Book Review Writing Template

How to use this book review template

This book review template is ideal for helping children aged five to seven explore their books in more detail and tell you all about a book that they've read.

Featuring four questions centred around the plot, characters, the child's opinion and whether they would recommend it, this activity is a great first step for encouraging children to communicate their thoughts and ideas about the books that they read.

Putting their ideas down on paper can also be a really useful tool to help children process what they read. From a teaching perspective, it also allows you to check their comprehension.

Not only that, writing a book review also helps children identify what type of book they like, encouraging a love of reading in the long term. Making suggestions to their friends also makes reading into a hot topic of conversation, which might just encourage struggling readers too.

On just one page, this book review template is easy to print, copy and hand out to your class. Why not save it to your computer and add it to your collection of staple resources so you can use it again and again?

What else can I do to encourage children to read?

Talking to children about what they're reading can be a really good way to encourage them to do more of it.

As well as this book review template, these Reading Prompts and Questions can help you do just that. Whether you're doing guided reading or reading at home, these questions are great for encouraging children to delve even deeper into their books.

Another thing you can do is create a cosy reading corner. This works well both at school or in the corner of a bedroom. To make it an inviting space to be in, you could even decorate it with some Reading Corner Display Bunting or Reading Corner Quotes from famous authors.

If you're making a reading-themed bulletin board, you could also create a 'Recommendations wall' using these Book Report Templates. Children can write a short piece about their book to help other kids decide whether they're interested too.

Encourage literacy skills with the Book Review Discussion Cube Net, a playful resource for sparking book discussions.

Benefits of a book review

Book reviews can have lots of benefits for your children's reading. Not only can writing a review help them to engage more deeply with a text, it can also help them to find their new favourite author and can even boost their writing skills.

What's more, having a look at other children's book reviews can encourage reluctant readers to get reading too, as they're often more willing to try a book if it has been recommended by another child.

For teachers, reviews can also show you how much children have engaged with a story. Have they just noticed the basic narrative, or have they spotted any themes too? This can also be a useful tool in deciding whether children are reading at the right level.

More ideas for how to use your book review template

• Create a display of your children's book reviews. Why not sort it by genre to help other students in the class to discover new books?
• Read a book together and then ask each of your students to write their own review. Ask students to share their thoughts and then discuss why not all book reviews are the same. This will help struggling students see how to write a good book review and will show children how it's possible to have a different opinion of the same book.