8 Fun Book Report Ideas For 4th Grade Students

If you’re seeking book report ideas for 4th grade students, then you’ve landed in the right place.

Fourth grade is a great time period because it’s a year when students start moving beyond literal text comprehension and start digging deeper into authors’ purposes.

Why not leverage this opportunity by assigning your fourth graders book reports and other literacy activities that encourage them to think critically and problem-solve? 

That’s what these book report ideas for fourth graders do.

These book report ideas are not only fun and creative, but they promote critical thinking, give students the opportunity to stretch their imaginations, deepen their understanding of different book genres, and allow students to show what they know in a non-traditional way.

You’ll tap into fourth graders’ various learning styles and address a range of learning abilities – from struggling learners to gifted students.

What’s more, these book report ideas for 4th grade can be differentiated to fit all types of learning levels in your fourth-grade classroom.

So as you’re planning your literacy lesson plans for the week, be sure to include some of these engaging and enjoyable 4th-grade book project ideas into the mix.

Book Report Ideas For 4th Grade

Following you will find some fun 4th-grade book report ideas that are sure to engage learners.

Whether you use them as student choice book report ideas or assign the entire class the same one, all can be modified as standards-based reading assessments.

Make a Pizza Box Book Report.

For this book report idea, students will collect a used (but relatively clean) empty pizza box and transform it into a book project.

Using a ruler, students will draw inside of the box a circle (as large as possible) divided into eight “slices” or pieces. 

On each wedge, they will write information about the story.

That information could be a summary, characters, problem, cool facts, solution, new vocabulary words, setting, context clues, etc.

This report idea is a very versatile, fun, and creative idea for 4th grade students. 

Plus, it’s easily able to be differentiated since you as the teacher can decide what type of information they should include on each wedge.

Design Literacy Bookmarks.

This is arguably one of the coolest book report ideas for 4th grade students because they get to use their creativity and art skills to create a literacy keepsake to be used over and over again.

To get started, provide students with bookmark book report templates. They will then design a series of bookmarks related to their book.

As an example, one bookmark could focus on one of the main characters and her traits.

Another could focus on new words learned. 

Other ideas include…

  • Nonfiction text features
  • Significant quotes
  • Symbols
  • Visual representation of the book

After students are done designing their bookmarks, have them cut them apart. 

You can then collect them and laminate them for durability. Contact paper also works well. 

There is so much that you could do with literacy bookmarks in regard to book report ideas for 4th grade, so give them a try.

Utilize Storyboarding.

For digital book report ideas, try this activity.

Encourage students to retell the story by presenting it visually. This is done with a process called storyboarding. 

Storyboarding transforms a book into a vivid representation that captures the attention of any reader, observer, or listener.

Storyboardthat.com is an online platform that makes this task easy and enjoyable for learners by providing student-friendly templates. 

No special skills or extra tools are needed to bring ideas to formation … just knowledge of the book and imagination.

Make a Test.

So many fourth graders dread taking tests.

But what if they were the ones in the driver’s seat of creating their own tests? 

How fun that would be!

That’s what this 4th grade book report idea aims to do. 

Students will choose to either report on a section/chapter of a book or the whole book.

They will then create a quiz (with a key) for that section of the book. 

The quiz/test may be multiple-choice, true/false, fill-in-the-blank, essay-style, or a combination.

Beforehand, let them know how many total items should appear on their tests, and provide any other guidelines you may have.

Afterward, consider having students exchange their assessments with a classmate to complete.

Create a Glossary.

Prompt students to review important vocabulary and nonfiction text features by having them make a glossary of terms from their chosen book.

After choosing 15-20 words, students will define each. You may even want to have them sketch an image to accompany each entry.

Bring In Artifacts.

If you seek grade-nothing book report ideas for 4th grade, this one is a good fit.

For this activity, fourth graders need to bring from home 3 to 5 small artifacts (that could fit inside of a small zipper storage bag or small brown paper bag). 

These artifacts must have some type of deep connection with the chosen book.

Drawings may serve as substitutes for artifacts if needed. 

The power of this activity comes when students present their artifacts in front of the class, explaining to classmates how each item is connected to their book in some way.

Draw a Help Wanted Poster.

If you’re looking for extra fun book report ideas for fourth-grade students, you’ll love this one. 

Students select one of their favorite book characters and then create a help wanted poster for that character. 

This poster will include various information about the character. 

See examples of help wanted posters

Grade Characters Based On Their Virtues.

For book report ideas for 4th graders that motivate students to think critically about the characters, their personalities, and their virtues, this one is one of the best.

This activity supports students in looking below the surface of meaning.

To get started, make sure that students choose a book with at least two characters.

They will then assess each of the characters based on virtues such as kindness, honesty, humility, courage, etc.

Have them use the ratings of A, B, C, D, and F. You may have to explain this grading system if your school doesn’t use one like it. 

Students will have to explain why they chose a particular rating by presenting evidence from the book.

Provide them with a graphic organizer template, or have them complete this activity in their reading journals. 

For struggling learners, consider having students rate themselves first using the same list of virtues.

Doing so will help them to understand the project better plus provide practice in using evidence (from a book or from real life) to support the assessment of one’s character.

Final Thoughts On Book Report Ideas For 4th Grade 

Fourth graders are at their stage in their school life when they have the capacity to think more critically, hold deep discussions, and fully analyze an author’s purpose. 

Take advantage of this while nurturing their thirst for knowledge by incorporating into your literacy lesson plans fun and creative book report ideas for 4th grade students.

Encourage them to think beyond the surface of a book. These reading project ideas and activities will definitely help them to do so.