How to write and submit a book review:

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• Start out with an interesting lead, something that will get your readers’ attention! Some ideas:

--some personal information about yourself (“I’ve always hated books

about the past, so I thought I would be bored by the book…”)

--why you picked up the book (“When I saw the grizzly bear on the cover

of this book, I thought it would be exciting.”)

--a question (“Have you ever thought you were psychic?”)

--a cool quote from the book (“’Not every thirteen year old girl is tried for

murder, brought to trial, and found guilty’—this is the opening line of The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi.”)

• Introduce the name of the book (in italics or underlined) and the author.
• Say something about your overall opinion of the book—this is your main idea, also known as a topic sentence or thesis statement.

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• Summarize the important parts of the book and introduce the main characters. Give the reader some sense of what happened in the book and how you felt about it. Use a quote from the book to help make your points!

(DO NOT GIVE AWAY THE ENDING. You are writing for other kids who might want to read the book themselves so you don’t want to spoil it.)

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• State your opinion in detail. Be specific—maybe there was too much description that made the book boring. Maybe it was exciting and suspenseful but the characters were not very realistic. Maybe it was confusing for the first half but then it got really good. Go beyond “It was great” or “It was terrible.”
• Say who would like the book.
• Give the book a star rating. Five stars is excellent, one star is terrible.

How to Submit Your Review

When you have finished your book review, email it to Mrs. Carloni ( carloni.j@rochesterschools.com ) or put it on a disk and give it to Mrs. Carloni. If your review is chosen to be published, Mrs. Carloni will find a time to meet with you to do some editing.

If you would like some help writing your book review, talk to Mrs. Carloni (she in the 2nd floor office on the Bridge).