How to Write a Great Book Review

A book review is not the same thing as a book report. (It's much more fun to write!) In a review you can share your opinion - no holds barred. Did you love it? hate it? A little of both? You can say what you really think - the key to a good review is to SHOW why you feel that way -- with examples.

A review can be 100 words or 1000 words, or anywhere in between. (You could write a 2-word review, i.e. "it sucked!"but most of the time you probably want to go into a LITTLE more detail than that!) Sometimes saying everything you have to say in a short paragraph is even more challenging than writing two pages about it!

Here are a few tips and suggestions, and for more, check out the links on the right. There is no one right way to do it - the best book review gives the readers a sense of what the book is like, and helps them decide whether they want to read it or not.

-Read the book! You can't talk about it if you haven't read it.
-Think and reflect before you start writing - make a few notes about what you remember most strongly, what feeling you had when you finished. Browse back through and note some examples of the best or worst parts of the book so you can mention or quote them.
-Make sure you cover the basic information - title, who it's by, what kind of book it is (sci-fi, fantasy, non-fiction, etc.) Most book review publications show all that in a sidebar or box, along with the publisher, price, number of pages, etc.
-You don't need to describe the whole plot - a sentence or two about the basics, and who the characters are, is helpful as a setup. Where does it take place? What time period? (If it's in the present you probably don't need to say so, but if it's in England in 1920, or in a fantasy world and place, you definitely do!)
-Think about what the author was trying to do - was she trying to teach a lesson, or impose a moral on the story? Was she being very creative or poetic with her language, creating beautiful descriptions? Was he trying to write a thriller or page-turner? What was the intention, and did he succeed? If you want to point out the beauty of the language (or how awful and cliche it was!) give an example. If you didn't believe that a character would act the way they did, explain what they did (without giving away the ending!)
-If you've read other books by the same author you can compare them.
-Again, don't give away the ending!

When you've written your review you can email it to us and we'll publish it here. Happy reading, and happy writing!

-Jenny Hansell, NECC Exec. Director (check out my dance and moview reviews in the Compass section of the Millerton News and Lakeville Journal!)