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  • When I was in school, I viewed book reports as both blessings and nightmares. On the surface,

  • they seemed so easy. The teacher would say, "Pick a book. Read it. Then write 2-3 pages

  • about it."

  • Simple enough. Except that it wasn't.

  • If you're like me, those two to three pages seemed like a mile. I could maybe write one

  • paragraph, but after that my mind would go blank. Was there really nothing else I could

  • say about the book I had just read?

  • But now that I moved from writing book reports to assigning them to students, here are some

  • basic tips on how to write a better book report.

  • The first thing to do is check with the teacher about the assignment. Now whether that's asking

  • the teacher a question or re-reading the assignment sheet, make sure that you know exactly what

  • to do.

  • Frankly, it's hard to write a book report when you don't know what you're supposed to

  • do. But once you know what you need to include in your book report, the assignment is quite

  • easy.

  • When I assign a book report, I ask for three things. The first is a quick summary of the

  • story. This is a concise and tight narrative of the plot of the story. But try not to ramble

  • on too long. To me, this the least interesting part of the book report as chances are most

  • people already know the plot of the story.

  • The next part is a discussion of what the reader thinks of the story. This is higher

  • level thinking than just presenting the summary. Also, it goes beyond, "It was good. I liked

  • it. I recommend it and give it five stars." It's about what the story made you think as

  • you read it, and more importantly, it's about your reaction to the book as a whole.

  • The last thing that I look for in a book report is relatability to the story for others. In

  • essence, why should other people, who may not share your interests, care about the story?

  • It's one thing to know why you enjoy the story, but it's completely something else to be able

  • to tell others why they might enjoy reading it too. This takes the ability to think beyond

  • oneself, but if you can basically sell why this story is so good to others, you'll increase

  • the interest in you and the story.

  • I hope to go into these three elements of a good book report in the future, but remember,

  • if all your teacher wants is a summary, that's fine. Just do the summary.

  • Of course, it never hurts to at least be thinking about the other two elements of a book report.

  • You never know when you'll need to impress your teacher.

  • Thanks for watching. I hope these tips help you in your reading and writing.

  • Let me know what you think in the comments below. Don't forget to subscribe for more

  • book report tips as well as weekly episodes of Minute Book Reports.

When I was in school, I viewed book reports as both blessings and nightmares. On the surface,

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