How to Write a Book Report or Book Review: Template and Example

A book report tells the reader what a book is about and what it shows; a book review adds your judgment of how well it works. Open with the title, author and a one-sentence verdict or theme, summarize the plot briefly, analyze one or two ideas with short quotations, and close with a conclusion. Plot should take about a quarter to a third of the piece.

Book report or book review: what is the difference?

A book report is summary-led. It tells the reader what happens or what the book argues, introduces the main characters or ideas, and shows that you understood the book. A book review is evaluation-led. It briefly summarizes, then judges: does the book succeed, for whom, and why? In school the two words are often used loosely, so check what your teacher or professor actually asks for.

Those proportions are a guide rather than a rule. If your assignment sheet gives a structure or a rubric, follow it.

A template you can follow

Use this order for either form. For a report, spend more words on sections 2 and 3. For a review, spend more on section 4.

1. Opening. Give the title, author and year of publication, the genre, and one sentence stating the book's central theme (report) or your overall verdict (review).
2. Summary. Cover the setting, the main characters and the main events in a short paragraph or two. Do not retell every chapter, and do not give away the ending in a review meant for people who have not read the book.
3. Analysis. Choose one or two ideas, such as a theme, a character's change or the author's style, and show how the book develops them. Support each point with a short quotation or a specific scene.
4. Evaluation. Say what works and what does not, and why. Reasons matter more than adjectives: "the narrator's distance makes the final scene feel colder" is better than "it was boring".
5. Conclusion. Restate your main point in new words and say who might enjoy the book.

For the plot section, see how to write a summary: select the main events, write from notes, and keep it in your own words.

How much plot should you include?

A rough working split for a 600-word report is 200 words of plot, 250 of analysis and 150 for opening, evaluation and conclusion. For a 600-word review, use about 150 words of plot, 300 of analysis and evaluation combined, and 150 for the opening and close. Think about the reader: a report proves you read the book, so more plot is fine; a review assumes the reader may not have read it, so plot is only the setting for your argument.

Use present tense for what happens in the book ("Nick narrates the story", "Gatsby throws parties") and past tense for the author's biography and publication ("Fitzgerald published the novel in 1925").

How to quote without overdoing it

• Use short quotations of a phrase or a sentence, not paragraphs.
• Introduce each quotation with your own point, then explain what it shows afterwards.
• Add the page number or chapter in the format your teacher asks for. In MLA the page goes in parentheses after the quotation; in APA 7 it follows the author and year. See in-text citations for the patterns.
• Do not let quotations carry your argument. A paragraph should be mostly your words.

Worked example on a public-domain classic

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald was first published in 1925 and has been in the public domain in the United States since 2021, so it is a safe choice to quote and study. The example below is a short book report of about 210 words, written for this guide.

Title: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)

Opening. The Great Gatsby is a novel about the American Dream in the 1920s. Its central idea is that wealth and glamour can hide emptiness.

Summary. The story is told by Nick Carraway, a young man from the Midwest who rents a small house on Long Island in the summer of 1922. His neighbor, Jay Gatsby, throws huge parties but is seldom seen to enjoy them. Nick learns that Gatsby has built his whole fortune to win back Daisy Buchanan, a woman he loved years earlier, who is now married to the wealthy and careless Tom. Their reunion leads to an argument, a fatal car accident and Gatsby's death.

Analysis. The green light at the end of Daisy's dock stands for Gatsby's longing for a future that is really a lost past. The final line makes this plain: "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

Conclusion. The book shows that Gatsby's dream is bigger than the person it is aimed at. It is a good choice for readers who like character-driven stories with a sad ending.

To turn this report into a review, shorten the summary by a third and add a paragraph of evaluation with reasons, for example about whether Nick as narrator makes Gatsby more mysterious or keeps the reader at a distance, and how the book compares with another novel the reader knows.

Grade-level notes

Expectations vary by school, district and country. These are general patterns, not official standards; your teacher's rubric always comes first.

• Middle school. Reports are usually one to two pages and stress comprehension: characters, setting, plot and a simple statement of theme. A personal response ("what I liked and why") is often welcome. Keep paragraphs short and use a few exact details from the book.
• High school. Expect a clear thesis and textual evidence. A report becomes an analysis of one theme or character, with quotations introduced and explained. Reviews appear in English classes, usually with a requirement to compare or to justify an opinion.
• University. A review of an academic book summarizes the argument, assesses the evidence and method, places the book in its field and judges its contribution. Reviews of fiction are closer to literary criticism. Use the citation style of your course, such as MLA 9, APA 7, Chicago or Harvard, and build references with the Citation Generator, then check them against your style guide.

Common mistakes

• Retelling the whole plot. Choose the events that matter to your point.
• Opinion with no reasons. "It was great" or "It was boring" shows nothing. Say what in the book led to your view.
• Spoilers in a review. Unless your assignment asks for the ending, leave it out.
• Mixed tenses. Keep plot in present tense.
• Long quotations. One short, well-chosen line beats a pasted paragraph.
• Copying the back cover or an online summary. This is plagiarism, and teachers can often recognize it. See how to avoid plagiarism.

Checklist before you submit

• Title, author and publication year are correct.
• The opening states a theme or verdict in one sentence.
• Plot is a minority of the text and is in present tense.
• At least one point is backed by a short quotation or specific scene.
• Opinions come with reasons.
• Every quotation has a page or chapter reference in your required style.
• The piece is in your own words and proofread.

Tools that help, used honestly

AdeptWrite's tools can support your drafting, but the reading and the judgment must be yours.

• Use the Outline Generator to turn the template above into a planned structure from your own notes.
• Use the Text Summarizer to condense a chapter you have already read, then rewrite and check it against the book. It accepts up to 6,000 characters per run and only works with the text you paste in, so it cannot tell you what a book you have not pasted contains.
• Use the Grammar Checker and the Word & Character Counter for the final pass.

If your school has rules on AI assistance, follow them and say where you used a tool if they ask.

← All guides