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Book report template for 6th grade
What a 6th grade report usually shows
- A thesis sentence
- A summary
- The kind of conflict and how it builds
- How the main character changes, with evidence
- The theme
- An evaluation
The outline
- Introduction ending in your thesis
- Summary
- Conflict and character change, with evidence
- Theme
- Evaluation
Teachers differ, so a class's own instructions come first. This frame covers what most ask for at this age (11 to 12).
🦉 Book report · 6th gradeName ____________ Date ________
Heading and thesisTitle, author, genre, and one sentence on what the book is really about.
Summary
ConflictCharacter against self, another character, society or nature? How does it build?
Character changeWho are they at the start and at the end? Evidence for each.
ThemeThe message, and the turning point that shows it.
EvaluationWhat works, what doesn't, who should read it.
Peabody's Book Club · peabody.kids/book-club · free, no account
A worked example: King Midas and the Golden Touch
- Heading and thesis
- King Midas and the Golden Touch, a Greek myth the Roman poet Ovid told about 2,000 years ago, retold by Peabody. Thesis: Midas learns too late that the people he loves are worth more than gold.
- Summary
- The god Dionysus offers King Midas a gift, and Midas wishes that everything he touches would turn to gold. At first it is wonderful. Then his food turns to gold, and his daughter turns to gold when she hugs him. Midas begs to give the gift back, washes in the river Pactolus, and the spell is undone.
- Conflict
- Character against self: Midas's own greed is the enemy. It builds from a wish, to food he cannot eat, to losing his daughter.
- Character change
- At the start Midas loves gold most of all, so he wishes for the golden touch. At the end he begs to give it back, which shows he now values his daughter above gold.
- Theme
- The people we love matter more than gold. The turning point is his daughter turning to gold in his arms.
- Evaluation
- The stakes rise fast and the ending is satisfying. Worth knowing for a report: Ovid's version has no daughter; she comes from Nathaniel Hawthorne's retelling of 1852.
The review version
Shorter, and opinion first: for a book a child chose themselves, or a quick check after a club meeting.
🦉 Book review · 6th gradeName ____________ Date ________
VerdictA rating and one sentence that sums the book up.
What worksTwo things the book does well, with an example of each.
What doesn'tOne thing that did not work for you, and why.
Read it if…Who is this book for? Name another book it is like.
Peabody's Book Club · peabody.kids/book-club · free, no account
For the grown-up helping
A thesis is something a reader could disagree with. "This book is about King Midas" is a topic; "Midas learns too late…" is a thesis.
Need a book at the right level first? Books for level 10, or the levels index.