25 Questions to Spark Book Discussions with Young Readers

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Talking with kids about what they read helps strengthen their communication skills and gives teachers, librarians, and parents an opportunity to assess reading comprehension. Here are 25 open-ended questions to get kids talking about books at the dinner table, in book groups, in class discussions, and anywhere else you want to chat about reading.

1. What do you think about the cover for this book?
2. Why do you think this book has this title?
3. What is the setting of this book?
4. If you wanted to convince someone to read this book without giving away the ending, what would you say?
5. What is one thing you learned from reading this book?
6. How did you feel about the main character?
7. How did the main character solve his/her problem?
8. If you could be friends with any character from this book, who would you choose, and why?
9. How did you picture the main character?
10. Which of the characters in this book is most like you? Explain.
11. Which of the characters in this book is least like you? Explain.
12. Did the kids in this book seem realistic to you? Why or why not?
13. What was the most exciting part of the story?
14. What was the most surprising thing about this book?
15. What do you think the author is trying to tell the reader in this story?
16. What is one question you would want to ask the author?
17. Did this book remind you of any others you have read? Which ones? Why?
18. How did this book make you feel?
19. What is one thing you really liked about this book?
20. What is one thing you really disliked about this book?
21. What did you think of the way this book ended?
22. If you had written this story, what would you have done differently?
23. If you had to recommend this book to someone you know, who would you choose, and why?
24. What are some interesting words you saw in this book?
25. Was there anything in this book you would like to learn more about? Why?

How do you spark book discussions with the kids in your life?

We love taking novels and turning them into novel unit studies — as evidenced by our ever-growing list of free novel studies!  Sometimes, however, you just want to read the book without doing an in-depth unit…and that’s why we’ve created this list of questions for any age, any book…

Setting

• Where does this story take place?
• What is this place like?
• When did this story take place? How do you know?
• Have you ever been in a place like this? Could there be a place like this in real life?
• Did the story take place a long time ago/in the future/now?
• Which part of the story best describes the setting?
• Are there any particular words that create this atmosphere?
• Is there anything I can tell about the setting even though it does not say it directly?
  • For example: I know it is winter if there is snow on the ground.

Plot

• What are the main things that happened in the story (beginning, middle, and end)?
• Were you able to guess what was going to happen next? What clues did you use to help you?
• What would you have done differently if you had been one of the characters?
• Can you think of another way that the story might have happened?
• Can you think of another way your story might have ended?
• What might have happened if a certain action had not taken place?
• Which chapter do you think is the most important to the story?
• Who has a problem or what is the problem? Is there one problem or more than one problem in the story?
• How is the problem solved? How do you know that?

Characters

• Who are the main characters in the story?
• Do you like or dislike them? Why?
• Who is the most important character in the story? Why?
• Do any of the characters change in the story? How?
• Does a character do things that are good/bad? What?
• Choose a character. Why is this character important in the story? Why?
• Do any of the characters change during the story? In what way?
• Do any of the characters do things you think are good/bad? What? Why do you think it is good/bad?

Style

• What special words does the author use to help you see, hear, smell, taste things in the story?
• What pictures did the author leave in your mind?
• What did you like about the way the author has written the story?
• What did you dislike about the way the author has written the story?
• How did the author describe the characters?
• Were there any unusual ways of saying things?
• How does the author keep you interested?
• What strengths does the author have?
• What do you like about his or her style?

Illustrations

• Did the author include illustration with the book? Who is the illustrator?
• What kind of illustrations did the author use? (diagrams, photographs, maps, charts, graphs, tables, drawn pictures)
• Did the illustrations help you understand the information better? Why or why not?
• What illustrations or pictures are the most interesting to you? Why?
• What illustrations could the author have added to make the information easier to understand?
• Were labels and captions used? If so, did they help you understand the information better? Why or why not?
• What do you think the illustrator needed to know in order to illustrate the story?

Theme

• Why do you think the author wrote this book?
• Do you think there is a message in this story? What is it?
• Have you learned a lesson from reading this story? What is it?

Mood

• How did you feel while reading this story? Why did you feel that way?
• What was the most exciting thing that happened?
• What was the funniest/ saddest/ strangest thing that happened in the story?
• What do you remember most about the story?
• How did the author make you feel the way you did?
• Does the mood of the story change? How?

Style

• Do you understand what the author is saying? What information is the easiest for you to understand? Why?
• Would you like to learn more about this topic? Why?
• Would this book or information be different if it were written 10 years ago?
• Be reading, did you discover anything that could help you outside of school?
• Is this book like any other book you have read? How is it alike or different? Which one do you like better? Why?
• Was the information well organized? Give an example of why or why not?
• Is the information told straight to you or is it in the story form?
• What could the author have done to make the information easier to understand?

Author

• Who is the author?
• What is the author trying to tell you in the book?
• What did the author have to know to write this book?
• What do you know about the author? How can you tell?
• Why do you think the author wrote this book?

Content

• What topic(s) does this book or chapter describe?
• Is the information easy for you to understand? Why?
• What facts did you like learning about the most? Why?
• What information would you like to share with someone else?
• Would you like to read more books about this topic? Why?
• What else would you like to know about this topic? How can you find out?
• Was the title misleading? Did you expect to discover information that wasn’t there?
• Did the book/story/chapter give you enough information? If not, what else do you need to know?

—oOo—

Yvie has 20+  years of experience in education and counseling, and has a passion for helping other homeschool moms! You can find more of her thoughts over on her blog Homeschool On The Range.