Elementary Book Reports: Help for Elementary Students

Elementary Book Report Help

Book Report Basics

At the elementary level, book reports are short papers that tell readers about a book the writer read. Usually containing two to four paragraphs, the book report gives you the opportunity to tell people about a book you enjoyed reading in a short amount of time. You can also complete a book report about a book you didn't enjoy. The report is usually broken up into three sections.

Introduction

In the introduction, you'll provide basic information about the book and let readers know what information will be covered in the report. In addition, the book's title, author and genre are usually provided.

Body

The body usually contains most of the information in the report, presented in two parts. In the first part, you'll explain what the book is about and provide a summary of what happened. In the second part, you'll talk about positives and negatives of the book.

Conclusion

In the conclusion, you'll summarize what's been stated in the earlier sections and give any final thoughts you have about the book.

Reread and Record

To effectively write a book report, you'll often need to reread the book you'll be writing about. While reading the book again, you'll want to record information or take notes. Oftentimes, when you reread the book, you'll also pick up on interesting information you may have overlooked before.

Identify Story Elements

Be sure to let readers know about the story elements found in the book. The main ones you'll want to include are the characters, setting and conflict. Characters are the people, animals or creatures in the story. Setting is where and when the story takes place. Conflict is the main problem that has to be solved or dealt with in the story.

Provide Your Opinion

In a book report, you'll also want to give the readers your overall opinion on the book. You can let them know if you liked the book or not, or if you feel the writer did a good job with the book or not. Most importantly, however, your opinions need to be supported with evidence from the book.