Book report

This article is about the assignment issued to students to report on the content of a book. For the use of the term in literary criticism, see book review.


A book report is an essay discussing the contents of a book, written as part of a class assignment issued to students in schools. There is a difference between a book report and a book review. A report includes a larger outline, and a review stays on the topic of the book. Teachers frequently give students a list of books from which they may choose one for the report, although sometimes students may select a work entirely of their own choosing.[1][2] Teachers may set the list of books through such methods as including the works of one particular author, reading multiple works to students aloud and having each student select one of the books for the report, allow students to choose freely, or choose the books through a class selection process.[2]

The contents of the book report, for a work of fiction, typically include basic bibliographical information about the work, a summary of the narrative and setting, main elements of the stories of key characters, the author's purpose in creating the work, the student's opinion of the book, and a theme statement summing up the main idea drawn from a reading of the book.[1][3]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Null was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Prior was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Remedia was invoked but never defined (see the help page).