book reviews ks2

Guided Reading Follow- Up Question Cards (SB7137)
A colourful banner for your book reviews classroom display.

Are the main characters believable? Do you know anyone like them? Does the author adequately describe them?
Reviewing a favorite (or not so favorite) book helps a child’s reading comprehension. It also gives him or her the opportunity to express an opinion through writing and develop his or her writing style and voice.In order to write an effective review, one that helps the reader decide whether or not to pick up a particular book, a child must include certain elements. By helping a child recognize what those elements are and how they can help him or her express opinions, you’ll provide a framework for writing about not only books but movies, plays, and TV shows.

Another good way to make book reports fun is to write mini reviews on Post-It notes. ‘Your child can then stick these inside book covers so he remembers what he thought of them – or, in the case of library books, so other children can read them,’ says Charlotte.

• In Reception, a book report might simply be a drawing inspired by the book, perhaps with a simple sentence written underneath.
• In Year 1, your child might be given a printed template with spaces for the title, author and illustrator, and a couple of sentence starters such as: ‘The main characters in this book are…’ and ‘I liked this book because…’
• In Year 3, your child might be asked to divide their book review up with subheadings such as plot, characters, setting, my opinion.
• In Year 6, your child might be required to review books independently, using varied sentence structures and vocabulary – so, saying the book was ‘exciting’ or ‘thrilling’ rather than just ‘good.’

This book was very well written. It has black and white photos along with descriptions of the photos. These photos give us a better idea of what people’s lives were like. This book is suitable for 9-20 year olds.
Zack joins the Sprockets Academy Explorers Club at school. They fly on a special trip to Juno, a new planet no one has ever visited. Zack gets paired up with Seth, the class bully, and that’s dreadful but Zack is excited when he finds a huge galaxy gemmite. A gemmite that large had not been found in 100 years! Kids will love this book!

• Who was your favourite character, and why?
• Did the characters feel real to you?
• Did the story keep you guessing?
• What was your favourite part of the book, and why?
• Were certain types of scene written particularly well – for example sad scenes, tense scenes, mysterious ones.
• Did the book make you laugh or cry?
• Did the story grip you and keep you turning the pages?

Author Luisa Plaja offers her top tips for how to write a brilliant review of the latest book you read – whether you liked it or not.

References:

http://www.readwritethink.org/parent-afterschool-resources/tips-howtos/help-child-write-book-30292.html
http://www.theschoolrun.com/book-reports-what-parents-need-know
http://www.mensaforkids.org/teach/lesson-plans/book-review-guide/book-review-writing-examples/
http://www.booktrust.org.uk/books-and-reading/tips-and-advice/writing-tips/writing-tips-for-teens/how-to-write-a-book-review/
http://englishlangsfx.blogspot.com/2017/01/nea-commentary.html