English 9 – Helpful Questions To Prepare for Writing Your Book Review

In preparing to write your book review, please consider the following questions to help you formulate your thoughts:

“What” questions
•    What are you reviewing? What is it about? What happens (the plot)?
•    What is the author’s purpose? (Is there a purpose or a message?)
•    What genre or classification does it fit?
•    What is the tone? What is the point of view? What’s the mood?

When and Where questions
•    When and where was this written?
•    When and where does the action take place?

Who questions
•    Who wrote it? What else have they done?
•    Who are the main characters?
•    Who is the intended audience? (age, nationality, education, etc.)

How questions
•    How does the book convey its main point, mood, or themes? How did the audience (you) react to it?
•    How well does it fulfill its purpose?

Evaluation questions
•    Did I like this in general? Why?
•    Did I agree with the main theme/purpose? Why or why not?
•    What specifically did I like/dislike? Why?
•    Did the author do a good job? Why or why not? Give examples.
•    How could it be improved? Why would particular changes help?