Book Club › Book reports › 4th grade
Book report template for 4th grade
What a 4th grade report usually shows
- Title, author, genre and when it was written
- What the main character wants, with an example
- Why the setting matters
- The conflict and its resolution
- An opinion with reasons and a rating
The outline
- Introduction: title, author, genre and date
- Summary
- The main character, the setting and the conflict
- A surprise, your opinion and the rating
Teachers differ, so a class's own instructions come first. This frame covers what most ask for at this age (9 to 10).
🦉 Book report · 4th gradeName ____________ Date ________
Title, author, genre and dateWhen was it written or first told?
Main characterWhat do they want? What are they like? Give an example from the book.
Setting and why it mattersCould the story happen anywhere else?
SummaryIn your own words, five sentences at most.
Conflict and resolutionWhat is the big problem, and how is it solved?
A part that surprised meWhat did you not expect, and why?
Opinion and ratingDid it work for you? Reasons, and stars out of 5.
Peabody's Book Club · peabody.kids/book-club · free, no account
A worked example: Rumpelstiltskin
- Title, author, genre and date
- Rumpelstiltskin, a fairy tale the Brothers Grimm wrote down in Germany in 1812, retold by Peabody.
- Main character
- The miller's daughter wants to stay safe, and later to keep her baby. She is brave and does not give up: she keeps guessing names for three days.
- Setting and why it matters
- A king's castle long ago, and a room full of straw. The locked room matters: she cannot leave until the straw is gold.
- Summary
- A miller boasts that his daughter can spin straw into gold. A greedy king locks her in a room of straw. A little man spins it for her, and she promises him her first baby. When she is queen, he says she can keep her child if she guesses his name in three days. She guesses Rumpelstiltskin, and he storms away.
- Conflict and resolution
- The little man wants the baby. The queen solves it by finding his secret name.
- A part that surprised me
- I did not expect the whole story to turn on a name, or that he would be so angry he stamps his foot through the floor.
- Opinion and rating
- I liked it because it is a puzzle story. Four stars. The father's silly boast causes all the trouble, and that is the lesson.
The review version
Shorter, and opinion first: for a book a child chose themselves, or a quick check after a club meeting.
🦉 Book review · 4th gradeName ____________ Date ________
RatingStars out of 5, and one word for the book.
The best thing about itWhat made you want to keep reading?
One thing I would changeIf you were the author, what would you do differently?
Who should read itFinish the sentence: Read this if you like…
Peabody's Book Club · peabody.kids/book-club · free, no account
For the grown-up helping
Ask for one example from the book for each claim. "She is brave" becomes a report when it is followed by "she keeps guessing for three days".
Need a book at the right level first? Books for level 9, or the levels index.