If you’re seeking fun book report ideas students will love, then you’ll find here creative ideas that are sure to engage.
The following book report project ideas deepen students’ reading comprehension by prompting them to analyze information beyond the literal.
What’s more, these book report ideas can be used with any book type and/or subject area.
They also serve well as student choice reading projects and monthly book reports.
These book report project ideas are a great fit for all grades and levels, even gifted students.
Modify projects to accommodate learners’ academic needs.
Book Report Ideas
These projects include easy book report ideas that take little time to prepare.
Transform a Graphic Organize Into a Foldable.
A foldable is essentially a graphic organizer that is three-dimensional. As the teacher, you decide what particular reading skill you would like students to practice (e.g. main idea, character traits, sequencing).
Then you choose a foldable activity that aligns with your objective.
Students now create the foldable project, focusing on that skill while they’re analyzing the book.
Story Tell.
Encourage students to retell the main elements and/or events of their book using a digital storyboard.
Storyboarding motivates students to share stories while exploring their imaginations.
This online app, which provides storyboard templates to make things easier for students, utilizes powerful visual components to engage learners in a meaningful way.
Make a File Folder Reading Project.
If you’re looking for easy reading report ideas, this one is a good choice. For this simple project idea, all you need is a manila folder in any color.
Using the 5Ws + H (who, what, when, where, why, how), students will record the parts of the book that answer those questions.
Alternatively, you could have students respond to the 5 parts of a book report:
- author/title
- characters
- setting
- problem
- solution
To make the project neater and/or more structured, use separate pieces of paper to respond to each question. Then glue each piece of paper inside the manila folder in an organized fashion.
Afterward, students illustrate a cover page on the outside of the manila folder. The cover may include a picture that reflects an important part of the story.
Put Together a Slideshow Presentation.
Students will use either PowerPoint or Google Slides to make a presentation that summarizes the book.
Alternatively, students could focus on discussing one aspect of the story such as recurring themes, character analysis, compare/contrast of scenes or characters, etc.
Design a Book Jacket.
Today, quite a few books don’t come with book jackets. However, this is still a good book report idea for engaging students and helping them to stretch their creativity.
Before starting this book report activity, it might be helpful to show students a book jacket so that they can visualize exactly what they will be creating.
For this book report project idea, students will design a nice cover for their book jackets.
Then they will write a summary of the book, draft a short biography of the author, and also include some reviews of the book on the back of the book jacket to make it look authentic.
To take things to the next level, encourage students to make the book jacket to scale so that it would actually fit on the cover of the book if they had it.
This book report idea makes for a nice bulletin board display.
Compare and Contrast Two Things.
For this book report idea, students will choose either two characters, two scenes, or two books by the same author.
They will write about how those two things are the same and different. Encourage students to think beyond the obvious.
Also ask students to share how the differences or similarities affected the outcome of the book.
Create an Alphabet Book.
For this fun reading book report idea, students will take 14 blank, white sheets of 8.5 x 11 inches paper and cut each into halves.
Two of the pages will serve as a cover page and an outro page. The other sheets will each represent one letter of the alphabet.
Students will brainstorm a significant word from the book that starts with the letter A, drafting a short description of why that word is important to the overall idea of the book.
As an example, in the book James and the Giant Peach, for the letter D, the student might come up with the word “desolate”. Now he or she will summarize how the word relates to the book in some way.
This is done for each letter of the alphabet.
After all the letters are completed, students will combine plus staple all pages horizontally, including the illustrated intro and outro pages, to form an alphabet booklet.
Make a Diorama.
For the diorama, students will create a 3D model of a scene from the book and write a description of the scene.
Students may use a shoebox to create the scene and any other materials they have on hand at home.
See these dioramas for inspiration.
Draft a Book Review.
Book reviews promote critical thinking, getting students to analyze what they liked and disliked about a book.
Students may also share what type of person would be most interested in reading the book.
To make things even more authentic, have students rate the book using a visual five-star rating scale.
This is one of the book report ideas that make for a cool bulletin board.
Creative Book Report Ideas
Following you will find creative book project ideas that students of all ages enjoy making.
Make a Word Search Puzzle.
Reinforce important vocabulary by having students choose 20 to 30 important vocabulary words from their book.
Using a word search template, they will first record their chosen words in the bank section.
Then they will randomly place the vocabulary words on the template either diagonally, horizontally, or vertically. Afterward, they will fill the empty spaces with random letters.
As an extension for this activity, on a separate page, students will define each term and explain how it is significant to the overall main idea of the book.
When all is done, students exchange their word search puzzles with a classmate.
Generate Questions and Answers For a Memory Game.
Here’s another creative book project idea students love to create because it’s a game!
It’s especially popular with gifted and talented students.
First, they come up with about 15 to 20 questions and answers. Using index cards, they write the questions and answers with each on their own card.
Then with a partner, pairs shuffle all the cards, arrange them on the floor or a desk face down in an array, and then take turns choosing two cards that must match … meaning that a question card must accompany the correct answer card.
If the two cards match, the student who selected the cards keeps that set of two cards.
In the event that the cards don’t match, the student must return the cards to their original positions in the array. Now it’s the next student’s turn to draw two cards.
The game continues as such until there are no cards left.
What’s great about this game is that in order for students to know that two cards match, they have to have understood the book.
That’s what makes the memory game book report idea so engaging and challenging.
Write a News Article.
Students will become a journalist by taking a scene from the book and turning it into a news article using the 5Ws + H.
They need to have a catchy title, interesting details, and a memorable ending.
Afterward, they will share their news article with the class. For added fun, have them speak in a “News Anchor” voice.
Final Thoughts On Book Report Ideas
Book reports promote critical thinking and help students see things in books from a different lens.
Armed with this collection of book report ideas, you’re ready to plan fun book report projects that they will love.
Keep these reading project topics in your teaching toolkit so that you have yet another way to creatively assess students.
These are reading assessments that students will actually be excited about doing!