place all the time. If Derek Haysom had sneezed at some point in the past year, before the crime occurred, I’d frankly be surprised if you didn’t find his DNA.” Krane noted that there is no possible test to determine whether the swabs in the Haysom case had picked up not only blood but other sources of DNA. Odds are, he said, that they would have. He went on: “Just because a sample tested positive for blood and you got DNA from that sample, that doesn’t mean that the DNA came from the blood that was in the sample.” Krane believed, as Wright had surmised, that the DNA recovered from the old crime-scene samples was likely Derek Haysom’s.

He gave no credence to the theory advanced by Jens and his experts—linking the DNA to the blood itself and pointing a finger at two unknown male contributors. To begin with, Krane didn’t have confidence in the original serology testing; there were discrepancies in some of the notes. But focus just on the DNA—on the fact that the parts that could be compared from the various recovered samples all matched up. The two-unknown-males theory, Krane said, requires a combination of virtually impossible events: Unknown male No. 1 (the supposed source of the type O blood) would have to have DNA consistent with that of unknown male No. 2 (the supposed source of the type AB blood), and both of their DNA profiles would also have to be consistent with that of Derek Haysom (the source of the type A blood). “That these three people would have the same combination of alleles—that’s just staggeringly unlikely,” Krane told me.

Could Elizabeth have committed the murders while Jens waited at the hotel, unawares—the scenario Jens had spun? That raised its own set of questions. If that’s what happened, then where did the type O blood come from? If it was from an accomplice, who was that person? And what possible reason could Elizabeth have to protect that person at her and Jens’s expense all these decades later?

E lizabeth. When I first started researching the Haysom case, I had identified with Elizabeth, up to a point. She had been cast by Jens and by the media as a manipulative seductress, as I had been portrayed. I recalled feeling disconcerted when I saw Elizabeth described that way in one of Jens’s books. She and Jens have not been in communication and have not seen each other since she testified at Jens’s trial—naming Jens as her parents’ killer and confessing that she had put him up to it. From prison, Elizabeth wrote a column for a local paper called “Glimpses From the Inside”—reflective, diary-like accounts about her own incarceration and life in general. I wanted to speak with Elizabeth, so I wrote her a letter in 2019. She responded from prison and seemed open to talking, but once I told her that I was also talking with Jens, she broke off communication. She has apparently been living in Canada since her release, and she appears to have changed her name. I have been unable to make contact. I wish I could speak with her now.

I had given Jens a large platform, and in advocating for his innocence, I had also advocated for Elizabeth’s guilt as the person who had wielded the knife. I had contributed to her vilification as a liar and as the actual killer. It was Elizabeth, after all, who pleaded guilty as an accessory to capital murder. She had begged forgiveness and expressed deep remorse. Her paternal half-siblings have forgiven her, according to a 2023 Netflix documentary about the case, Till Murder Do Us Part: Soering vs. Haysom . Reflecting on all of this, I realized that I owed Elizabeth an apology, and that I owed the families of Derek and Nancy Haysom, and my own audience, more transparency about how my thinking had evolved. In an episode of Labyrinths I released with Andrew Hammel in September 2023, I retracted my claims about Jens’s innocence and said frankly what I now believe: We may never know definitively whether Jens killed Derek and Nancy Haysom, but the evidence incriminating him is hard to rebut—his repeated official confessions; his own words, in letters and diaries; his bandaged hand at the funeral; Elizabeth’s testimony. Meanwhile, the exonerating evidence has evaporated.

Unsurprisingly, the release of my interview with Hammel caused strife among advocates who still support Jens. Some of them are unwilling to reexamine their beliefs about what the DNA evidence actually shows in this case. Some worry that I have damaged the innocence movement by giving critics a platform. And after 33 years in prison, hasn’t Jens been through enough? I do agree that paroling Jens and Elizabeth, now both close to 60, was the right decision: More than three decades in prison is serious punishment for a serious crime. But even if my friends in the innocence community never come around to my view of Jens and the Haysom murders, I hope that they will understand why I felt compelled to explain my position—and why innocence advocates need to be forthright when they believe that claims of innocence do not hold up.

My friendships with the wrongly convicted have been as important to me as my relationships with my own family. With Jens, my yearning for a connection had influenced my judgment. I am left with a disturbing question: Had Jens created a character he knew I couldn’t help but embrace? I fear I know the answer, but even now, I don’t want it to be true.

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