book review template academic

Organizing Research for Arts and Humanities Papers and Theses

• General Guide Information
• Developing a Topic
• What are Primary and Secondary Sources
• What are Scholarly and Non-Scholarly Sources
• Writing an Abstract
• Writing Academic Book Reviews
• Writing A Literature Review
• Using Images and other Media

Purpose of a Book Review

Note: This information is geared toward researchers in the arts and humanities. For a detailed guide on writing book reviews in the social sciences, please check the USC Libraries guide to  Writing and Organizing Research in the Social Sciences , authored by Dr. Robert Labaree.

When writing an academic book review, start with a bibliographic citation of the book you are reviewing [e.g., author, title, publication information, length]. Adhere to a particular citation style, such as Chicago, MLA, or APA.  Put your name at the very end of the book review text.

The basic purpose of a book review is to convey and evaluate the following:

a.     what the book is about;

b.     the expertise of the author(s);

c.     how well the book covers its topic(s) and whether it breaks new ground;

d.     the author’s viewpoint, methodology, or perspective;

e.     the appropriateness of the evidence to the topical scope of the book;

f.      the intended audience;

g.     the arrangement of the book (chapters, illustrations) and the quality of the scholarly apparatus, such as notes and bibliographies.

Point "c. how well the book covers its topics and whether it breaks new ground" requires your engagement with the book, and can be approached in a variety of ways. The question of whether the book breaks new ground does not necessarily refer to some radical or overarching notion of originality in the author’s argument. A lot of contemporary scholarship in the arts or humanities is not about completely reorienting the discipline, nor is it usually about arguing a thesis that has never been argued before. If an author does that, that's wonderful, and you, as a book reviewer, must look at the validity of the methods that contextualize the author's new argument.

It is more likely that the author of a scholarly book will look at the existing evidence with a finer eye for detail, and use that detail to amplify and add to existing scholarship. The author may present new evidence or a new "reading" of the existing evidence, in order to refine scholarship and to contribute to current debate. Or the author may approach existing scholarship, events, and prevailing ideas from a more nuanced perspective, thus re-framing the debate within the discipline.

The task of the book reviewer is to “tease out” the book’s themes, explain them in the review, and apply a well-argued judgment on the appropriateness of the book’s argument(s) to the existing scholarship in the field.

For example, you are reviewing a book on the history of the development of public libraries in nineteenth century America. The book includes a chapter on the role of patronage by affluent women in endowing public libraries in the mid-to-late-1800s. In this chapter, the author argues that the role of women was overlooked in previous scholarship because most of them were widows who made their financial bequests to libraries in the names of their husbands. The author argues that the history of public library patronage, and moreover, of cultural patronage, should be re-read and possibly re-framed given the evidence presented in this chapter. As a book reviewer you will be expected to evaluate this argument and the underlying scholarship.

There are two common types of academic book reviews: short summary reviews, which are descriptive, and essay-length critical reviews. Both types are described further down.

[Parenthetically, writing an academic/scholarly book review may present an opportunity to get published.]

Short summary book reviews

For a short, descriptive review, include at least the following elements:

a.     the bibliographic citation for the book;

b.     the purpose of the book;

c.     a summary of main theme(s) or key points;

d.     if there is space, a brief description of the book’s relationship to other books on the same topic or to pertinent scholarship in the field.

e.     note the author's affiliation and authority, as well as the physical content of the book, such as visual materials (photographs, illustrations, graphs) and the presence of scholarly apparatus (table of contents, index, bibliography, footnotes, endnotes, credit for visual materials);

f.     your name and affiliation.

Critical or essay-length book reviews

For a critical, essay-length book review consider including the following elements, depending on their relevance to your assignment:

b.     an opening statement that ought to peak the reader’s interest in the book under review

c.     a section that points to the author’s main intentions;

d.     a section that discusses the author’s ideas and the book’s thesis within a scholarly perspective. This should be a critical assessment of the book within the larger scholarly discourse;

e.     if you found errors in the book, point the major ones and explain their significance. Explain whether they detract from the thesis and the arguments made in the book;

f.     state the book's place within a strand of scholarship and summarize its importance to the discipline;

g.    include information about the author's affiliation and authority, as well as the physical content of the book, such as visual materials (photographs, illustrations, graphs) and the presence of scholarly apparatus (table of contents, index, bibliography, footnotes, endnotes, credit for visual materials);

h.     indicate the intended readership of the book and whether the author succeeds in engaging the audience on the appropriate level;

i.     your name and affiliation.

Good examples of essay-length reviews may be found in the scholarly journals included in the JSTOR collection, in the New York Review of Books , and similar types of publications, and in cultural publications like the New Yorker magazine.

Remember to keep track of your sources, regardless of the stage of your research. The USC Libraries have an excellent guide to  citation styles  and to  citation management software . 

• << Previous: Writing an Abstract
• Next: Writing A Literature Review >>
• Last Updated: Jan 19, 2023 3:12 PM
• URL: https://libguides.usc.edu/ah_writing

25+ Book Review Templates and Ideas to Organize Your Thoughts

Danika Ellis

Danika spends most of her time talking about queer women books at the Lesbrary. Blog: The Lesbrary Twitter: @DanikaEllis

View All posts by Danika Ellis

When I was a kid I loved reading, but I hated book reports. It felt impossible to boil a book down to a few lines or even a page of writing. Besides, by the time I had to write the report, I had already forgotten a lot. It never ceases to be painful to try to pull my thoughts and opinions out of my head and put them on the page, especially in a coherent way.

As an adult, I continue to usually find writing book reviews painful . And yet, I maintain a book blog with reviews of all the (bi and lesbian) books I read. Why? For one thing, I want to raise the visibility of these books — or, in the case of a book I loathed, warn other readers of what to expect. It helps me to build community with other book lovers. It’s also a great way to force myself pay attention to how I’m feeling while I’m reading a book and what my thoughts are afterwards. I have learned to take notes as I go, so I have something to refer to by the time I write a review, and it has me notice what a book is doing well (and what it isn’t). The review at the end helps me to organize my thoughts. I also find that I remember more once I’ve written a review.

Once you’ve decided it’s worthwhile to write a review, though, how do you get started? It can be a daunting task. The good news is, book reviews can adapt to whatever you want them to be. A book review can be a tweet with a thumbs up or thumbs down emoji, maybe with a sentence or two of your thoughts; it can also be an in-depth essay on the themes of the book and its influence on literature. Most are going to fall somewhere between those two! Let go of the idea of trying to create the One True Book Review. Everyone is looking for something different, and there is space for GIF-filled squee fests about a book and thoughtful, meditative explorations of a work.

This post offers a variety of book reviews elements that you can mix and match to create a book review template that works for you. Before you get started, though, there are some questions worth addressing.

Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Book Review Template

Where will you be posting your book reviews.

An Instagram book review will likely look different from a blog book review. Consider which platform you will be using for your book review. You can adapt it for different platforms, or link to your original review, but it’s a good starting point. Instagram reviews tend to be a lot shorter than blog reviews, for instance.

Thank you for signing up! Keep an eye on your inbox. By signing up you agree to our terms of use

Will you be using the same template every time?

Some book reviewers have a go-to book review template. Others have a different one for each genre, while another group doesn’t use a template at all and just reacts to whatever each book brings up.

Heading or no headings?

When choosing which book review elements to mix and match, you can also decide whether to include a header for each section (like Plot, Characterization, Writing, etc). Headers make reviews easier to browse, but they may not have the professional, essay-style look that you’re going for.

Why are you writing a review?

When selecting which elements to include in your review, consider what the purpose is. Do you want to better remember the plot by writing about it? You probably want to include a plot summary, then. Do you want to help readers decide whether they should read this book? A pros and cons list might be helpful. Are you trying to track something about your reading, like an attempt to read more books in translation or more books by authors of color? Are you trying to buy fewer books and read off your TBR shelf instead? These are all things you can note in a review, usually in a point-form basic information block at the beginning.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jess | Books and Thread Co. (@booksandthreadco)

Book Review Templates and Formats

Essay-style.

This is a multi-paragraph review, usually with no headers. It’s the same format most newspapers and academics use for book reviews. Many essay-style reviews use informal categories in their writing, often discussing setting, writing, characters, and plot in their own paragraphs. They usually also discuss the big themes/messages of a story. Here are some questions to consider when writing an essay-style review:

What is the author trying to do? Don’t evaluate a romance novel based on a mystery novel’s criteria. First try to think about what the book was attempting to do, then try to evaluate if they achieved it. You can still note if you didn’t like it, but it’s good to know what it was aiming for first.

What are some of the themes of the story? What big message should the reader take away? Did you agree with what the book seemed to be saying? Why or why not?

How is this story relevant to the world? What is it saying about the time it was written in? About human nature? About society or current issues? Depending on the book, there may be more or less to dig into here.

What did this book make you think about? It may be that the themes in the book were just a launching off point. How did they inspire your own thinking? How did this book change you?

A Classic Book Review

This is probably the most common kind of book review template. It uses a few criteria, usually including Setting, Writing, Characters, and Plot (for a novel). The review then goes into some detail about each element, describing what the book did well, and where it fell short.

The advantage of this format is that it’s very straightforward and applies to almost any fiction read. It can also be adapted–you will likely have more to say about the plot in a mystery/thriller than a character study of a novel. A drawback, though, is that it can feel limiting. You might have thoughts that don’t neatly fit into these categories, or you could feel like you don’t have enough to say about some of the categories.

Pros and Cons

A common format for a Goodreads review is some variation of pros and cons. This might be “What I Liked/What I Didn’t Like” or “Reasons to Bump This Up Your TBR/Reasons to Bump This Down On Your TBR.” This is a very flexible system that can accommodate anything from a few bullet points each to paragraphs each. It gives a good at-a-glance impression of your thoughts (more cons than pros is a pretty good indication you didn’t like it). It also is broad enough that almost all your thoughts can likely be organized into those headings.

This is also a format that is easily mix and matched with the elements listed below. A brief review might give the title, author, genre, some brief selling points of the novel, and then a pros and cons list. Some reviews also include a “verdict” at the end. An example of this format:

The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O’Neill

🌟 Fantasy All-Ages Comic 💫 Adorable pet dragons ✨ A diverse cast

Pros: This book has beautiful artwork. It is a soothing read, and all the character are supportive of each other. This is a story about friendship and kindness.

Cons: Don’t expect a fast-moving plot or a lot of conflict. This is a very gentle read.

Another approach to the review is not, strictly speaking, a book review template at all. Instead, it’s something like “5 Reasons to Read TITLE by Author” or “The # Most Shocking Plot Twists in X Series.” An advantage of this format is that it can be very to-the-point: if you want to convince people to read a book, it makes sense to just write a list of reasons they should read the book. It may also be more likely to get clicked on–traditional book reviews often get less views than more general posts.

On the other hand, listicles can come off as gimmicky or click-bait. You’ll have to decide for yourself if the book matches this format, and whether you are writing this out of genuine enthusiasm or are just trying to bend a review to be more clickable.

Your Own Original Rating System

Lots of reviewers decide to make their own review format based on what matters to them. This is often accompanied by a ratings system. For instance, the BookTube channel Book Roast uses the CAWPILE system:

CAWPILE is an acronym for the criteria she rates: Characters, Atmosphere, Writing, Plot, Intrigue, Logic, Enjoyment. Each of those are rated 1–10, and the average given is the overall rating. By making your own ratings/review system, you can prioritize what matters to you.

My favorite rating system is Njeri’s from Onyx Pages , because it shows exactly what she’s looking for from books, and it helps her to think about and speak about the things she values:

A “Live Tweet” or Chronological Review

Another format possibility is live tweeting (or updating as you go on Goodreads, or whatever your platform of choice is). This has you document your initial thoughts as you read, and it’s usually informal and often silly. You can add what you’re loving, what you’re hating, and what questions you have as you go.

This is a fun format for when you’re reading a popular book for the first time. That way, other people can cackle at how unprepared you are as you read it. This requires you to remember to always have your phone on you as you read, to get your authentic thoughts as they happen, but it saves on having to write a more in-depth review. Alternately, some people include both a “first impressions” section and a more in-depth analysis section in their final review.

Get Creative

There are plenty of book review templates to choose from and elements to mix-and-match, but you can also respond in a completely original way. You could create a work of art in response to the book! Here are some options:

• Writing a song , a short story, or a poem
• Writing a letter to the author or the main character (you don’t have to send it to the author!)
• Writing an “interview” of a character from the book, talk show style
• Making a visual response, like a collage or painting
• Making a book diorama, like your elementary school days!

Mix-and-Match Elements of a Book Review

Most book reviews are made up of a few different parts, which can be combined in lots of different ways. Here is a selection to choose from! These might also give you ideas for your own elements. Don’t take on too much, though! It can easily become an overwhelming amount of information for readers.

Information

Usually a book review starts with some basic information about the book. What you consider basic information, though, is up for interpretation! Consider what you and your audience will think is important. Here are some ideas:

• The title and author (pretty important)
• The book’s cover
• Format (audiobook, comic, poetry, etc)
• Genre (this can be broad, like SFF, or narrow, like Silkpunk or Dark Academia)
• Content warnings
• Source (where did you get the book? Was is borrowed from the library, bought, or were you sent an ARC?)
• Synopsis/plot summary (your own or the publisher’s)
• What kind of representation there is in the novel (including race, disability, LGBTQ characters, etc)
• Anything you’re tracking in your reading, including: authors of color, authors’ country, if a book is in translation, etc

Review Elements

Once you’ve established your basic information, you’re into the review itself! Some of these are small additions to a review, while others are a little more time-intensive.

Bullet point elements:

• Rating (star rating, thumbs up/down, recommend/wouldn’t recommend, or your own scale)
• Who would like it/Who wouldn’t like it
• Read-alikes (or movies and TV shows like the book)
• Describe the book using an emoji or emojis
• Describe the book using a gif or gifs
• Favorite line(s) from the book
• New vocabulary/the most beautiful words in the novel
• How it made you feel (in a sentence or two)
• One word or one sentence review
• Bullet points listing the selling points of a book
• BooksandLala’s Scary, Unsettling, and Intrigue ratings, for horror
• World-building, for fantasy and science fiction titles
• Art, for comics
• Narration, for audiobooks
• Romance, for…romance
• Heat level, for erotica

Visual elements:

• Design a graphic (usually incorporating the cover, your star rating, and some other basic info)
• Take a selfie of yourself holding the book, with your expression as the review
• Make a mood board
• Design your own book cover
• Make fan art

Elements to incorporate into a review:

• Quick/initial thoughts (often while reading or immediately after reading), then a more in-depth review (common on Goodreads)
• A list of facts about the book or a character from the book
• Book club questions about the book
• Spoiler/non-spoiler sections
• Research: look up interviews with the author and critique of the book, incorporate it (cited!) into your review
• Links to other resources, such as interviews or other reviews — especially #OwnVoices reviews
• A story of your own, whether it’s your experience reading the book, or something it reminded you of

This is not a complete list! There are so many ways to write a book review, and it should reflect your own relationship with books, as well as your audience. If you’re looking for more ways to keep track of your reading, you’ll also like 50+ Beautiful Bujo Spread Ideas to Track Your Reading .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Painted Pages Library (@paintedpageslibrary)

You Might Also Like

How to Write a Book Review: A Comprehensive Tutorial With Examples

You don’t need to be a literary expert to craft captivating book reviews. With one in every three readers selecting books based on insightful reviews, your opinions can guide fellow bibliophiles toward their next literary adventure.

Learning how to write a book review will not only help you excel at your assigned tasks, but you’ll also contribute valuable insights to the book-loving community and turn your passion into a professional pursuit.

In this comprehensive guide,  PaperPerk  will walk you through a few simple steps to master the art of writing book reviews so you can confidently embark on this rewarding journey.

What is a Book Review?

A book review is a critical evaluation of a book, offering insights into its content, quality, and impact. It helps readers make informed decisions about whether to read the book.

Writing a book review as an assignment benefits students in multiple ways. Firstly, it teaches them how to write a book review by developing their analytical skills as they evaluate the content, themes, and writing style .

Secondly, it enhances their ability to express opinions and provide constructive criticism. Additionally, book review assignments expose students to various publications and genres, broadening their knowledge.

Furthermore, these tasks foster essential skills for academic success, like critical thinking and the ability to synthesize information. By now, we’re sure you want to learn how to write a book review, so let’s look at the book review template first.

Table of Contents

Book Review Template

How to Write a Book Review- A Step-by-Step Guide

Check out these 5 straightforward steps for composing the best book review.

Step 1: Planning Your Book Review – The Art of Getting Started

You’ve decided to take the plunge and share your thoughts on a book that has captivated (or perhaps disappointed) you. Before you start book reviewing, let’s take a step back and plan your approach. Knowing how to write a book review that’s both informative and engaging is an art in itself.

Choosing Your Literature

First things first, pick the book you want to review. This might seem like a no-brainer, but selecting a book that genuinely interests you will make the review process more enjoyable and your insights more authentic.

Crafting the Master Plan

Next, create an  outline  that covers all the essential points you want to discuss in your review. This will serve as the roadmap for your writing journey.

The Devil is in the Details

As you read, note any information that stands out, whether it overwhelms, underwhelms, or simply intrigues you. Pay attention to:

• The characters and their development
• The plot and its intricacies
• Any themes, symbols, or motifs you find noteworthy

Remember to reserve a body paragraph for each point you want to discuss.

The Key Questions to Ponder

When planning your book review, consider the following questions:

• What’s the plot (if any)? Understanding the driving force behind the book will help you craft a more effective review.
• Is the plot interesting? Did the book hold your attention and keep you turning the pages?
• Are the writing techniques effective? Does the author’s style captivate you, making you want to read (or reread) the text?
• Are the characters or the information believable? Do the characters/plot/information feel real, and can you relate to them?
• Would you recommend the book to anyone? Consider if the book is worthy of being recommended, whether to impress someone or to support a point in a literature class.
• What could be improved? Always keep an eye out for areas that could be improved. Providing constructive criticism can enhance the quality of literature.

Step 2 – Crafting the Perfect Introduction to Write a Book Review

In this second step of “how to write a book review,” we’re focusing on the art of creating a powerful opening that will hook your audience and set the stage for your analysis.

Identify Your Book and Author

Begin by mentioning the book you’ve chosen, including its  title  and the author’s name. This informs your readers and establishes the subject of your review.

Ponder the Title

Next, discuss the mental images or emotions the book’s title evokes in your mind . This helps your readers understand your initial feelings and expectations before diving into the book.

Judge the Book by Its Cover (Just a Little)

Take a moment to talk about the book’s cover. Did it intrigue you? Did it hint at what to expect from the story or the author’s writing style? Sharing your thoughts on the cover can offer a unique perspective on how the book presents itself to potential readers.

Present Your Thesis

Now it’s time to introduce your thesis. This statement should be a concise and insightful summary of your opinion of the book. For example:

“Normal People” by Sally Rooney is a captivating portrayal of the complexities of human relationships, exploring themes of love, class, and self-discovery with exceptional depth and authenticity.

Ensure that your thesis is relevant to the points or quotes you plan to discuss throughout your review.

Incorporating these elements into your introduction will create a strong foundation for your book review. Your readers will be eager to learn more about your thoughts and insights on the book, setting the stage for a compelling and thought-provoking analysis.

How to Write a Book Review: Step 3 – Building Brilliant Body Paragraphs

You’ve planned your review and written an attention-grabbing introduction. Now it’s time for the main event: crafting the body paragraphs of your book review. In this step of “how to write a book review,” we’ll explore the art of constructing engaging and insightful body paragraphs that will keep your readers hooked.

Summarize Without Spoilers

Begin by summarizing a specific section of the book, not revealing any major plot twists or spoilers. Your goal is to give your readers a taste of the story without ruining surprises.

Support Your Viewpoint with Quotes

Next, choose three quotes from the book that support your viewpoint or opinion. These quotes should be relevant to the section you’re summarizing and help illustrate your thoughts on the book.

Analyze the Quotes

Write a summary of each quote in your own words, explaining how it made you feel or what it led you to think about the book or the author’s writing. This analysis should provide insight into your perspective and demonstrate your understanding of the text.

Structure Your Body Paragraphs

Dedicate one body paragraph to each quote, ensuring your writing is well-connected, coherent, and easy to understand.

For example:

• In  Jane Eyre , Charlotte Brontë writes, “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me.” This powerful statement highlights Jane’s fierce independence and refusal to be trapped by societal expectations.
• In  Normal People , Sally Rooney explores the complexities of love and friendship when she writes, “It was culture as class performance, literature fetishized for its ability to take educated people on false emotional journeys.” This quote reveals the author’s astute observations on the role of culture and class in shaping personal relationships.
• In  Wuthering Heights , Emily Brontë captures the tumultuous nature of love with the quote, “He’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” This poignant line emphasizes the deep, unbreakable bond between the story’s central characters.

By following these guidelines, you’ll create body paragraphs that are both captivating and insightful, enhancing your book review and providing your readers with a deeper understanding of the literary work. 

How to Write a Book Review: Step 4 – Crafting a Captivating Conclusion

You’ve navigated through planning, introductions, and body paragraphs with finesse. Now it’s time to wrap up your book review with a  conclusion that leaves a lasting impression . In this final step of “How to write a Book Review,” we’ll explore the art of writing a memorable and persuasive conclusion.

Summarize Your Analysis

Begin by summarizing the key points you’ve presented in the body paragraphs. This helps to remind your readers of the insights and arguments you’ve shared throughout your review.

Offer Your Final Conclusion

Next, provide a conclusion that reflects your overall feelings about the book. This is your chance to leave a lasting impression and persuade your readers to consider your perspective.

Address the Book’s Appeal

Now, answer the question: Is this book worth reading? Be clear about who would enjoy the book and who might not. Discuss the taste preferences and circumstances that make the book more appealing to some readers than others.

For example:  The Alchemist is a book that can enchant a young teen, but those who are already well-versed in classic literature might find it less engaging.

Be Subtle and Balanced

Avoid simply stating whether you “liked” or “disliked” the book. Instead, use nuanced language to convey your message. Highlight the pros and cons of reading the type of literature you’ve reviewed, offering a balanced perspective.

Bringing It All Together

By following these guidelines, you’ll craft a conclusion that leaves your readers with a clear understanding of your thoughts and opinions on the book. Your review will be a valuable resource for those considering whether to pick up the book, and your witty and insightful analysis will make your review a pleasure to read. So conquer the world of book reviews, one captivating conclusion at a time!

How to Write a Book Review: Step 5 – Rating the Book (Optional)

You’ve masterfully crafted your book review, from the introduction to the conclusion. But wait, there’s one more step you might consider before calling it a day: rating the book. In this optional step of “how to write a book review,” we’ll explore the benefits and methods of assigning a rating to the book you’ve reviewed.

Why Rate the Book?

Sometimes, when writing a professional book review, it may not be appropriate to state whether you liked or disliked the book. In such cases, assigning a rating can be an effective way to get your message across without explicitly sharing your personal opinion.

How to Rate the Book

There are various rating systems you can use to evaluate the book, such as:

• A star rating (e.g., 1 to 5 stars)
• A numerical score (e.g., 1 to 10)
• A letter grade (e.g., A+ to F)

Choose a rating system that best suits your style and the format of your review. Be consistent in your rating criteria, considering writing quality, character development, plot, and overall enjoyment.

Tips for Rating the Book

Here are some tips for rating the book effectively:

• Be honest: Your rating should reflect your true feelings about the book. Don’t inflate or deflate your rating based on external factors, such as the book’s popularity or the author’s reputation.
• Be fair: Consider the book’s merits and shortcomings when rating. Even if you didn’t enjoy the book, recognize its strengths and acknowledge them in your rating.
• Be clear: Explain the rationale behind your rating so your readers understand the factors that influenced your evaluation.

Wrapping Up

By including a rating in your book review, you provide your readers with additional insight into your thoughts on the book. While this step is optional, it can be a valuable tool for conveying your message subtly yet effectively. So, rate those books confidently, adding a touch of wit and wisdom to your book reviews.

Additional Tips on How to Write a Book Review: A Guide

In this segment, we’ll explore additional tips on how to write a book review. Get ready to captivate your readers and make your review a memorable one!

Hook ’em with an Intriguing Introduction

Keep your introduction precise and to the point. Readers have the attention span of a goldfish these days, so don’t let them swim away in boredom. Start with a bang and keep them hooked!

Embrace the World of Fiction

When learning how to write a book review, remember that reviewing fiction is often more engaging and effective. If your professor hasn’t assigned you a specific book, dive into the realm of fiction and select a novel that piques your interest.

Opinionated with Gusto

Don’t shy away from adding your own opinion to your review. A good book review always features the writer’s viewpoint and constructive criticism. After all, your readers want to know what  you  think!

Express Your Love (or Lack Thereof)

If you adored the book, let your readers know! Use phrases like “I’ll definitely return to this book again” to convey your enthusiasm. Conversely, be honest but respectful even if the book wasn’t your cup of tea.

Templates and Examples and Expert Help: Your Trusty Sidekicks

Feeling lost? You can always get help from formats, book review examples or online  college paper writing service  platforms. These trusty sidekicks will help you navigate the world of book reviews with ease. 

Be a Champion for New Writers and Literature

Remember to uplift new writers and pieces of literature. If you want to suggest improvements, do so kindly and constructively. There’s no need to be mean about anyone’s books – we’re all in this literary adventure together!

Criticize with Clarity, Not Cruelty

When adding criticism to your review, be clear but not mean. Remember, there’s a fine line between constructive criticism and cruelty. Tread lightly and keep your reader’s feelings in mind.

Avoid the Comparison Trap

Resist the urge to compare one writer’s book with another. Every book holds its worth, and comparing them will only confuse your reader. Stick to discussing the book at hand, and let it shine in its own light.

Top 7 Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Writing a book review can be a delightful and rewarding experience, especially when you balance analysis, wit, and personal insights. However, some common mistakes can kill the brilliance of your review. 

In this section of “How to write a book review,” we’ll explore the top 7 blunders writers commit and how to steer clear of them, with a dash of  modernist literature  examples and tips for students writing book reviews as assignments.

Succumbing to the Lure of Plot Summaries

Mistake: Diving headfirst into a plot summary instead of dissecting the book’s themes, characters, and writing style.

Example: “The Bell Jar chronicles the life of a young woman who experiences a mental breakdown.”

How to Avoid: Delve into the book’s deeper aspects, such as its portrayal of mental health, societal expectations, and the author’s distinctive narrative voice. Offer thoughtful insights and reflections, making your review a treasure trove of analysis.

Unleashing the Spoiler Kraken

Mistake: Spilling major plot twists or the ending without providing a spoiler warning, effectively ruining the reading experience for potential readers.

Example: “In Metamorphosis, the protagonist’s transformation into a monstrous insect leads to…”

How to Avoid: Tread carefully when discussing significant plot developments, and consider using spoiler warnings. Focus on the impact of these plot points on the overall narrative, character growth, or thematic resonance.

Riding the Personal Bias Express

Mistake: Allowing personal bias to hijack the review without providing sufficient evidence or reasoning to support opinions.

Example: “I detest books about existential crises, so The Sun Also Rises was a snoozefest.”

How to Avoid: While personal opinions are valid, it’s crucial to back them up with specific examples from the book. Discuss aspects like writing style, character development, or pacing to support your evaluation and provide a more balanced perspective.

Wielding the Vague Language Saber

Mistake: Resorting to generic, vague language that fails to capture the nuances of the book and can come across as clichéd.

Example: “This book was mind-blowing. It’s a must-read for everyone.”

How to Avoid: Use precise and descriptive language to express your thoughts. Employ specific examples and quotations to highlight memorable scenes, the author’s unique writing style, or the impact of the book’s themes on readers.

Ignoring the Contextualization Compass

Mistake: Neglecting to provide context about the author, genre, or cultural relevance of the book, leaving readers without a proper frame of reference.

Example: “This book is dull and unoriginal.”

How to Avoid: Offer readers a broader understanding by discussing the author’s background, the genre conventions the book adheres to or subverts, and any societal or historical contexts that inform the narrative. This helps readers appreciate the book’s uniqueness and relevance.

Overindulging in Personal Preferences

Mistake: Letting personal preferences overshadow an objective assessment of the book’s merits.

Example: “I don’t like stream-of-consciousness writing, so this book is automatically bad.”

How to Avoid: Acknowledge personal preferences but strive to evaluate the book objectively. Focus on the book’s strengths and weaknesses, considering how well it achieves its goals within its genre or intended audience.

Forgetting the Target Audience Telescope

Mistake: Failing to mention the book’s target audience or who might enjoy it, leading to confusion for potential readers.

Example: “This book is great for everyone.”

How to Avoid: Contemplate the book’s intended audience, genre, and themes. Mention who might particularly enjoy the book based on these factors, whether it’s fans of a specific genre, readers interested in character-driven stories, or those seeking thought-provoking narratives.

By dodging these common pitfalls, writers can craft insightful, balanced, and engaging book reviews that help readers make informed decisions about their reading choices.

These tips are particularly beneficial for students writing book reviews as assignments, as they ensure a well-rounded and thoughtful analysis.!

Many students requested us to cover how to write a book review. This thorough guide is sure to help you. At Paperperk, professionals are dedicated to helping students find their balance. We understand the importance of good grades, so we offer the finest writing service , ensuring students stay ahead of the curve. So seek expert help because only Paperperk is your perfect solution!

What is the difference between a book review and a report?

Who is the target audience for book reviews and book reports, how do book reviews and reports differ in length and content, can i write professional book reviews, what are the key aspects of writing professional book reviews, how can i enhance my book-reviewing skills to write professional reviews, what should be included in a good book review.

Order Original Papers & Essays

Your First Custom Paper Sample is on Us!

Timely Deliveries

No Plagiarism & AI

100% Refund

Try Our Free Paper Writing Service

Related blogs.

Connections with Writers and support

Privacy and Confidentiality Guarantee

Average Quality Score

Book Reviews

What this handout is about.

This handout will help you write a book review, a report or essay that offers a critical perspective on a text. It offers a process and suggests some strategies for writing book reviews.

What is a review?

A review is a critical evaluation of a text, event, object, or phenomenon. Reviews can consider books, articles, entire genres or fields of literature, architecture, art, fashion, restaurants, policies, exhibitions, performances, and many other forms. This handout will focus on book reviews. For a similar assignment, see our handout on literature reviews .

Above all, a review makes an argument. The most important element of a review is that it is a commentary, not merely a summary. It allows you to enter into dialogue and discussion with the work’s creator and with other audiences. You can offer agreement or disagreement and identify where you find the work exemplary or deficient in its knowledge, judgments, or organization. You should clearly state your opinion of the work in question, and that statement will probably resemble other types of academic writing, with a thesis statement, supporting body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Typically, reviews are brief. In newspapers and academic journals, they rarely exceed 1000 words, although you may encounter lengthier assignments and extended commentaries. In either case, reviews need to be succinct. While they vary in tone, subject, and style, they share some common features:

• First, a review gives the reader a concise summary of the content. This includes a relevant description of the topic as well as its overall perspective, argument, or purpose.
• Second, and more importantly, a review offers a critical assessment of the content. This involves your reactions to the work under review: what strikes you as noteworthy, whether or not it was effective or persuasive, and how it enhanced your understanding of the issues at hand.
• Finally, in addition to analyzing the work, a review often suggests whether or not the audience would appreciate it.

Becoming an expert reviewer: three short examples

Reviewing can be a daunting task. Someone has asked for your opinion about something that you may feel unqualified to evaluate. Who are you to criticize Toni Morrison’s new book if you’ve never written a novel yourself, much less won a Nobel Prize? The point is that someone—a professor, a journal editor, peers in a study group—wants to know what you think about a particular work. You may not be (or feel like) an expert, but you need to pretend to be one for your particular audience. Nobody expects you to be the intellectual equal of the work’s creator, but your careful observations can provide you with the raw material to make reasoned judgments. Tactfully voicing agreement and disagreement, praise and criticism, is a valuable, challenging skill, and like many forms of writing, reviews require you to provide concrete evidence for your assertions.

Consider the following brief book review written for a history course on medieval Europe by a student who is fascinated with beer:

Judith Bennett’s Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women’s Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600, investigates how women used to brew and sell the majority of ale drunk in England. Historically, ale and beer (not milk, wine, or water) were important elements of the English diet. Ale brewing was low-skill and low status labor that was complimentary to women’s domestic responsibilities. In the early fifteenth century, brewers began to make ale with hops, and they called this new drink “beer.” This technique allowed brewers to produce their beverages at a lower cost and to sell it more easily, although women generally stopped brewing once the business became more profitable.

The student describes the subject of the book and provides an accurate summary of its contents. But the reader does not learn some key information expected from a review: the author’s argument, the student’s appraisal of the book and its argument, and whether or not the student would recommend the book. As a critical assessment, a book review should focus on opinions, not facts and details. Summary should be kept to a minimum, and specific details should serve to illustrate arguments.

Now consider a review of the same book written by a slightly more opinionated student:

Judith Bennett’s Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women’s Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600 was a colossal disappointment. I wanted to know about the rituals surrounding drinking in medieval England: the songs, the games, the parties. Bennett provided none of that information. I liked how the book showed ale and beer brewing as an economic activity, but the reader gets lost in the details of prices and wages. I was more interested in the private lives of the women brewsters. The book was divided into eight long chapters, and I can’t imagine why anyone would ever want to read it.

There’s no shortage of judgments in this review! But the student does not display a working knowledge of the book’s argument. The reader has a sense of what the student expected of the book, but no sense of what the author herself set out to prove. Although the student gives several reasons for the negative review, those examples do not clearly relate to each other as part of an overall evaluation—in other words, in support of a specific thesis. This review is indeed an assessment, but not a critical one.

Here is one final review of the same book:

One of feminism’s paradoxes—one that challenges many of its optimistic histories—is how patriarchy remains persistent over time. While Judith Bennett’s Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women’s Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600 recognizes medieval women as historical actors through their ale brewing, it also shows that female agency had its limits with the advent of beer. I had assumed that those limits were religious and political, but Bennett shows how a “patriarchal equilibrium” shut women out of economic life as well. Her analysis of women’s wages in ale and beer production proves that a change in women’s work does not equate to a change in working women’s status. Contemporary feminists and historians alike should read Bennett’s book and think twice when they crack open their next brewsky.

This student’s review avoids the problems of the previous two examples. It combines balanced opinion and concrete example, a critical assessment based on an explicitly stated rationale, and a recommendation to a potential audience. The reader gets a sense of what the book’s author intended to demonstrate. Moreover, the student refers to an argument about feminist history in general that places the book in a specific genre and that reaches out to a general audience. The example of analyzing wages illustrates an argument, the analysis engages significant intellectual debates, and the reasons for the overall positive review are plainly visible. The review offers criteria, opinions, and support with which the reader can agree or disagree.

Developing an assessment: before you write

There is no definitive method to writing a review, although some critical thinking about the work at hand is necessary before you actually begin writing. Thus, writing a review is a two-step process: developing an argument about the work under consideration, and making that argument as you write an organized and well-supported draft. See our handout on argument .

What follows is a series of questions to focus your thinking as you dig into the work at hand. While the questions specifically consider book reviews, you can easily transpose them to an analysis of performances, exhibitions, and other review subjects. Don’t feel obligated to address each of the questions; some will be more relevant than others to the book in question.

• What is the thesis—or main argument—of the book? If the author wanted you to get one idea from the book, what would it be? How does it compare or contrast to the world you know? What has the book accomplished?
• What exactly is the subject or topic of the book? Does the author cover the subject adequately? Does the author cover all aspects of the subject in a balanced fashion? What is the approach to the subject (topical, analytical, chronological, descriptive)?
• How does the author support their argument? What evidence do they use to prove their point? Do you find that evidence convincing? Why or why not? Does any of the author’s information (or conclusions) conflict with other books you’ve read, courses you’ve taken or just previous assumptions you had of the subject?
• How does the author structure their argument? What are the parts that make up the whole? Does the argument make sense? Does it persuade you? Why or why not?
• How has this book helped you understand the subject? Would you recommend the book to your reader?

Beyond the internal workings of the book, you may also consider some information about the author and the circumstances of the text’s production:

• Who is the author? Nationality, political persuasion, training, intellectual interests, personal history, and historical context may provide crucial details about how a work takes shape. Does it matter, for example, that the biographer was the subject’s best friend? What difference would it make if the author participated in the events they write about?
• What is the book’s genre? Out of what field does it emerge? Does it conform to or depart from the conventions of its genre? These questions can provide a historical or literary standard on which to base your evaluations. If you are reviewing the first book ever written on the subject, it will be important for your readers to know. Keep in mind, though, that naming “firsts”—alongside naming “bests” and “onlys”—can be a risky business unless you’re absolutely certain.

Writing the review

Once you have made your observations and assessments of the work under review, carefully survey your notes and attempt to unify your impressions into a statement that will describe the purpose or thesis of your review. Check out our handout on thesis statements . Then, outline the arguments that support your thesis.

Your arguments should develop the thesis in a logical manner. That logic, unlike more standard academic writing, may initially emphasize the author’s argument while you develop your own in the course of the review. The relative emphasis depends on the nature of the review: if readers may be more interested in the work itself, you may want to make the work and the author more prominent; if you want the review to be about your perspective and opinions, then you may structure the review to privilege your observations over (but never separate from) those of the work under review. What follows is just one of many ways to organize a review.

Introduction

Since most reviews are brief, many writers begin with a catchy quip or anecdote that succinctly delivers their argument. But you can introduce your review differently depending on the argument and audience. The Writing Center’s handout on introductions can help you find an approach that works. In general, you should include:

• The name of the author and the book title and the main theme.
• Relevant details about who the author is and where they stand in the genre or field of inquiry. You could also link the title to the subject to show how the title explains the subject matter.
• The context of the book and/or your review. Placing your review in a framework that makes sense to your audience alerts readers to your “take” on the book. Perhaps you want to situate a book about the Cuban revolution in the context of Cold War rivalries between the United States and the Soviet Union. Another reviewer might want to consider the book in the framework of Latin American social movements. Your choice of context informs your argument.
• The thesis of the book. If you are reviewing fiction, this may be difficult since novels, plays, and short stories rarely have explicit arguments. But identifying the book’s particular novelty, angle, or originality allows you to show what specific contribution the piece is trying to make.
• Your thesis about the book.

Summary of content

This should be brief, as analysis takes priority. In the course of making your assessment, you’ll hopefully be backing up your assertions with concrete evidence from the book, so some summary will be dispersed throughout other parts of the review.

The necessary amount of summary also depends on your audience. Graduate students, beware! If you are writing book reviews for colleagues—to prepare for comprehensive exams, for example—you may want to devote more attention to summarizing the book’s contents. If, on the other hand, your audience has already read the book—such as a class assignment on the same work—you may have more liberty to explore more subtle points and to emphasize your own argument. See our handout on summary for more tips.

Analysis and evaluation of the book

Your analysis and evaluation should be organized into paragraphs that deal with single aspects of your argument. This arrangement can be challenging when your purpose is to consider the book as a whole, but it can help you differentiate elements of your criticism and pair assertions with evidence more clearly. You do not necessarily need to work chronologically through the book as you discuss it. Given the argument you want to make, you can organize your paragraphs more usefully by themes, methods, or other elements of the book. If you find it useful to include comparisons to other books, keep them brief so that the book under review remains in the spotlight. Avoid excessive quotation and give a specific page reference in parentheses when you do quote. Remember that you can state many of the author’s points in your own words.

Sum up or restate your thesis or make the final judgment regarding the book. You should not introduce new evidence for your argument in the conclusion. You can, however, introduce new ideas that go beyond the book if they extend the logic of your own thesis. This paragraph needs to balance the book’s strengths and weaknesses in order to unify your evaluation. Did the body of your review have three negative paragraphs and one favorable one? What do they all add up to? The Writing Center’s handout on conclusions can help you make a final assessment.

Finally, a few general considerations:

• Review the book in front of you, not the book you wish the author had written. You can and should point out shortcomings or failures, but don’t criticize the book for not being something it was never intended to be.
• With any luck, the author of the book worked hard to find the right words to express her ideas. You should attempt to do the same. Precise language allows you to control the tone of your review.
• Never hesitate to challenge an assumption, approach, or argument. Be sure, however, to cite specific examples to back up your assertions carefully.
• Try to present a balanced argument about the value of the book for its audience. You’re entitled—and sometimes obligated—to voice strong agreement or disagreement. But keep in mind that a bad book takes as long to write as a good one, and every author deserves fair treatment. Harsh judgments are difficult to prove and can give readers the sense that you were unfair in your assessment.
• A great place to learn about book reviews is to look at examples. The New York Times Sunday Book Review and The New York Review of Books can show you how professional writers review books.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Drewry, John. 1974. Writing Book Reviews. Boston: Greenwood Press.

Hoge, James. 1987. Literary Reviewing. Charlottesville: University Virginia of Press.

Sova, Dawn, and Harry Teitelbaum. 2002. How to Write Book Reports , 4th ed. Lawrenceville, NY: Thomson/Arco.

Walford, A.J. 1986. Reviews and Reviewing: A Guide. Phoenix: Oryx Press.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Make a Gift

• Link to facebook
• Link to linkedin
• Link to twitter
• Link to youtube
• Writing Tips

How to Write an Academic Book Review

4-minute read

• 13th September 2019

For researchers and postgraduates , writing a book review is a relatively easy way to get published. It’s also a good way to refine your academic writing skills and learn the publishing process. But how do you write a good academic book review? We have a few tips to share.

1. Finding a Book to Review

Before you can write a book review, you need a suitable book to review. Typically, there are two main ways to find one:

• Look to see which books journal publishers are seeking reviews for.
• Find a book that interests you and pitch it to publishers.

The first approach works by finding a journal in your field that is soliciting reviews. This information may be available on the journal’s website (e.g., on a page titled “Books for Review”). However, you can also email the editor to ask if there are book review opportunities available.

Alternatively, you can find a book you want to review and pitch it to journal editors. If you want to take this approach, pick a book that:

• Is about a topic or subject area that you know well.
• Has been published recently, or at least in the last 2–3 years.
• Was published by a reputable publisher (e.g., a university printing press).

You can then pitch the review to a journal that covers your chosen subject.

Some publishers will even give reviewers access to new books. Springer, for example, has a scheme where reviewers can access books online and receive a print copy once a review is published. So this is always worth checking.

2. Follow the Style Guide

Once you know the journal you want to write for, look for the publisher’s style guide. This might be called the “Author Instructions” or “Review Guidelines,” but it should be available somewhere on the publisher’s website. If it is not obviously available, consider checking with the editor.

Find this useful?

Subscribe to our newsletter and get writing tips from our editors straight to your inbox.

When you have found the style guide, follow its instructions carefully. It should provide information on everything from writing style and the word count to submitting your review, making the process much simpler.

3. Don’t Make It About You!

You’d be surprised how often people begin by summarizing the book they’re reviewing, but then abandon it in favor of explaining their own ideas about the subject matter. As such, one important tip when reviewing an academic book is to actually review the book , not just the subject matter.

This isn’t to say that you can’t offer your own thoughts on the issues discussed, especially if they’re relevant to what the author has argued. But remember that people read reviews to find out about the book being reviewed, so this should always be your focus.

4. Questions to Answer in a Book Review

Finally, while the content of a review will depend on the book, there are a few questions every good book review should answer. These include:

• What is the book about? Does it cover the topic adequately? What does the author argue? Ideally, you will summarize the argument early on.
• Who is the author/editor? What is their field of expertise? How does this book relate to their past work? You might also want to mention relevant biographical details about the author, if there are any.
• How does the author support their argument? Do they provide convincing evidence? Do they engage with counterarguments? Try to find at least one strength (i.e., something the book does well) and one weakness (i.e., something that could be stronger) to write about.
• As a whole, has the book helped you understand the subject? Who would you recommend it to? This will be the concluding section of your review.

If you can cover all these points, you should end up with a strong book review. All you need then is to have it proofread by the professionals .

Share this article:

Post A New Comment

Got content that needs a quick turnaround? Let us polish your work. Explore our editorial business services.

5-minute read

Free Email Newsletter Template

Promoting a brand means sharing valuable insights to connect more deeply with your audience, and...

6-minute read

How to Write a Nonprofit Grant Proposal

If you’re seeking funding to support your charitable endeavors as a nonprofit organization, you’ll need...

9-minute read

How to Use Infographics to Boost Your Presentation

Is your content getting noticed? Capturing and maintaining an audience’s attention is a challenge when...

8-minute read

Why Interactive PDFs Are Better for Engagement

Are you looking to enhance engagement and captivate your audience through your professional documents? Interactive...

7-minute read

Seven Key Strategies for Voice Search Optimization

Voice search optimization is rapidly shaping the digital landscape, requiring content professionals to adapt their...

Five Creative Ways to Showcase Your Digital Portfolio

Are you a creative freelancer looking to make a lasting impression on potential clients or...

Make sure your writing is the best it can be with our expert English proofreading and editing.

Write a Book Review

What is a book review, how do i structure a book review, introduction, resources to help with writing your essay, ask us: chat, email, visit or call.

More writing resources

• Check out our full list of online writing resources These guides, templates, and videos are designed to help academic writers at various stages of their writing process, including the pre-writing and revising stages.

Get assistance

The library offers a range of helpful services.  All of our appointments are free of charge and confidential.

• Book an appointment

A book review describes, analyzes, and evaluates a book by examining its purpose and its contribution.

A book review should address the following:

• What are the authors trying to accomplish? What is their argument?
• Who is the author trying to convince?
• What strategies and evidence did you see in the book?
• To what extent are you convinced by the book? To whom (if anyone) would you recommend this book?

Your professor may specify additional instructions or objectives for their book review assignment. Therefore, be sure to read the assignment instructions carefully.

In many ways, your book review can be structured like a typical essay, using an introduction, body, and conclusion.

Like other introductions, the book review introduction should move from broad (the topic of the book) to narrow (your specific argument or purpose statement).

Your reader will expect you to do the following in your introduction:

• Introduce the topic of the book (what is the issue at hand, and why should we care?)
• Introduce the title and author of the book
• State the purpose of the book (including the author’s thesis or major findings)
• State your thesis (or the purpose of your review)

The thesis of your book review may vary depending on the assignment.

• If you are given a specific task (e.g., to relate the book to course themes), that task will likely form the basis of your review.
• If you are asked to evaluate the book’s contribution to a specific field, that evaluation will be the backbone of your thesis.

Example thesis relating the book to course themes:

George Orwell’s 1984 provides insight into three course themes: critical thinking as a form of resistance, the role of misinformation in totalitarian societies, and the connection between privacy and personal freedom. The review that follows argues that the novel’s engagement with these themes can deepen our understanding of these themes in the course context by illustrating their interconnections.

Example thesis evaluating the book’s contribution to the field:

Sara Jaquette Ray’s The Ecological Other: Environmental Exclusion in American Culture is an important contribution to environmental justice scholarship because it offers a nuanced account of how environmental discourse has positioned people with disabilities, immigrants, and Native Americans as environmental outsiders. At the same time, it suggests how environmental activists can frame their arguments with greater inclusivity and care.

In your body paragraphs, you will describe, analyze, and evaluate the book. Your reader will expect you to do the following in the body of your review:

• Summarize the major points of the author’s argument
• Discuss the author’s engagement with larger themes
• Identify key strengths and weaknesses
• Evaluate the author’s contribution to the field
• Support your claims with evidence from the text
• Suggest how the book extends, complicates, or overturns arguments from other sources

Paragraph Order

In the body of your book review, you will support your thesis with reference to specific examples from the text. Although you may organize this material in a number of different ways, three common patterns of organization are thematic, chronological, and evaluative.

• If you are tasked with relating a book to course themes, use these themes to structure your review.
• You can devote each section of the body to one theme.
• Use topic sentences and transitions to show your reader when you are moving from one theme to the next.
• This structure can help you discuss the author’s engagement with a set of issues.

Chronological

• The structure of your review can mirror the structure of the book itself.
• You can discuss topics in the same order as the author, providing an evaluation that moves from chapter to chapter or section to section.
• This structure can help you emphasize the thoroughness of your review.
• Many published academic reviews begin by highlighting the strengths of the book under discussion and then move toward a critique of the weaknesses.
• This structure can help you assert your own critical voice as a scholar.

Rather than summarizing the book or restating your thesis, use the conclusion to provide your final thoughts. Consider the following questions:

• What have you learned from reviewing the book?
• What is your overall assessment of the book’s importance?
• Who might benefit most from reading it?
• How can future researchers build on this book?
• Does the book make space for new kinds of research within its field?

The conclusion is your last chance to add analysis to your book review, so be sure to address the book’s overall significance.

Try using signal words like ‘ultimately’ or ‘overall’ instead of ‘in conclusion’ to help you frame your conclusion through an analytical lens while also telling the reader that they should pay special attention to what follows.

The assignment’s instructions may also provide clues for material that you could include in the conclusion.

• Library Help Videos On YouTube

• Last Updated: Apr 25, 2024 1:41 PM
• URL: https://guides.lib.uoguelph.ca/BookReview

Suggest an edit to this guide

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

• Essay Topic Generator
• Essay Grader
• Reference Finder
• AI Outline Generator
• Paragraph Expander
• Essay Expander
• Literature Review Generator
• Thesis Generator
• Text Editing Tools
• AI Rewording Tool
• AI Sentence Rewriter
• AI Article Spinner
• AI Grammar Checker
• Spell Checker
• PDF Spell Check
• Paragraph Checker
• Free AI Essay Writer
• Paraphraser
• Grammar Checker
• Citation Generator
• Plagiarism Checker
• AI Detector
• AI Essay Checker
• Proofreading Service
• Editing Service
• AI Writing Guides
• AI Detection Guides
• Citation Guides
• Grammar Guides
• Paraphrasing Guides
• Plagiarism Guides
• Summary Writing Guides
• STEM Guides
• Humanities Guides
• Language Learning Guides
• Coding Guides
• Top Lists and Recommendations
• AI Detectors
• AI Writing Services
• Coding Homework Help
• Citation Generators
• Editing Websites
• Essay Writing Websites
• Language Learning Websites
• Math Solvers
• Paraphrasers
• Plagiarism Checkers
• Reference Finders
• Spell Checkers
• Summarizers
• Tutoring Websites
• Essay Checkers
• Essay Topic Finders
• Article Review Examples and Samples

Book Review Examples and Samples

• Film&Movie Review Examples and Samples
• Poetry Analysis Examples and Samples
• Play Review Examples and Samples
• Song&Music Review Examples and Samples

Recent Articles

Oct 27 2023

“Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty” by Patrick Radden Keefe Book Review Sample

Oct 25 2023

“No One Is Talking About This” by Patricia Lockwood Book Review Example

Oct 23 2023

“The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race” Book Review Example

Oct 19 2023

“Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” by Isabel Wilkerson Book Review Sample

Oct 16 2023

“The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue” by V.E. Schwab Book Review Example

Oct 15 2023

“Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir Book Review Example

Oct 12 2023

“A Promised Land” by Barack Obama Book Review Sample

Oct 09 2023

“The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig Book Review Example

Oct 07 2023

“Klara and the Sun” by Kazuo Ishiguro Book Review Sample

Oct 04 2023

“The Four Winds” by Kristin Hannah Book Review Example

Jun 25 2018

Neuromancer Essay Sample, Example

Oct 24 2017

American Rust Essay Sample, Example

Oct 14 2017

In Search of a Masterpiece: An Art Lover’s Guide to Great Britain and Ireland Essay Sample, Example

Oct 11 2017

Strange New Worlds: The Search for Alien Planets and Life Beyond the Solar System Essay Sample, Example

Oct 07 2017

A History of the World Since 9/11, by Dominic Streatfeild Essay Sample, Example

In the realm of academic writing, one must tread with precision, grounding arguments in robust research, and conveying thoughts in a formal, polished tone. Just as one scrutinizes a research paper, reviewing a book demands an equally rigorous and systematic approach. A book review not only assesses the content of a book but also allows readers to understand its significance in the broader context of literature and scholarship.

What Is a Book Review Example?

Ever picked up a book and wondered if it’s worth the read? That’s where a book review steps in. Think of it as a friend giving you the lowdown on a story they’ve just read. It’s more than just saying, “It’s good” or “I didn’t like it.” A proper book review dives into the heart of the book. It talks about the journey the characters go on, the twists and turns of the plot, and the big ideas the writer is trying to share. Instead of just skimming the surface, it offers a deeper look, giving those considering the book a heads-up on what awaits them. Whether you find them in a classroom assignment, a fancy literary magazine, or your favorite weekend read, these reviews are like mini-guides helping readers decide their next bookish adventure.

Why Do Students Need to Write Book Review Examples?

Reading a book is like going on a personal adventure. Each page can make you feel different emotions, and you get lost in another world. But when students write a book review, it’s like taking that adventure to the next level.

Writing a book review is not just about summarizing the story. The idea is to push students to dive deeper, challenging them to analyze every facet of the book — from the author’s underlying messages and the twists and turns of the plot to the motivations driving the characters. Through this exercise, they don’t just passively absorb the story; they interact with it, dissect it, and form opinions about it.

Such a critical book review example, beyond being assignments, acts as a sharpening stone for students’ minds. They encourage a more active form of reading, urging students to think critically and consider how a particular book fits into the broader picture. Through this journey, students move beyond just being consumers of stories; they become active participants in them!

The Difference Between Various Genres

Genres, the various flavors in the literary world, offer readers a myriad of experiences, tailored by the unique conventions and characteristics inherent to each. Each genre is an invitation to a distinct realm, with reviews acting as previews of these vast universes.

Consider fantasy, a genre teeming with magic, mythical creatures, and far-off lands each in its own time and place. A review centered on a fantasy novel might delve into the intricacies of its world-building, pondering over the realms and races crafted from scratch. It’ll question the credibility of its magic system and the depth and richness of its history and lore. It’s about immersing in an entirely different reality, stitched together by imagination.

Move to the suspenseful corridors of detective fiction, where shadows hold secrets and every character is a suspect. Reviews for detective novels often hinge on the layered mysteries, the intellectual prowess of the investigator, and the heart-stopping, unexpected revelations that punctuate the narrative. It’s the art of deduction, of chasing clues and unveiling truths.

Then, there’s the tender realm of romance, where hearts, emotions, and relationships take center stage. A review of a romance novel is often tinted with discussions about character chemistry, the depth and rawness of their emotions, and the beautiful dance of love and heartbreak orchestrated by the narrator. It’s about exploring the spectrum of human emotions, from the fluttering butterflies of a first glance to the profound pain of unrequited love.

Science fiction, historical, horror – the list is endless. Each genre offers its unique palette of experiences, challenges, and emotions. Consequently, reviews must honor these distinctions, offering potential readers a genuine snapshot of the journey that awaits them in every book.

What Should a Book Review Sample Contain?

Crafting a meaningful book review requires more than just voicing one’s preferences; it demands a systematic and comprehensive breakdown of the book in question. This deconstruction serves as a roadmap for potential readers, guiding them in their decision-making process.

To begin with, the Introduction sets the stage. Here, the reviewer introduces the book’s core premise and provides insights into the author’s primary objectives. It’s a window into the book’s soul, offering readers a tantalizing glimpse of the journey they might undertake.

The heart of the review lies in the Content Analysis. This section plunges into the depths of the book, meticulously dissecting its various components – the plot’s intricacies, the character’s motivations and development, the backdrop against which the events unfold, and the unique narrative voice adopted by the author.

Following this deep dive is the Critical Evaluation. Armed with insights from their analysis, the reviewer offers a balanced assessment, weighing the book’s strengths against its shortcomings. This section isn’t about mere likes or dislikes but an informed, reasoned critique.

Concluding the review, the Conclusion encapsulates the reviewer’s final verdict. Here, the overarching sentiments are crystallized, guiding readers on whether embarking on this literary journey would be a time well-spent or a venture they might wish to skip.

A Step-by-Step Guide on How to Prepare to Write a Book Review

The art of writing academic book review examples is an involved process, demanding not just a deep understanding of the book in question, but also an organized approach to translating those insights into words. Here’s a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to help navigate this task with finesse.

Selecting the Right Book

Your initial choice of a book is pivotal, obviously, the most important. The process begins long before you even start reading. Aim to choose a work that either aligns with your existing interests or challenges your typical reading habits. Exploring unfamiliar terrains can sometimes provide the most profound insights. This genuine investment or curiosity in the content frequently results in a review that isn’t just thorough but brimming with authenticity. Remember, passion and enthusiasm are palpable, even in written words.

Immersive Reading

As you begin the reading journey, it’s essential to let the narrative envelop you entirely. Avoid skimming or rushing through chapters. Instead, savor each segment, allowing yourself to fully connect with the characters, settings, and plot developments, creating a new idea for your review each time. Such a reading experience ensures you grasp the nuances that the author intricately weaves, enriching your final analysis.

Note-taking

Keep a dedicated notebook or digital document to record your evolving reactions. As characters develop, plots twist and themes emerge, jot down these observations. Don’t just capture the significant moments; sometimes, subtleties can profoundly impact the overall narrative. Also, earmark impactful quotes; they can be powerful allies when substantiating your points during the review process.

The end of the book is not the end of your task. Post-reading reflection is a critical phase. Ponder on the overarching message, the emotions it stirred, and its position within its genre. Was there a unique angle or perspective it presented? Such introspection helps in understanding the narrative’s broader context and its personal impact on you.

Research the Author

Familiarize yourself with their previous works, personal experiences, or historical context during the time of writing. Such knowledge often reveals underlying themes or motivations in the narrative, adding depth to your review and more context about the narrator.

Structuring the Review

Use your notes and reflections as a foundation, and build a clear structure for your review. Ensure it flows seamlessly, covering everything from the introductory overview, detailed analysis, and personal opinions, to a succinct conclusion. A well-structured review aids the reader in understanding both the narrative and your perspective.

Writing with Intenet Penning down the review isn’t just about summarizing the book in the first place. Your intent should be clear – to present a balanced overview, emphasizing both the strengths and weaknesses of the narrative. As you articulate your thoughts, your primary goal should be to encapsulate the essence of the story and guide potential readers on what awaits them.

Should You Give Out Spoilers When Writing a Book Review?

The question of whether to include spoilers in a book review has long been a contentious one, sparking animated debates among bibliophiles and reviewers alike. On one hand, providing detailed information can arm potential readers with a clearer sense of what to anticipate, enabling them to make informed decisions about whether a particular narrative aligns with their tastes. Proponents of this viewpoint argue that, in some cases, knowing pivotal plot points in advance can even enhance the reading experience, allowing the reader to focus on the nuances of character development, theme exploration, and the author’s craft.

On the other hand, many firmly believe that a book’s magic lies in its element of surprise. Unearthing twists organically, as the author intended, allows readers to experience the full spectrum of emotions — from shock to revelation — in their raw, unadulterated form. By this logic, revealing significant spoilers is akin to unwrapping someone else’s present; the thrill of the unknown is unjustly taken away.

Given these polarized views, the middle ground becomes essential. A well-crafted review should be similar to a movie trailer, offering enough to pique interest while withholding just enough to ensure the story remains fresh and intriguing. It’s a tightrope walk, balancing the need to discuss the book’s content and themes without revealing so much that the narrative’s core mysteries are laid bare.

Ultimately, the decision lies in the hands of the reviewer. But it’s always wise to ensure that potential readers are offered a glimpse, not a roadmap, to the heart of the story, preserving the magic of discovery.

The Specifics of Writing a MLA Format Book Review Example

The Modern Language Association (MLA) format is one of the widely accepted citation styles in academic circles, and understanding its nuances is paramount when drafting academic book reviews. Here’s a deeper dive into the specifics.

Citation of the Book

At the outset, the reviewer must correctly cite the book. For instance, a book authored by John Smith titled “Literary Wonders” published in 2021 would be cited as: Smith, John. Literary Wonders. Publisher, 2021. This citation provides a standardized reference point, allowing readers to easily locate and verify the source material.

Paragraph Structure

Unlike casual reviews, MLA formatted book reviews favor structured paragraphs. Start with an introduction that offers a brief overview of the book’s main themes, followed by middle paragraphs dissecting various elements like plot, character development, and thematic content. Conclude with a summation of your overall thoughts and critique.

Formatting Rules

MLA has distinct formatting guidelines. Reviews should be double-spaced, with 1-inch margins on all sides. The font, typically Times New Roman, should be set to 12-point size. Page headers with your last name followed by the page number should be inserted in the top right corner.

Direct Quotations

If quoting directly from the book, ensure proper in-text citations. For instance, if quoting a line from page 45 of John Smith’s “Literary Wonders,” it should appear as: “Quoted text” (Smith 45).

Consistency

It’s not merely about adhering to rules but ensuring consistency throughout the review. If you’re italicizing book titles in the beginning, maintain that throughout. Consistent application of rules reflects attention to detail and academic rigor.

Familiarizing oneself with these concrete points ensures not only adherence to academic standards but also lends credibility and professionalism to one’s work. As students strive for academic excellence, mastering the art of MLA formatted book reviews can prove to be an invaluable skill in their scholarly journey.

Tips on How to Write an Engaging Book Review

An engaging book review does more than convey an opinion; it inspires the reader. Remember, your goal is to guide, enlighten, and perhaps, entice your reader to embark on the same literary journey you experienced. Here are some tips to make the process easier for you.

Craft a Compelling Introduction : Start with an attention-grabbing sentence or a quote from the book. Your introduction should provide a taste of the book’s essence and hint at your overall impression. It sets the tone for the entire review.

Be Objective Yet Passionate : While it’s essential to maintain a degree of objectivity, especially if there are elements of the book you didn’t like, it’s equally crucial to let your genuine feelings about the book come through. Your passion can be infectious, drawing readers to the book or cautioning them effectively. Descriptive and emotive language can vividly convey the atmosphere of the book. Instead of saying, “The book was thrilling,” you might say, “The book sent shivers down my spine with every unexpected turn.”

Stay Concise but Detailed : A great review isn’t necessarily a long one. Focus on the most impactful elements of the book, diving into details that stood out, without meandering into unrelated territories. Discuss how the book made you feel and why. Was there a moment that made you tear up or laugh out loud? These personal touches can resonate strongly with potential readers.

Address the Author’s Style : Every author has a unique voice. Whether it’s poetic prose, sharp wit, or gripping suspense, highlight the nuances of the author’s writing style and how it complements the narrative. If there are elements you didn’t appreciate, present them alongside the book’s strengths. This balanced approach assures readers of your credibility.

End with a Strong Conclusion : Summarize your thoughts and give a final verdict. Would you recommend the book? Who would you recommend it to? This provides a neat closure to your review. Pose a question at the end of your review or share a personal anecdote related to the story. Engaging the reader can turn your review from a monologue into a conversation, fostering a deeper connection.

Proofread and Revise : A well-written review, free from grammatical errors and typos, not only enhances readability but also showcases professionalism and respect for both the author and your readers.

Incorporating these tips ensures that your book review isn’t just informative but also compelling, guiding potential readers in their literary choices with grace and authority.

What is an example of a book review?

An example of a book review would be: “In Harper Lee’s seminal work, ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, the essence of the American Deep South in the 1930s is vividly captured through the eyes of young Scout Finch. Lee weaves a tale that is both a poignant coming-of-age story and a searing indictment of racial prejudice. With characters like the honorable Atticus Finch and the enigmatic Boo Radley, Lee crafts a narrative that is as gripping as it is enlightening. The novel’s exploration of morality, class, and the loss of innocence is both timely and timeless.”

What are the 5 parts of a book review?

The five parts of a book review are introduction, summary, analysis, personal opinion, and conclusion. Each serves its own purpose and shouldn’t be overlooked in the process.

What is a simple book review?

A simple book review is a concise evaluation of a book, highlighting its main plot, characters, and the reviewer’s opinion. Instead of diving deep into analysis, it offers a snapshot for readers to quickly understand the book’s essence and the reviewer’s feelings. For example, “John Green’s ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ is a touching tale of two teenagers battling cancer, exploring love, life, and loss. A must-read for those who cherish heartfelt stories.”

How do you start a book review sentence?

Starting a book review sentence can be approached in various ways. Try quoting a memorable line from the book: “As George Orwell famously wrote, ‘All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others’…”

Also, you can consider making a general statement about the genre or theme: “Historical fiction often transports us to eras long gone, but…” And finally, sharing a personal reflection: “Having always been fascinated by space exploration, reading Andy Weir’s ‘The Martian’ was an exhilarating experience for me…”

What makes a good book review?

A good book review offers a balanced perspective, combining objective analysis with personal reflection. It’s well-structured, beginning with an introduction and ending with a conclusion, offering readers clear insights into the book’s content and its significance. Furthermore, a good review avoids major spoilers, provides context and evaluates the book’s strengths and weaknesses. It also delves into the emotional and intellectual impact of the book, guiding potential readers on whether it might resonate with them. Authenticity, clarity, and a genuine passion for literature shine through in a well-crafted review.

Remember Me

What is your profession ? Student Teacher Writer Other

Forgotten Password?

Username or Email

• +44 (0) 207 391 9032

Recent Posts

• Why Is Your CV Getting Rejected and How to Avoid It
• Where to Find Images for Presentations
• What Is an Internship? Everything You Should Know

How Long Should a Thesis Statement Be?

• How to Write a Character Analysis Essay
• Best Colours for Your PowerPoint Presentation: Top Colour Combinations
• How to Write a Nursing Essay – With Examples
• Top 5 Essential Skills You Should Build As An International Student
• How Professional Editing Services Can Take Your Writing to the Next Level
• How to Write an Effective Essay Outline: Template & Structure Guide
• Academic News
• Custom Essays
• Dissertation Writing
• Essay Marking
• Essay Writing
• Essay Writing Companies
• Model Essays
• Model Exam Answers
• Oxbridge Essays Updates
• PhD Writing
• Significant Academics
• Student News
• Study Skills
• University Applications
• University Essays
• University Life
• Writing Tips

Writing Academic Book Reviews: A Comprehensive Guide

(Last updated: 29 May 2024)

Since 2006, Oxbridge Essays has been the UK’s leading paid essay-writing and dissertation service

We have helped 10,000s of undergraduate, Masters and PhD students to maximise their grades in essays, dissertations, model-exam answers, applications and other materials. If you would like a free chat about your project with one of our UK staff, then please just reach out on one of the methods below.

Academic book reviews serve as critical assessments of scholarly works, offering insights into their content, relevance, and contributions to the field. They play a pivotal role in academia, aiding readers in navigating the vast landscape of published literature and informing scholarly discourse. Crafting an effective academic book review demands precision, analytical skills, and clarity of expression. In this comprehensive guide, we delve into the intricacies of writing a compelling academic book review, equipping you with the tools to accomplish this task.

Understanding the Purpose

Academic book reviews serve multiple functions within scholarly discourse:

Evaluation : They provide a critical evaluation of the book's arguments, methodology, and contribution to the field. Contextualisation : Book reviews contextualise the work within the broader scholarly conversation, highlighting its relevance and significance. Guidance : They offer guidance to potential readers, aiding them in determining the book's suitability for their research or interests.

Structure of an Academic Book Review

A well-structured academic book review follows a coherent framework, comprising several essential elements:

Introduction

The introduction sets the stage for the review, providing essential details about the book, including its title, author, publication information, and the overarching theme or argument.

Summary of the Book

A concise summary of the book's content, focusing on its central arguments, key themes, and methodology. Avoid delving into excessive detail; instead, offer a broad overview to orient the reader.

Critical Analysis

This forms the crux of the review, where you engage critically with the book's content. Consider the following aspects in your analysis:

a. Strengths and Weaknesses : Identify the book's strengths, such as its originality, analytical rigour, or theoretical framework. Similarly, pinpoint any weaknesses or limitations in its argumentation or evidence. b. Methodological Approach : Assess the book's methodology, evaluating its effectiveness in addressing the research questions and supporting the overarching argument. c. Contribution to the Field : Analyse the book's contribution to existing scholarship, considering its novelty, relevance, and potential impact on the field of study. d. Comparative Analysis : Situate the book within the broader scholarly context, comparing it with relevant works and highlighting its distinctive contributions or divergences.

The conclusion provides a succinct synthesis of your evaluation, summarising your key observations and offering final reflections on the book's significance and implications for future research.

Writing Style and Tone

When writing an academic book review, adopt a formal and scholarly tone and avoid overly casual language or personal opinions. Maintain clarity and precision in your writing, articulating your arguments cogently and providing evidence to support your claims. Additionally, adhere to the conventions of academic writing, including accurate referencing and citation of sources.

Tips for Writing an Effective Academic Book Review:

To enhance the effectiveness of your academic book review, consider the following tips:

Read the Book Thoroughly : Engage with the book attentively, taking note of its key arguments, evidence, and structure.

Take Notes : Maintain detailed notes as you read, jotting down key points, quotations, and observations that will inform your review.

Maintain Objectivity : Approach the review with objectivity, focusing on the merits of the book's arguments rather than personal biases or preconceptions.

Provide Evidence : Substantiate your claims with evidence from the book, citing specific passages or examples to bolster your arguments.

Revise and Edit : Review your draft meticulously, ensuring clarity, coherence, and adherence to academic conventions. Pay attention to grammar, syntax, and style, refining your prose for maximum impact.

Elevating Academic Discourse Through Insightful Book Reviews

Crafting academic book reviews demands diligence, critical thinking, and effective communication skills. By adhering to the principles outlined in this guide, you can produce insightful and compelling reviews that contribute to the current scholarly discourse. Through rigorous evaluation and thoughtful analysis, your reviews have the potential to shape academic dialogue, enriching our understanding of complex topics and fostering deeper engagement with scholarly literature.

Essay exams: how to answer ‘To what extent…’

How to write a master’s essay, writing services.

• Essay Plans
• Critical Reviews
• Literature Reviews
• Presentations
• Dissertation Title Creation
• Dissertation Proposals
• Dissertation Chapters
• PhD Proposals
• Journal Publication
• CV Writing Service
• Business Proofreading Services

Editing Services

• Proofreading Service
• Editing Service
• Academic Editing Service

Additional Services

• Marking Services
• Consultation Calls
• Personal Statements
• Tutoring Services

Our Company

• Frequently Asked Questions
• Become a Writer

Terms & Policies

• Fair Use Policy
• Policy for Students in England
• Privacy Policy
• Terms & Conditions
• Editing Service Examples
• [email protected]
• Contact Form

Payment Methods

Cryptocurrency payments.

Project Types We Cover

• Admissions Essay
• PowerPoint Presentation
• Research Paper
• Book Reviews
• Personal Statement
• Ph.D Dissertation
• Proofreading

Academic Fields & Subjects

• Programming
• Computer Science
• Other projects we help with
• Our Experts
• Plagiarism Checker
• Writing Tips
• Academic Book Review

How to Write Academic Book Review – a Complete Guide

By: Tasha Kolesnikova

Academic book evaluations help improve the credibility of a published book. It is popular among arts and social sciences since scientific research and write-ups are often published in academic journals. It is also a way of ensuring the academic knowledge never gets impoverished for lack of materials that can be referred to for modern problems.

What Is an Academic Book Review?

Introduction, example of an academic book review.

• Introduction 

Summary of Argument

Summary of content, evaluation/analysis, session 1: 1st week to week 9, session 2: week 10 to week 17, session 3: week 18, good questions while reading, writing an academic book review, what are the 4 stages in writing an academic book review, what are the main parts of a university book review, how many pages should an academic book review be, what makes a good scholarly book review.

Reviewers are also keen on identifying biases that the author may have expressed in their books.

Simply put, it is a critical assessment of contents before getting published in an academic journal. With these reviews, students get to contribute to the academic profession. When writing an academic book review, professors often provide detailed guidelines to help students understand what is expected.

Students have to read the contents of books they are about to review. While at it, you create notes that you use in evaluating the text. Depending on your notes, give relevant recommendations to such works.

Academic reviews of books are often done by knowledgeable people in the niche. For example, if you are an art student, your professor will not give you a scientific text to review .

Scholarly Book Review Format

The reviews are specific and do not involve rewriting all the chapters written by the author. Instead, they focus on giving opinions of what the author ought to have overlooked while writing and those they overstated. If you have an assignment , here is how to write an academic book review:

It includes the book's title to be reviewed, which includes the bibliography . The ISBN is also included in this section. Some reviewers also provide the book's pricing, but that can always be checked from the retailers.

Depending on the type of book, students can also write a thesis on this part. But, not all can have a thesis. Some, like poetry and fiction, can be difficult.

If the author has other published works, you can mention them here and compare them. Some authors publish unrelated genres, which is why it is important to compare their different works.

Here is where you criticize the author's work. Since a text evaluation is not meant to dismiss the author's work, mention their strengths, weaknesses, and if you find some bias, do not avoid mentioning it.

A book review paper should show your independent thinking. That is, after reading and compiling notes, your recommendation of the book should be written on this part. It is also a way of showing mastery of the topic.

When writing the body, always quote some parts of the book's chapters. It shows you have actually read and understood its contents.

An academic review format cannot be complete without this section. Your conclusion should be brief since you will have discussed the text in the body. This part is not where you introduce new ideas since readers will be expecting nothing new at this point.

Restate the book's overall impression and your recommendations. After concluding, list the references using the academic book review guidelines on the type of referencing provided by your university.

Some students confuse writing a scholarly review with a research paper. A scholarly book review format is different from that of a research paper writing . It has specific elements that university tutors are keen on looking. Here is how to write a scholarly book review:

The scholarly book review example below was done by a history student of 'Hilter's Decision to Invade USSR,' chapter 7 (pp 81-92).

During a dinner in August 1941, Hitler is again on another talk where he discusses lawyers, their potential prey, and corporal punishment. Using an analogy of the moors owners taking care of the game they will kill during the shooting season, Hitler compares the lawyers taking care of the criminal class.

On the night of 19th August 1941, Hitler is at another talk discussing the virtues of war and autocracy in Europe. In this talk, Hitler is depicted as a person who is madly in love with wars and building of a fortified German army. In his suggestion, which is presented here as a wish, Hitler urges the German people to embrace war after every fifteen to twenty years. In defending his stance, he says that an army whose sole intention is to preserve peace is like playing with soldiers. I think Hitler clearly underestimated the power and resourcefulness of his target.

The academic book review example above shows how the student summarizes Hitler's obsession with war and victory. Hitler views his soldiers as pillars to his success in the attack. The summary is critical, and the student gave the recommendation after reading the chapter.

Main Steps to Write an Academic Book Review

An academic book review template makes the review process more straightforward. Most universities provide these to their students so they can focus on the review process. The evaluations are often short, approximately 100 – 1500 words. Students can follow these steps on how to write a book review university professors love:

Great examples of scholarly book reviews have attention-grabbing introductions. Ensure yours will want your professor to continue reading your opinions of the book. Here, write a general description of the book and indicate whether the author's ideas are valid.

Questions you can answer in this section are whether the author is consistent with the book's topic. And whether they have been biased in some chapters or throughout the book.

This part depends on the type of audience you will be representing your reviews to. For example, if you are writing for a student audience that depends on this section for their exam preparation, you might want to be a bit detailed.

Otherwise, an audience that is familiar with the book's contents may not require as many details. The summary is short and should portray your analysis of the book. Use evidence from the book to back up some of your arguments. Be careful not to quote so much to avoid having a lengthy summary section.

Recognize the book's author/s and editors. It helps prevent controversies that arise from using other people's work without permission. Write about their background, area of specialization, other works (if any), and how many years they have been doing the research work or whether they are new entrants in that research area.

An example of academic book review that is done well summarizes the book's content ingeniously. It mentions the research, data collection and analysis methods used, setbacks, and recommendations.

This is where the weight of your review lies. Organize your thoughts into paragraphs to make it easier for your audience to follow. If the book review template university has provided is for single aspects or a few chapters, evaluating using paragraphs is faster.

But, when reviewing the whole book, the process can be a bit time-consuming. Your text evaluation should not focus on having the chapters follow each other. You can end up with a bulky review that almost looks like a book rewrite.

Consider organizing your argument into themes or other elements that make it easier to analyze the book. Quote its contents to support your arguments.

You can compare the book with others if it is relevant to your review. However, ensure you remain within the scope of the main book to maintain its relevance.

Also, you appreciate mentioning the areas you think the author has done a splendid job. If you think the book can be improved, do not fail to mention this as part of the weaknesses. It could be omitted details, incorrect information, and other weaknesses.

This is where you summarize your review with a concluding statement. Write about how the work contributes to the field of study and whether it provides room for future research. If you had identified limitations for the work, mention them too.

Consider identifying types of audiences that can benefit from your evaluation. This aspect is important because some readers directly go to the summary section to see if the book is relevant to them or not. While concluding, never mention whether you have liked or disliked the book because it will make your review biased.

Making a Plan

Tutors usually have a turnaround for book review assignments to allow them to go through each. If, for example, you have been given 18 weeks to submit the work, you can plan your schedule to ensure you deliver within the timeline. Here is a typical example of a practical plan:

• Choosing a book to review
• Introducing the book for approval
• Outlining the topic and categorizing the book
• Important questions to answer when reviewing the book
• Elements of a great book review
• Writing the first draft
• Identifying challenges while writing the book review
• Comparing and discussing notes taken while reading with other reviewers
• Getting feedback and revising the draft
• Submitting the final draft

When thinking about how to write a good academic book review, you ought to ask yourself some questions. These help you have a clear understanding of what to write. Check this example of a scholarly review question outline:

• Who has been credited for writing the book?
• Is the book consistent with the topic and its plot?
• Is the book relevant in the field it has been categorized?
• Are the arguments believable?
• Are there other books with similar content?
• Has the author provided up-to-date and valuable content?
• Who is the targeted audience for the content?
• Has the author used good formatting of the book, and do the ideas flow logically?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses portrayed in the book?

The questions are unlimited. If you feel like you need a longer list, consider looking for inspiration from other reviewers. You can get an academic book review sample from your university library to have an idea of what reviewers mostly focus on.

An academic book review is not necessarily challenging as some students make it look. The trick is to avoid adding irrelevant information and follow guidelines provided by your tutor. Here are some tips on how to write scholarly book review:

• Read the book before attempting to write anything. Some students like playing smart and only read the synopsis provided by the author. This alone is not enough to write a publication assessment. If you are interested in how to write a book review university professors will want to read, read the whole book. It is how you get quotes and enough content for your review.
• Organize your work. Never submit a text evaluation with disorganized paragraphs and thoughts. It creates a bad impression of your work, no matter how much time you spend on it. Ensure the paragraphs flow coherently and are well organized.
• Give your opinion . The essence of writing a publication assessment is not providing a summary of the author's work. Show some understanding by commenting on what you think is lacking or is presented exceptionally well.
• Do not quote the book too much. Although quotes are proof you have read and understood the book, using too many of them shows a lack of confidence and evaluation skills.
• Do not over criticize the book. The author cannot possibly capture all the details in one book. It is practically impossible. Some details are not relevant in the text and do not add value to the readers.
• Never show bias in your review. Instead of writing "I don't like the book because…or I like the book because…." Consider citing it as a weakness or strength.
• Need reliable book review helper ? Write us! You can buy book review here!

The 4 main stages in writing an academic text assessment include: introducing the book, creating an outline of the book's contents, evaluating the argument, and writing a conclusion.

A university publication evaluation has three main parts: the introduction, body, and conclusion. The body is divided into subheadings that make the review more interesting.

An academic publication assessment can have 1 – 5 pages. It is because reviews range between 100 – 1500 words, depending on whether the book is being reviewed wholly or just a few chapters.

Several aspects make a scholarly book review great. They include an introduction, summary of arguments, authors, a summary of contents, evaluation/analysis, and the conclusion.

User ratings:

User ratings is 4.7 stars.

4.7 /5 ( 59 Votes)

Content Writer

I studied sociology and marketing at Europa-Universität Viadrina (Germany) and Universidade da Beira Interior (Portugal). When I was a sophomore, back in 2018, I decided to put what I've learned into practice, so I got my first job in digital marketing. I currently work in the content marketing department at Studybay, building strong, effective, and respectful communication between the platform and our clients.

Add Your Comment

We are very interested to know your opinion

I’m not very good at writing essays, I find it hard to write in the current style and always struggle with APA referencing. I spend a lot of time at libraries trying to perfect my work, but this article has been so useful. I now know the correct length, style and tone that I should use in the future.

Megan Simpson

It takes a lot of discipline to write a good review. This article gave good illustrations of how to review the resources I’ve read, as well as how I can be a better editor of my work. This will make it much easier to write letters in the future and get better grades.

Charlie Turnbull

I’m a literature student so it’s important for me to learn how to evaluate and describe book reviews. This article gave me the right information on how to structure a paragraph, write a good bibliography and describe my opinions in a professional and academic manner.

Evie Walton

I’ve always been a big reader but found it really difficult to talk about different points and share my argument in book reviews. This has given me information on how to be a better reviewer and improve my work, it was a great read!

I have been looking for information on academic book reviews to help with my academic writing. Finding information on this can be hard for graduate students, especially when it comes to writing book reviews and reviewing books. I’m so glad that I found this, it really helped.

Phoebe Hurst

Upgrade your writing skills!

Try our AI essay writer from Studybay today!

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

Book Review Template

Related Papers

Michaela Hailbronner

Douglas Groothuis

Munir Mughal

Review is going through another's piece of work and evaluate it from every possible angle as to its quantity and quality. It is not rewriting the work under review but to briefly state its merits and demerits critically. fairly and honestly. Review must be unbiased.

Human Studies

Karen Tracy

Jack O'Gorman , Barbara Bibel , Beth Juhl

Journal of Visual Communication in Medicine

David Bryson

This learning activity is designed to support the development of a book review from looking at analyzing other book reviews, testing how well you can review a book through to writing a review for a journal and then seeing the finished product in print. As Feinstein advises for TaylorFrancis (2017) “Writing book reviews is often a good way to begin academic writing. It can help you get your name known in your field, and give you valuable experience of publishing before you write a full-length article.” The first stage before you even start to work out what is needed is to get an idea of the flavor of book reviews written for a journal as they may or may not be as formal as a research paper.

Udeme Usanga

Ximena Eunice Pérez Manjarrez

ULUM Journal of Religious Inquiries

A book review is a multifaceted critical analysis of a book and an evaluation on the quality, value/meaning, significance, and contribution of the book to its own subject/field. It is not a report, summary, or advertisement, rather it is a serious scholarly work. Book reviews have certain functions such as, for academics, being aware of the recently published books and saving time by getting an idea about those publications through reading experts' evaluations about their significance, value, and contributions; for publishers, finding an opportunity for a kind of advertisement of their publications that mostly remain to a limited environment like academia; for authors, receiving a feedback about their books to enable them to improve them in future editions. Although there is not only one right method for book reviews, because they are personal and reflect the reviewer's personal ideas and remarks, this note makes suggestions on how to compose an ideal book review after providing a brief description of the nature of book reviews and includes some relevant technical notes hoping to be a helpful guide for those who want to write a book review.

Ahmar Mahboob

This document is written to give students advice on how to write an article review and is composed of four parts: Part 1 describes the purpose of an article review and gives examples of how the Introduction, Body and Conclusion stages function to achieve that purpose. Part 2 focusses on how information is organised analytically in the Body stage of the article review and describes the typical criteria for evaluating aspects of the article. Part 3 outlines some useful language resources for making evaluations and achieving an academic style in article reviews. Part 4 provides some steps for writing the review, including advice on reading critically.

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

RELATED PAPERS

DrRam Naresh Patel

dania azira

Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology

James Hartley

Mahdi Mashhadi Akbar Boojar

Kadir Gömbeyaz

Suzie Gibson

Journal of Integrated Community Health

Clive Norman Ashby

Tsadiku Setegn

Linguistik online

Alireza Jalilifar

Article review writing format, steps, examples and illustration PDF Compiled by Mohammed Yismaw

Muhammed Yismaw

Indian Journal of Clinical Anaesthesia

Pallavi Ahluwalia

HUMANUS DISCOURSE

Humanus Discourse

Bulletin of Spanish Studies

James J Pancrazio

International Journal of Advanced Research (IJAR)

Pelekeh H. Tapang

Raúl Fernández-Calienes , Dr. Hagai Gringarten

Assessing Writing

British Journal of Educational Technology

Online Submission

Jennifer Shubin , John Erratt , Christy Neria , Alaine Ocampo

Philosophia

Joseph Agassi

Modern Believing

Rosemary Boissonneau

Oana Posa , DRAGOMIR ISABELA ANDA

PS: Political Science & Politics

Helen Ingram

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

Book Reviews: What Should An Academic Book Review Look Like?

• Book Reviews
• Finding Existing Book Reviews
• What Should An Academic Book Review Look Like?

Academic Book Reviews Follow a General Format

Academic Book Reviews are written for two main readers, the academic scholars and specialized readers.  Every book review will be different depending on assignment or the audience of review.  Generally speaking a review should have the following four sections.

Introduction

• Middle or Body
• Critical Book Review Tip Sheet from University of Alberta Libraries This PDF Tip Sheet has several elements to keep in mind when writing a Academic Book Review.
• Brienza, Casey. “Writing Academic Book Reviews.” Inside Higher Ed, 27 Mar. 2015, https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2015/03/27/essay-writing-academic-book-reviews.

Standardized citation (MLA, APA, Chicago etc.) also include ISBN, number of pages in book, format (hard cover, online, etc.), and price (check cover or publishers web site for cost)  

Should generally cover three basic areas

• how this material fits into existing writings
• authors qualifications and standing in field
• history of topic
• state what the authors thesis is
• evaluate how this thesis compares with the field
• DO NOT just summarize, make sure to add your opinion as reader and expert (even if you don’t feel like one)
• give an overall value added commentary

Middle or Body – Method of Critique

• Author’s main argument
• Individual chapters and arguments
• Author’s methodology
• Accessibility / Readability
• Factual errors
• Appropriateness for intended audience
• Relationship to other research in field
• Originality
• Implications for future study
• Back up opinion with quotes from text
• Follow the Chapters : evaluate and group chapters together following the order of the book.
• Topic / Ideas : organize by the general topics covered in the book and evaluate each grouping as appropriate
• Criticism based : Each paragraph will address your critical points about the book. This can lead to a choppy review offering examples that jump around the text.
• End on a positive note but don’t lie or embellish
• Who should read and why
• Be Detailed but succinct
• Back up criticism with examples from the text. 
• Stay away from minor points such as spelling/grammar mistakes, cover art, visual appeal and gossip.
• << Previous: Finding Existing Book Reviews
• Last Updated: Sep 4, 2024 8:42 AM
• URL: https://uscupstate.libguides.com/BookReviews

• Other Guides
• How to Write a Book Review: Writing Guide, Structure & Examples
• Speech Topics
• Basics of Essay Writing
• Essay Topics
• Other Essays
• Main Academic Essays
• Research Paper Topics
• Basics of Research Paper Writing
• Miscellaneous
• Chicago/ Turabian
• Data & Statistics
• Methodology
• Admission Writing Tips
• Admission Advice
• Student Life
• Studying Tips
• Understanding Plagiarism
• Academic Writing Tips
• Basics of Dissertation & Thesis Writing

• Essay Guides
• Research Paper Guides
• Formatting Guides
• Basics of Research Process
• Admission Guides
• Dissertation & Thesis Guides

How to Write a Book Review: Writing Guide, Structure & Examples

Table of contents

Use our free Readability checker

A book review is a critical evaluation of a book that provides a brief summary and  discusses its strengths and weaknesses. The purpose of a book review is to help readers decide whether or not to read the book. You should provide insight into the book's content and assess its significance.

Writing a book review is an essential skill that every student must possess. In particular, your teacher may require you to prepare a book review to widen your knowledge of a subject matter or let you practice evaluating ideas critically. Follow this article to discover how to review a book and complete such projects easily. Even if you have never written reviews before, with our step-by-step guidelines, you will understand the basics. Book reviews examples are also offered to bolster your grasp of key points. As a book review writer , you might use our recommendations to express your opinion and make your writing shine. Let’s get started!

What Is a Book Review: Definition

A book review is a detailed assessment of text based on content, plot and writing style. It involves thoroughly describing, analyzing, and evaluating what a text means. Reviews often assess writing quality, topic importance and coverage. Most book reviews are brief and generally include 500-1000 words. However, factors such as your assignment length, manuscript complexity, and overall purpose of an evaluation may lead to longer or shorter papers. Students are mainly asked to write a book review as practice in carefully reading, examining, and forming an informed opinion on a volume’s context and author’s views. Unlike a book critique , reviews are more focused on plot summary and recommendations rather than providing critical analysis . The real value of crafting good book review essays for students is that they enhance critical thinking, writing, and interpretation skills. Commentary is a vital aspect of this task as this enables you to enter into discussion and dialogue with a novelist and other readers.

Features of Book Reviews

Formulating book reviews is an important task, as it requires appraising another person’s work. This may have a significant influence on readers because it guides their verdict on whether to consider the text. Thus, knowing how to write a good book review is essential. These components are what makes a good book review:

• Provide a summary of a manuscript. Offer an overview of its purpose, argument, and perspective. Also, describe your topic and scope. This is an excellent way to introduce your review, as it offers context. Nonetheless, avoid giving too much information by keeping it nice and short.
• Offer critical evaluation. Assess the key elements such as themes, plot, character, and overall development, depending on the genre. Identify strong points, weaknesses, and how effective an author is in building their work.
• Give a rating. Recommend whether or not people should value it for its overall quality and authenticity. You can offer your general score using conventional techniques such as “seven out of ten”.

Book Review Outline

It is a good idea to start your paper by writing an outline of a book review. A decent layout usually begins with a heading or bibliographic data specifying the full title, publication place and date, author, and publisher. The second part of the structure of a book review is an introduction, consisting of a brief overview of the text, its purpose or audience, and your thesis statement or key observation.  The next section of your book review template is the body in which you describe the analysis and assessment of the manuscript. Here, describe its contents, argument, presentation, and evidence before offering your evaluation. A conclusion section follows where you tie together all raised points and offer your comments about the work. Finally, include a citation page for what you reviewed and any other sources used.  Here is a book review outline example:

• Discuss the cover and title
• Mention the author and date of publication
• Present a thesis statement focusing on the central points
• Provide a brief plot summary
• Present your main point
• Include supporting quotations
• Discuss the quotes and symbolism
• Wrap up your key points
• Share your final opinion
• Give recommendations

Things to Consider Before Writing a Book Review

As with all other essay genres that students complete, writing a book review requires considering several components. Therefore, if you are interested in knowing how to write a book review , make sure you attend to these aspects before beginning:

• Author Within your book review essay, you must discuss who the novelist is and their previous works concerning your analysis. For example, you can identify the author’s style, prizes or rewards, and what they are popular for.
• Genre Book reviews also include a genre. Examples are history, romance, fiction, poetry, non-fiction, and science fiction, among others. This helps you recognize the work’s audience and overall purpose.
• Title In most cases, your heading corresponds to a text’s label. However, you can go further by examining how relevant a headline is to the work’s purpose. Maybe it conveys a specific message or reveals important themes.
• Main theme and ideas Your book review must highlight its central points. Evaluate how they are explored. Are they examined deeply or trivially? Besides, assess if it includes any repetitive motifs.
• Argument What is the author’s main argument or assumptions and conclusions? What evidence is used to support these claims? Also, identify if they are valid.
• Writing style Here, explore the major aspects of an author’s style, such as word choice and dialogue setup. Explain or assess how it fits into the broader literary domain.
• Plot Writing an academic book review also requires that you locate the main catalyst of the work’s contents or story. Describe any subplots and explain what happens as the action rises.
• Characters You should also recognize the main characters and their motivations. Additionally, explain if they are empathetic or convincingly drawn.
• Literary devices What techniques of analysis are used? Examples include allusions, sense appeal, quotations, imagery, metaphor, personification, characterization, dialogue, symbolism, etc.
• Quotations You can include short quotes as examples to get your points across when writing book reviews. This allows your reader to see exactly what you are talking about. Practice carefulness and avoid long quotes as they suppress your analysis and take up large spaces. Check our guide on how to cite a quote if you have questions.

Questions to Ask While Reading a Book

An initial step before starting to write your book review is engaging in the active reading of what will be evaluated. Do it once or a couple of times to understand what it is about. Composing an academic book review without going through this phase is unwise because it is like going to an exam without studying a course or unit. Ask yourself these questions as you dig into the manuscript:

• What is its genre?
• Do you know anything about who wrote it?
• Can you identify the main themes? Are they conveyed well?
• What is the main argument?
• What is the exact topic or subject?
• How are the arguments supported and structured?
• Can you identify how the events and characters relate to the subject matter?
• Does it contain a major conflict? How does this develop throughout the work?
• The author was trying to accomplish what?
• How has it helped you understand the topic? How do you feel about the text?

How to Write a Book Review Step-By-Step

Once you have answered the aforementioned questions and made assessments and observations, it is time to start writing analysis. To do this, you must be familiar with how to write a book review. Specifically, you should understand what to do, beginning from assessing the report to composing your review up to writing a conclusion. Below is a step-by-step description of how to do a book review:

1. Read a Book and Take Notes

The first phase of composing a book review involves reading it and taking notes on key points. Start by attending closely to the preface and introduction sections because most authors describe the reasons for writing, their views, and the perspectives of any contributors here. Consider the structure and table of contents to get a quick overview of what is inside. In addition, look at any graphics to gain insights into what strategies are used to enhance meanings and which kinds of readers are targeted. Go through the summaries and abstracts to understand an author’s viewpoint. Note down your observations, including the logic of what is presented, organization, and structure.

Additionally, identify if the information is new or developed based on previous works and existing ideas. Assessment should also include your view about how simple or hard it is to get a novelist’s standpoint and why. These transcripts will enable you to review a book effectively by revealing how distinctive it is and to what extent the author conveyed its motive. Learn more about how to write an academic book review in the sections below.

2. Develop an Outline of a Book Review

Writing an outline for a book review before constructing the actual piece helps ensure your work fulfills its goals. This is the basis of your entire task as it includes the major points you will address and gives you a reference point as you complete your schoolwork. A professional book review structure consists of at least five paragraphs. The main elements are the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. Your academic book review template must cover all the primary arguments to be discussed, such as plot details, characters, themes, and other essential parts. Below you can see an example of how a book review can be outlined. Check best practices on how to outline an essay or review to organize your work properly. 

3. Write a Book Review Introduction

Start your book review with an anecdote or hook that conveys your argument succinctly. However, you can begin differently based on your audience and argument. Generally, you must include the author’s name, manuscript title, and primary theme. Besides, identify the work’s context in your book review introduction as this informs your claim. Also, offer relevant information about who the writer is and their stand in their field. Moreover, if you are not conversant with how to write a review of a book, remember that your thesis and that of the text are stated here.

How to Write a Book Review Introduction Example

Below is an introduction of a book review example. Examine it carefully and critically to deepen your understanding of composing this section.

John Boyne’s novel, The Boy in The Striped Pajamas, is based on real events during the Second World War. Published in 2006, it offers excellent information to teenagers who want to expand their historical knowledge. The novel follows a nine-year-old youngster, Bruno, whose father works as a Nazi soldier at the Auschwitz concentration camp. The story’s unfolding reveals what a curious boy lived during this desperate period in Germany.

4. Include a Brief Plot Summary

Next, write a book review summary to provide your audience with some background. Focus on pertinent events that occur throughout it, as this gives context. Be cautious here by not revealing the climax or ending because this does not form a major part of your analysis as you write your book review. Thus, keep this section short and brief, probably not more than two paragraphs, unless you are preparing an extended piece. Remember to prioritize your evaluation part. Your audience can also influence the necessary amount of synopsis. For example, if they have not read the work, you may need to offer a good summary. Nonetheless, if they have already gone through it, you can make a book review by examining more subtle arguments and highlighting your claim.

Example of Book Review Summary

Have a look at this example of a good book review summary:

Bruno, a nine-year-old boy, lives in a large house with his parents, sister, and maid during WW2 in Berlin. One day they all move to rural Poland occupied by Nazis after his father is promoted. Bruno identifies a concentration camp close to where they live but thinks it is a farm. A private tutor is allowed to teach him and his sister antisemitism and Nazi propaganda, but he struggles to understand lessons. He later befriends another young boy who lives on another side of a barbed wire fence.

5. Make an Assessment and Critique a Book

This is the main portion of a book review and includes your judgment and appraisal of what you read. You formulated a thesis at the beginning of the book review paper, which represents your view. Now, explain your reasoning. This is also a time for considering your notes and adding details from the manuscript, such as key themes, characters, and the author’s point of view. Here is how to write a book review essay for this segment:

• Which writing style is used? Emphasize precise usage of words and sentences, text flow, clarity, and cohesion.
• Describe how it affected you and if it changed any of your feelings or opinions.
• Explain whether the author met their purpose, if others should read the work, and why.
• Did the author describe facts or attempt to persuade the audience regarding the validity of a specific issue?
• Was it suitable for the intended readers? How interesting was it?

Book Evaluation Example

This example gives you an idea of how to write a book evaluation:

The novel is an excellent revelation for all as it describes the Holocaust events and terrors objectively. Its narration from two perspectives simultaneously was very entertaining. For example, initially, it involved a story from Bruno’s view in the course of the war, including which hardships were endured. Then, the same character was also used in telling a story from the view of being held in a Nazi camp. Here, the examination focuses on how prisoners were treated and the horrible conditions they lived in.

6. Make a Book Recommendation

After evaluating and critiquing the text, it is now time to reveal your thoughts about it. Writing a good book review requires that you identify or explain in this section how suitable it is to your audience. In other words, who will be interested in reading this work? Also, explain in your book review assignment whether you liked or disliked it and why. Ascertain which type of people would love it because not every text is right for everyone. Even if you disliked it, this does not mean that the manuscript is not appealing to others. Therefore, make your review of a book useful by helping people discover it. Besides, identify any surprises you encountered.

Book Recommendation Example

The following sample demonstrates how to write a book recommendation:

Being majorly fictional, this text contains numerous factual elements and describes a lot of ideas and themes requiring mature individuals to deduce and understand properly. Therefore, I do not recommend it to youngsters under 12 years old. However, if you want to gain better insights into the dark events of the Second World War, then this is a perfect copy for you. Its only downside is that the novel does not offer adequate details about events and themes.

7. Write a Conclusion of a Book Review

Your knowledge of how to write book reviews will be incomplete without understanding this section. In particular, you need a strong ending, just like any other writing task you have done previously. So, you have a basic idea about how to write a conclusion for a book review. Specifically, make your final appraisal without introducing new evidence. Nonetheless, you can include new thoughts that go beyond the manuscript if they extend your argument’s logic. In this part, you need to balance what you wrote and found into a single assessment. Ask yourself, what do all summaries and analyses add up to? Also, identify if additional research is required on the topic now that the text is written. Remember to highlight the work’s contribution to its field. Ensure to leave your audience with a well-justified and articulated final evaluation.

Book Review Conclusion Example

Still stuck or need a sample to jog your memory? Look at this example of a book review conclusion:

While the author’s style is plain and natural, there are some weaknesses and errors in how he develops his work. However, this does not stop the author from answering many questions and offering valuable views into the horrors of WWII for young people. His argument is vitally crucial when understanding and coming to terms with the Holocaust. No teenager in the world should go without being exposed to these disastrous events.

Book Review Format

When professors assign tasks, they often require you to comply with a specified design. You may also be left to select an appropriate layout from major styles such as Chicago, APA, or MLA. If you are not asked to use any one particular citation, keep in mind that the format of book reviews depends on your discipline. Therefore, find out how to format a book review from your school department.  Do not forget to format your citations accordingly. We advise reading more articles on how to cite a book in APA or MLA, should you need any help.

Book Review Examples

Examples of book reviews are provided below. Click on each one and explore sample templates in more detail. Please, take your time to read all samples since they highlight some key components of writing this type of work. Also, understand that a particular academic book review example is intended to help you practice your analysis skills, enhance your writing skills, and develop your knowledge of reviewing books. Example of book review essay 1

Sample book review 2

Book review essay example 3

Tips on How to Write Book Review

Your approach to composing a book review will vary and depend on what type of work and genre you are analyzing. However, when assessing a text, focus on how an author treats dialogue, setting, plot, and characters. In addition to viewing a book review sample for extra ideas, keep these tips in mind:

• Characters Are they believable, different, or similar during dialogue? Can you tell one from another?
• Plot Is it interesting enough? Does it emerge as original or has numerous dull parts? Identify if it has unresolved issues or is confusing. Remember that you do not know how to write a great book review if you cannot understand the plot.
• Comparison Think about other works in the same genre. How does this volume compare to theirs?
• Setting Can you visualize or imagine the described action? How is the setting used to create a mood?
• Writing style What style is used in developing the text? Is there a consistent style throughout?

Book Review Writing Checklist

Here is a checklist about how to write a book review for school or college. Use it to examine your book review or get another student or peer to assist you:

Final Thoughts on How to Write a Book Review

This article described the whole process of reviewing a book. Completing these types of tasks should not be complicated or demanding if you follow the discussed guidelines and tips comprehensively. Cement your understanding by checking out how to write a book review example from a list of samples provided previously. Pay attention to how key ideas from this guide are implemented. Also, don’t forget to explore all the examples of good book reviews for a complete overview. There is no need for you to seek more information outside once you have read all the segments. Just start writing your assignment.

If you feel that it is difficult for you to handle your work, you can ask to ‘do my assignment for me’ at StudyCrumb . Our academic writing service will provide you with high-quality and timely paperwork that will help you get the highest grade.

FAQ About Book Reviews

1. what is the purpose of a book review.

Book reviews usually inform readers about a specific volume’s purpose, argument, and quality. They also explain how it fits into the existing literature. This can be helpful to others who have not read the work so that they can choose whether to go through it or if it’s worth their time and effort.

2. What to include in a book review?

The elements of a book review include a citation, introduction, relevance and intended audience, a brief plot summary or main arguments, critique, evaluation and importance, recommendation, and conclusion. The review offers a critical analysis, assessment, and connection to other relevant works. A reviewer also provides personal views and recommendations.

3. How to start a book review?

Start a book review by reading the work to understand elements such as writing style, plot, characters, literary devices, and the main argument. Then, summarize the major claims made throughout the manuscript by explicitly stating them in your introduction. Also, offer relevant context for your analysis and declare your thesis.

4. How to end a book review?

Finish your book review by giving your overall impression of the work. Conclude and summarize the strengths and weaknesses you found, demonstrate how useful the text is, identify its contribution to the wider field, and offer your recommendations. In addition, mention the type of audience who will benefit from reading it.

5. How long should a book review be?

Traditionally, a book review is usually about 500-1000 words long. However, be sure to have a clear idea regarding your assignment expectations since specific tasks mostly have guidelines. In general, however, most evaluations will not exceed 1000 words.

6. What to avoid when writing a book review?

These are what to avoid when writing your book review:

• Retelling a story without an in-depth analysis.
• Summarizing the text only without critical evaluation.
• Using imprecise language.
• Providing harsh evaluations rather than constructive assessments.
• Not using evidence to back up your views.

Daniel Howard is an Essay Writing guru. He helps students create essays that will strike a chord with the readers.

You may also like

• checkbox Essential biographical details are provided.
• checkbox My introduction is interesting.
• checkbox I have identified the author and text title/type in my introduction.
• checkbox I stated what the work is about and offered adequate background information.
• checkbox I mentioned the book’s thesis and stated my claim.
• checkbox I described key points in the body, such as summary, purpose, arguments, intended audience, layout, organization, and sources.
• checkbox I backed up my description with evidence or quotations.
• checkbox I critically evaluated key areas.
• checkbox I discussed all strengths and weaknesses and summarized them.
• checkbox I included my rating and recommendations.
• checkbox I restated my thesis and offered a memorable ending.

Academic Book Review Template

Download this Academic Book Review Template Design in Word, Google Docs Format. Easily Editable, Printable, Downloadable.

Other Education Business Bundled

• education home
• starting education
• academic affairs
• admissions office
• finance management
• health services
• human resources
• library services
• marketing & communication

Already a premium member?  Sign in

• Microsoft Word
• , Google Docs

You may also like

Academic Policy Review Checklist Template

Academic Program Review Template

School Library Book Review Form Template

10 Education Academic Policy and Compliance Template Bundle

10 Education Academic Calendar and Scheduling Template Bundle

10 Education Academic Records Management Template Bundle

10 Education Academic Advising Template Bundle

20+ Education Academic Events Template Bundle

20+ Education Academic Assessment Template Bundle

20+ Education Academic Policy Template Bundle

Academic Advising Survey Template

Academic Advising Program Evaluation Form Template

Academic Advising Syllabus Template

School Student-Athlete Academic Progress Report Template

Academic Advising Appointment Scheduling Form Template

School Academic Probation Notice Template

Academic Achievement Verification Document Template

Academic Calendar Publication Checklist Template

Academic Calendar Template

Academic Policy Waiver Request Form Template

Academic Policy Non-Compliance Report Template

Academic Policy Communication Plan Template

Academic Policy Change Request Form Template

Academic Policies and Procedures Manual Template

Academic Program Accreditation Self-Study Report Template

Academic Program Retention Policy Template

Academic Program Approval Request Form Template

Academic Program Development Plan Template

Academic Program Assessment Report Template

Academic Program Evaluation Report Template

Academic Records Verification Letter Template

Academic Records Transfer Credit Evaluation Form Template

Academic Records Audit Checklist Template

Academic Integrity Policy Template

Academic Policy Exception Request Form Template

Academic Records Transcript Template

Academic Records Retention Policy Template

Student Academic Transcript Template

Academic Advising Handbook Template

Academic Advising Needs Assessment Template

Academic Advising Intake Form Template

Academic Advising Progress Report Template

Academic Transcript Request Form Template

Education Academic Programs and Research SWOT Analysis tempate

Education Academic Excellence SWOT Analysis Template

Education Academic Honesty Agreement Template

Education Academic Advising Newsletter

Education Academic Resources Directory Template

Education Student Academic Support Referral Form Template

Education Petition for Exception to Academic Policy Form Template

• Additional Resources
• A List of Writing Contests in 2022 | Exciting Prizes!
• Em Dash vs. En Dash vs. Hyphen: When to Use Which
• Book Proofreading 101: The Beginner’s Guide
• Screenplay Editing: Importance, Cost, & Self-Editing Tips
• Screenplay Proofreading: Importance, Process, & Cost
• Script Proofreading: Rates, Process, & Proofreading Tips
• Manuscript Proofreading | Definition, Process & Standard Rates
• 14 Punctuation Marks: Examples & Free Guide on How to Use
• Tips to Write Better if English Is Your Second Language
• Novel Proofreading | Definition, Significance & Standard Rates
• The Top 10 Literary Devices: Definitions & Examples
• Top 101 Bone-Chilling Horror Writing Prompts
• Top 10 Must-Try Writing Prompt Generators in 2024
• 100+ Creative Writing Prompts for Masterful Storytelling
• Best 101 Greatest Fictional Characters of All Time
• Top 10 eBook Creator Tools in 2024: Free & Paid
• 50 Timeless and Unforgettable Book Covers of All Time
• What Is Flash Fiction? Definition, Examples & Types
• Discover the Best Book Review Sites of 2024: Top 10 Picks
• 80 Enchanting Christmas Writing Prompts for Your Next Story

Your Guide to the Best eBook Readers in 2024

• Top 10 Book Review Clubs of 2024 to Share Literary Insights
• 2024’s Top 10 Self-Help Books for Better Living
• Writing Contests 2023: Cash Prizes, Free Entries, & More!
• Top 10 Book Writing Apps of 2024: Free & Paid!
• Top 10 Book Marketing Services of 2024: Features and Costs
• 10 Best Book Publishing Companies in 2024
• What Is a Book Teaser and How to Write It: Tips and Examples
• Audiobook vs. EBook vs. Paperback in 2024: (Pros & Cons)
• Top 10 Book Writing Software, Websites, and Tools in 2024
• How to Get a Literary Agent in 2024: The Complete Guide
• An Easy Guide to the Best Fonts & Font Sizes for Your Book
• Top 10 Book Promotion Services for 2024’s Authors
• Alpha Readers: Where to Find Them and Alpha vs. Beta Readers
• Author Branding 101: How to Build a Powerful Author Brand
• How to Write a Book Report | Steps, Examples & Free Template
• A Guide on How to Write a Book Synopsis: Steps and Examples

How to Write a Book Review (Meaning, Tips & Examples)

• Book Title Generators: Top 10 Book Name Generators of 2024
• 50 Top Literary Agents in the USA for Authors in 2024
• Building an Author Website: The Ultimate Guide with Examples
• Top 10 Book Printing Services for Authors in 2024
• 10 Best Free Online Grammar Checkers: Features and Ratings
• How to Write a Poem: Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Poetry
• What Is a Poem? Poetry Definition, Elements, & Examples
• 2024’s 10 Best Paraphrasing Tools for All (Free & Paid)
• Top 10 AI Detector Tools in 2024 (Free & Paid)
• Top 10 Book Editing Software in 2024 (Free & Paid)
• What Is an Adverb? Definition, Types, Differences & Examples
• What Are Large Language Models and How They Work: Explained!
• What Is an Adjective? Definition, Usage & Examples
• Top 10 Hardcover Book Printing Services [Best of 2024]
• 15 Types of Poems Everyone Should Know About
• 2024’s Top 10 Setting Generators to Create Unique Settings
• Different Types of Characters in Stories That Steal the Show
• Top 10 Screenplay & Scriptwriting Software (Free & Paid)
• 10 Best AI Text Generators of 2024: Pros, Cons, and Prices
• Top 10 Must-Try Character Name Generators in 2024
• How to Track Changes in Google Docs: A 7-Step Guide
• 10 Best AI Text Summarizers in 2024 (Free & Paid)
• 2024’s 10 Best Punctuation Checkers for Error-Free Text
• Top 10 AI Humanizers of 2024 [Free & Paid Tools]
• Top 10 AI Rewriters for Perfect Text in 2024 (Free & Paid)
• 10 Best Plot Generators for Engaging Storytelling in 2024
• 11 Best Story Structures for Writers (+ Examples!)
• Writing Contests 2024: Cash Prizes & Free Entries!
• How to Write a Book with AI in 2024 (Free & Paid Tools)
• Pre-Publishing Steps
• Book Cover Design: An Introduction
• What is a Book Copyright Page?
• 8 Pre-Publishing Steps to Self-Publish Your Book
• 7 Essential Elements of a Book Cover Design
• How to Copyright Your Book in the US, UK, & India
• How to Format a Book in 2024: 7 Tips for Print & EBooks
• Beta Readers: Why You Should Know About Them in 2024
• How to Publish a Book in 2024: Essential Tips for Beginners
• ISBN Guide 2024: What Is an ISBN and How to Get an ISBN
• Self Publishing Guide
• How to Hire a Book Editor in 5 Practical Steps
• Self-Publishing Options for Writers
• How to Promote Your Book Using a Goodreads Author Page
• What Makes Typesetting a Pre-Publishing Essential for Every Author?
• 4 Online Publishing Platforms To Boost Your Readership
• Typesetting: An Introduction
• Quick Guide to Novel Editing (with a Self-Editing Checklist)
• Quick Guide to Book Editing [Complete Process & Standard Rates]
• 10 Best Self-Publishing Companies of 2024: Price & Royalties
• Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing: 2024 Guide
• How to Publish a Book on Amazon: 8 Easy Steps [2024 Update]
• 10 Best Book Cover Design Services of 2024: Price & Ratings
• A Beginner’s Guide to Self-Publishing a Book in 2024
• Learn How Much Does It Cost to Self-Publish a Book in 2024
• What are Print-on-Demand Books? Cost and Process in 2024
• What Are the Standard Book Sizes for Publishing Your Book?
• Top 10 EBook Conversion Services for 2024’s Authors
• How to Copyright a Book in 2024 (Costs + Free Template)
• How to Market Your Book on Amazon to Maximize Sales in 2024
• How to Find an Editor for Your Book in 8 Steps (+ Costs!)
• What Is Amazon Self-Publishing? Pros, Cons & Key Insights
• Manuscript Editing in 2024: Elevating Your Writing for Success
• Know Everything About How to Make an Audiobook
• Traditional Publishing
• How to start your own online publishing company?
• 8 Tips To Write Appealing Query Letters
• How to Write a Query Letter (Examples + Free Template)
• Third-person Point of View: Definition, Types, Examples

Writing Tips

• How to Create Depth in Characters
• Starting Your Book With a Bang: Ways to Catch Readers’ Attention
• How to Write a Powerful Plot in 12 Steps
• Research for Fiction Writers: A Complete Guide
• Short stories: Do’s and don’ts
• How to Write Dialogue: 7 Rules, 5 Tips & 65 Examples
• How to Write a Novel in Past Tense? 3 Steps & Examples
• What Are Foil and Stock Characters? Easy Examples from Harry Potter
• How To Write Better Letters In Your Novel
• On Being Tense About Tense: What Verb Tense To Write Your Novel In
• How To Create A Stellar Plot Outline
• How to Punctuate Dialogue in Fiction
• On Being Tense about Tense: Present Tense Narratives in Novels
• The Essential Guide to Worldbuilding [from Book Editors]
• What Is Point of View: 1st, 2nd & 3rd POV with Examples
• How to Create Powerful Conflict in Your Story | Useful Examples
• How to Write a Book: A Step-by-Step Guide
• How to Write a Short Story: 6 Steps & Examples
• How To Craft a Murder Mystery Story
• How to Write a Novel: 8 Steps to Help You Start Writing
• What Is a Stock Character? 150 Examples from 5 Genres
• How to Write a Children’s Book: An Easy Step-by-Step Guide
• Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey: Worksheet & Examples
• Novel Outline: A Proven Blueprint [+ Free Template!]
• Character Development: 7-Step Guide for Writers
• Foil Character: Definition, History, & Examples
• What Is NaNoWriMo? Top 7 Tips to Ace the Writing Marathon
• What Is the Setting of a Story? Meaning + 7 Expert Tips
• Theme of a Story | Meaning, Common Themes & Examples
• 5 Elements of a Short Story & 6 Stages of a Plot
• What Is a Blurb? Meaning, Examples & 10 Expert Tips
• What Is Show, Don’t Tell? (Meaning, Examples & 6 Tips)
• How to Write a Book Summary: Example, Tips, & Bonus Section
• How to Write a Book Description (Examples + Free Template)
• 10 Best Free AI Resume Builders to Create the Perfect CV
• A Complete Guide on How to Use ChatGPT to Write a Resume
• 10 Best AI Writer Tools Every Writer Should Know About
• 15 Best ATS-Friendly ChatGPT Prompts for Resumes in 2024
• How to Write a Book Title (15 Expert Tips + Examples)
• The 10 Best AI Story Generators: Features, Usage & Benefits
• 100 Novel and Book Ideas to Start Your Book Writing Journey
• Exploring Writing Styles: Meaning, Types, and Examples
• Mastering Professional Email Writing: Steps, Tips & Examples
• How to Write a Screenplay: Expert Tips, Steps, and Examples
• Business Proposal Guide: How to Write, Examples and Template
• Different Types of Resumes: Explained with Tips and Examples
• How to Create a Memorable Protagonist (7 Expert Tips)
• How to Write an Antagonist (Examples & 7 Expert Tips)

Writing for the Web: 7 Expert Tips for Web Content Writing

• What are the Parts of a Sentence? An Easy-to-Learn Guide
• How to Avoid AI Detection in 2024 (6 Proven Techniques!)
• How to Avoid Plagiarism in 2024 (10 Effective Strategies!)
• 10 Best Spell Checkers of 2024: Features, Accuracy & Ranking
• What Is Climax Of A Story & How To Craft A Gripping Climax
• What Is a Subject of a Sentence? Meaning, Examples & Types
• Object of a Sentence: Your Comprehensive Guide
• What Is First-Person Point of View? Tips & Practical Examples
• Second-person Point of View: What Is It and Examples
• 10 Best AI Essay Outline Generators of 2024

Still have questions? Leave a comment

Add Comment

Checklist: Dissertation Proposal

Enter your email id to get the downloadable right in your inbox!

Examples: Edited Papers

Need editing and proofreading services.

• Tags: Fiction , Language , Nonfiction , Writing Tips

Want to write a perfect book review that readers enjoy? Discover how to pen a book review in 6 easy steps. To help you understand, we’ve included amazing examples of book reviews. 

We’ve also answered many questions you might have such as: How long should a book review be? How to start a book review? How to conclude a book review? For beginners, we’ve also mentioned the basic book review format. So without further delay, let’s begin! 

Get a professional review for your book! Learn more

What is a book review? 

A book review is the critical analysis of the book’s content and significance. It includes an evaluation of the plot, character development, and writing style. A good book review highlights the book’s strengths and weaknesses. Reviewers often include quotes to support the opinions mentioned in the book review. A book review is different from a book report which objectively describes the book’s main content. 

Now that we know what is a book review, let’s understand their length. 

How long is a book review? 

The length of a book review can vary, depending on the purpose and the medium used. Book reviews in newspapers, magazines, and journals can range from 500-2000 words. In contrast, book reviews by readers on platforms like Goodreads, Amazon, Facebook, or Google can range from 50-500 words. 

Now let us see the 6 easy steps to write book reviews. Whether you’re writing book reviews for your assignment or book promotion, these steps will help! 

How to write a book review

• Note down the key points- This is an important step before writing a book review. Jot down your analysis about the characters, themes, plot, and your personal view. Also, note down the book title, author’s name, and any relevant information about the book. 
• Start with a strong introduction- Mention the author’s name, book title, themes, and main characters in the introduction. The introduction should give a very brief book summary without giving spoilers. 
• Analyze the book- Discuss the book’s strong points and weaknesses. This can include your opinion on the narrative pacing, writing style, character development , and structure. You can also compare it with books belonging to a similar genre. To enhance the review, you can also use relevant quotes to support your perspective. 
• Reflect on your experience- Describe how the book makes you feel. Did you find it engaging or was it slow-paced? Were you happy with the climax or did you expect more? 
• Conclude the review- Summarize the important points and end the review with a final evaluative statement about the book. This is where you can state whether you will recommend the book to readers or not. This is an important step in writing a book review. 
• Rate the book (Optional)- Depending on the platform requirements, you can rate the book out of 5 or 10. 

Now that we’ve seen how to write a book review, let’s see five amazing tips to create the perfect book review.

Top 5 tips to create an amazing book review 

Here are the top 5 tips to create the perfect book review: 

• Start with an attractive hook- Begin the review with an intriguing question or statement, capturing the book’s essence. For example, “In ‘The Enchanted Labyrinth’, every page takes you into a magical world of intrigue and wonder. 
• Discuss originality- Write what makes the book unique as compared to other books in the same genre. If the book highlights an unexplored theme or gives a unique take on a common theme, you can mention it in the book review. 
• Analyze worldbuilding- Review the fictional world created by the author (Its depth, complexity and detail). You can discuss how the setting of the story affected your experience as a reader. This is a good practice, especially while reviewing fantasy and science fiction novels. 
• Evaluate key themes- Discuss how the central themes of the story are seamlessly woven into the narrative. You can do this by highlighting how the characters’ relationships and choices reflect the themes. Describe how themes add depth to the story. 
• Edit and proofread- Once you’ve completed your book review, thoroughly check it. Correct any grammatical mistakes , spelling, and word choice errors. 

Book review examples

1. a thousand splendid suns by khaled hosseini .

“A Thousand Splendid Suns,” by Khaled Hosseini, is a profoundly moving story set against the backdrop of Afghan history. This novel tells the tale of two women, Mariam and Laila, whose lives become entwined in a harrowing journey of friendship, suffering, and redemption.

Mariam, an illegitimate child, suffers from stigma and rejection from an early age. Her tragic story evolves when she is forced into an abusive marriage with Rasheed, a brutish shoemaker. Laila, born generations later, is initially a symbol of the new Afghanistan – hopeful and educated. Their shared struggles against the backdrop of Afghanistan crumbling under Taliban rule form the novel’s heart.

Hosseini’s writing is evocative, capturing the stark realities in Afghanistan while also highlighting the profound resilience of his characters. The author masterfully portrays the emotional landscapes of Mariam and Laila, making them vividly relatable.

“A Thousand Splendid Suns” is more than a story of survival; it is a testament to the unyielding strength of human connection and endurance. This book is a must-read, not only for its storytelling brilliance but for its deep exploration of the often-unheard voices of Afghan women. It’s a heartbreaking, yet ultimately hopeful novel that stays with you long after the last page.

Now let’s see another example of a book review. 

2. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman 

“A Man Called Ove ” by Fredrik Backman is a heartwarming novel that takes readers on an emotional journey of its titular character, Ove. At first glance, Ove appears to be nothing more than a grumpy old man. However, as the story unfolds, we discover that there is so much more to Ove than meets the eye.

The novel skillfully explores themes of loss, grief, and the human capacity for change. Ove’s journey is one of rediscovery and redemption, as he learns to open his heart to the people around him. Backman’s writing is both poignant and humorous, capturing the essence of human relationships and the power of community.

Ove is a character who is easy to relate to, with his quirks making him all the more endearing. As we delve into his past through flashbacks, we understand the events that shaped him. These glimpses provide depth and complexity to his character, making him incredibly three-dimensional.

The supporting characters are equally charming and well-developed. Parvaneh, the pregnant neighbor, and her family are a refreshing contrast to Ove’s gruff exterior. Their interactions with Ove are both heartwarming and hilarious, playing an important role in his transformation.

What makes “A Man Called Ove” truly exceptional is its ability to elicit a wide range of emotions from its readers. It can make you laugh out loud on one page and bring tears to your eyes on the next. The story is a testament to the importance of human connection.

In conclusion, “A Man Called Ove” is a beautifully written novel that explores the themes of love, friendship, and the capacity for change. Fredrik Backman’s storytelling is both touching and humorous, and his characters are unforgettable. For those who appreciate heartwarming stories that inspire the soul, this book is a must-read.”

After seeing these book review examples, let’s see a simple book review template you can use. 

Book review template

The following template highlights a basic book review format and book review outline. You can use this template for reference. 

We hope this book review template and book review examples have inspired you to start writing. Now that you’ve understood how to write a good book review, you can begin brainstorming. Want to get a polished, professional book review? At PaperTrue, our team of experts can help you craft the perfect review for your book. Get in touch with us and forget all stress about how to do a book review. 

You can also take advantage of our self-publishing services like editing, book cover design, securing an ISBN, and creating a copyright page. This ensures that your book is ready for publication. Whether you want a simple edit or an end-to-end service package, we’re here to help! 

Here are some other articles that you might find interesting: 

• Top 10 Best Print-on-Demand Book Companies in 2024
• Top 10 Book Formatting Software for Authors in 2024
• What Is a Blurb? Meaning, Examples & 10 Expert Tips

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the purpose of a book review, what makes a good book review, how to end a book review, how to structure a book review, where to write a book review.

Found this article helpful?

Leave a Comment: Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

Your vs. You’re: When to Use Your and You’re

Your organization needs a technical editor: here’s why.

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Get carefully curated resources about writing, editing, and publishing in the comfort of your inbox.

How to Copyright Your Book?

If you’ve thought about copyrighting your book, you’re on the right path.

© 2024 All rights reserved

• Terms of service
• Privacy policy
• Fiction Writing Tips
• Dissertation Writing Guide
• Essay Writing Guide
• Academic Writing and Publishing
• Citation and Referencing
• Partner with us
• Annual report
• Website content
• Marketing material
• Job Applicant
• Cover letter
• Resource Center
• Case studies

Book Review

Book Review Examples

Last updated on: Nov 20, 2023

Good Book Review Examples to Help you Write a Great Review

By: Nova A.

Reviewed By: Chris H.

Published on: Mar 30, 2021

A book review is a common assignment that allows the students to demonstrate the author’s intentions in the book. It also provides them with the chance not only to criticize but also to give constructive criticism on how they can make improvements.

The purpose of writing a book review is to come up with your opinion about the author’s ideas presented in the book. On the other hand, a book analysis is completely based on opinions that are relevant to the book.

Writing a review is something that can be done with any book that you read. However, some genres are harder to write. But with a proper plan, you can easily write a great review on any book.

Read some short book review examples in this guide. They will help you understand the key elements of writing a great review in no time.

On this Page

Academic Book Review Examples

If you are assigned to write a book review, referring to some examples will be of great help. In addition, reading examples before starting the writing process will help you understand what elements are needed for a great book review. There are also many review sites online you can get help from.

Academic book reviews follow a fairly simple structure. It usually includes an introduction, middle paragraphs, and a conclusion that sums up all the ideas.

For a great book review, here are the things you need to focus on during the writing process.

• The main argument presented by the author
• Author’s methodologyAppropriateness for the audience
• Relationship to the real world

Have a look at the following book review examples for kids before beginning the writing process.

Book Review Examples for Middle School Students

Book Review Example For Kids

Book Review Examples for High School Students

Paper Due? Why Suffer? That's our Job!

Book Review Examples for College Students

Book Review Examples for University Students

How to Write a Book Review - Examples

If you don’t know how to write a book review, look at the following steps.

The first step is to plan and create an outline that includes all the points that you will have to cover in the review. Don’t forget to include all the information about the characters, plot information, and some other parts of the chosen book.

The three parts of a book review are:

1. Provide a Summary

What is the book about? Write about the main characters and what is the conflict that is discussed in the book.

2. Provide Your Evaluation

Share your thoughts about the book and what elements work best.

3. Rate the Book

Rate and recommend the book to others who will enjoy reading this book.

If you need to submit a book review soon, we suggest you start reading some book reviews online. Here you can also find some good book review writing examples to understand how to craft each section of a book review.

Book Review Introduction Examples

Thesis Statement Book Review Examples

Tough Essay Due? Hire Tough Writers!

Book Review Conclusion Examples

Critical Book Review Examples

A book review is a critical evaluation of the book, movie, or any other literary work. It has two goals: the first is to inform the readers about the content of the book, and the second is to evaluate your judgment about the book.

A book review is more than a book report. A review is basically a critical essay that evaluates the merits of a literary work. The purpose of writing a book review is not to prove that you have read a book but to show that you think critically about the chosen book.

When you are asked to write a critical book review, you need to identify, summarize and evaluate the ideas of the author. In simpler words, you will be examining and evaluating another person’s work from your point of view.

Science Book Review Examples

A scientific book review will contain the same elements as writing a review for a fiction book; some elements might vary. When you are reviewing a scientific text, you need to pay attention to the writing style and the validity of the content.

Most students turn to non-fictional sources of information. It is important to make sure the information you provide in your review is factual and scientific.

Book review writing can be difficult if you don’t know how to follow the standard protocols. That’s where our reliable book review writing service aims to provide the necessary help.

No matter what your academic level is, we can provide you with the best book review writing help. This type of writing assignment can be tricky and time-consuming. So, if you don’t know how to crack this task, better get professional help.

We at 5StarEssays.com provide exceptional book review writing help. Not only book reviews, but we also provide the best ‘ write an essay for me ’ help to students. Moreover, we also have an AI essay writer to help you with tight deadlines, give it a try now!

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you write a book review example.

Here are some steps that will help you to write a book review example.

• Start writing with few sentences and describe what the book is all about
• Focus on your thoughts
• Mention things that you dont like about the book.
• Summarize your thoughts.
• Give rating to the book.

Thesis, Law

As a Digital Content Strategist, Nova Allison has eight years of experience in writing both technical and scientific content. With a focus on developing online content plans that engage audiences, Nova strives to write pieces that are not only informative but captivating as well.

Was This Blog Helpful?

Keep reading.

• Book Review - An Easy Guide To Write A Review

People Also Read

• classification essay
• writing conventions
• demonstration speech ideas
• essay writing old
• personal statement prompts

Burdened With Assignments?

Advertisement

• Homework Services: Essay Topics Generator

© 2024 - All rights reserved

Join Discovery, the new community for book lovers

Trust book recommendations from real people, not robots 🤓

Blog – Posted on Friday, Mar 29

17 book review examples to help you write the perfect review.

It’s an exciting time to be a book reviewer. Once confined to print newspapers and journals, reviews now dot many corridors of the Internet — forever helping others discover their next great read. That said, every book reviewer will face a familiar panic: how can you do justice to a great book in just a thousand words?

As you know, the best way to learn how to do something is by immersing yourself in it. Luckily, the Internet (i.e. Goodreads and other review sites , in particular) has made book reviews more accessible than ever — which means that there are a lot of book reviews examples out there for you to view!

In this post, we compiled 17 prototypical book review examples in multiple genres to help you figure out how to write the perfect review . If you want to jump straight to the examples, you can skip the next section. Otherwise, let’s first check out what makes up a good review.

Are you interested in becoming a book reviewer? We recommend you check out Reedsy Discovery , where you can earn money for writing reviews — and are guaranteed people will read your reviews! To register as a book reviewer, sign up here.

Pro-tip : But wait! How are you sure if you should become a book reviewer in the first place? If you're on the fence, or curious about your match with a book reviewing career, take our quick quiz:

Should you become a book reviewer?

Find out the answer. Takes 30 seconds!

What must a book review contain?

Like all works of art, no two book reviews will be identical. But fear not: there are a few guidelines for any aspiring book reviewer to follow. Most book reviews, for instance, are less than 1,500 words long, with the sweet spot hitting somewhere around the 1,000-word mark. (However, this may vary depending on the platform on which you’re writing, as we’ll see later.)

In addition, all reviews share some universal elements, as shown in our book review templates . These include:

• A review will offer a concise plot summary of the book. 
• A book review will offer an evaluation of the work. 
• A book review will offer a recommendation for the audience. 

If these are the basic ingredients that make up a book review, it’s the tone and style with which the book reviewer writes that brings the extra panache. This will differ from platform to platform, of course. A book review on Goodreads, for instance, will be much more informal and personal than a book review on Kirkus Reviews, as it is catering to a different audience. However, at the end of the day, the goal of all book reviews is to give the audience the tools to determine whether or not they’d like to read the book themselves.

Keeping that in mind, let’s proceed to some book review examples to put all of this in action.

How much of a book nerd are you, really?

Find out here, once and for all. Takes 30 seconds!

Book review examples for fiction books

Since story is king in the world of fiction, it probably won’t come as any surprise to learn that a book review for a novel will concentrate on how well the story was told .

That said, book reviews in all genres follow the same basic formula that we discussed earlier. In these examples, you’ll be able to see how book reviewers on different platforms expertly intertwine the plot summary and their personal opinions of the book to produce a clear, informative, and concise review.

Note: Some of the book review examples run very long. If a book review is truncated in this post, we’ve indicated by including a […] at the end, but you can always read the entire review if you click on the link provided.

Examples of literary fiction book reviews

Kirkus Reviews reviews Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man :

An extremely powerful story of a young Southern Negro, from his late high school days through three years of college to his life in Harlem.

His early training prepared him for a life of humility before white men, but through injustices- large and small, he came to realize that he was an "invisible man". People saw in him only a reflection of their preconceived ideas of what he was, denied his individuality, and ultimately did not see him at all. This theme, which has implications far beyond the obvious racial parallel, is skillfully handled. The incidents of the story are wholly absorbing. The boy's dismissal from college because of an innocent mistake, his shocked reaction to the anonymity of the North and to Harlem, his nightmare experiences on a one-day job in a paint factory and in the hospital, his lightning success as the Harlem leader of a communistic organization known as the Brotherhood, his involvement in black versus white and black versus black clashes and his disillusion and understanding of his invisibility- all climax naturally in scenes of violence and riot, followed by a retreat which is both literal and figurative. Parts of this experience may have been told before, but never with such freshness, intensity and power.

This is Ellison's first novel, but he has complete control of his story and his style. Watch it.

Lyndsey reviews George Orwell’s 1984 on Goodreads:

YOU. ARE. THE. DEAD. Oh my God. I got the chills so many times toward the end of this book. It completely blew my mind. It managed to surpass my high expectations AND be nothing at all like I expected. Or in Newspeak "Double Plus Good." Let me preface this with an apology. If I sound stunningly inarticulate at times in this review, I can't help it. My mind is completely fried.

This book is like the dystopian Lord of the Rings, with its richly developed culture and economics, not to mention a fully developed language called Newspeak, or rather more of the anti-language, whose purpose is to limit speech and understanding instead of to enhance and expand it. The world-building is so fully fleshed out and spine-tinglingly terrifying that it's almost as if George travelled to such a place, escaped from it, and then just wrote it all down.

I read Fahrenheit 451 over ten years ago in my early teens. At the time, I remember really wanting to read 1984, although I never managed to get my hands on it. I'm almost glad I didn't. Though I would not have admitted it at the time, it would have gone over my head. Or at the very least, I wouldn't have been able to appreciate it fully. […]

The New York Times reviews Lisa Halliday’s Asymmetry :

Three-quarters of the way through Lisa Halliday’s debut novel, “Asymmetry,” a British foreign correspondent named Alistair is spending Christmas on a compound outside of Baghdad. His fellow revelers include cameramen, defense contractors, United Nations employees and aid workers. Someone’s mother has FedExed a HoneyBaked ham from Maine; people are smoking by the swimming pool. It is 2003, just days after Saddam Hussein’s capture, and though the mood is optimistic, Alistair is worrying aloud about the ethics of his chosen profession, wondering if reporting on violence doesn’t indirectly abet violence and questioning why he’d rather be in a combat zone than reading a picture book to his son. But every time he returns to London, he begins to “spin out.” He can’t go home. “You observe what people do with their freedom — what they don’t do — and it’s impossible not to judge them for it,” he says.

The line, embedded unceremoniously in the middle of a page-long paragraph, doubles, like so many others in “Asymmetry,” as literary criticism. Halliday’s novel is so strange and startlingly smart that its mere existence seems like commentary on the state of fiction. One finishes “Asymmetry” for the first or second (or like this reader, third) time and is left wondering what other writers are not doing with their freedom — and, like Alistair, judging them for it.

Despite its title, “Asymmetry” comprises two seemingly unrelated sections of equal length, appended by a slim and quietly shocking coda. Halliday’s prose is clean and lean, almost reportorial in the style of W. G. Sebald, and like the murmurings of a shy person at a cocktail party, often comic only in single clauses. It’s a first novel that reads like the work of an author who has published many books over many years. […]

Emily W. Thompson reviews Michael Doane's The Crossing on Reedsy Discovery :

In Doane’s debut novel, a young man embarks on a journey of self-discovery with surprising results.

An unnamed protagonist (The Narrator) is dealing with heartbreak. His love, determined to see the world, sets out for Portland, Oregon. But he’s a small-town boy who hasn’t traveled much. So, the Narrator mourns her loss and hides from life, throwing himself into rehabbing an old motorcycle. Until one day, he takes a leap; he packs his bike and a few belongings and heads out to find the Girl.

Following in the footsteps of Jack Kerouac and William Least Heat-Moon, Doane offers a coming of age story about a man finding himself on the backroads of America. Doane’s a gifted writer with fluid prose and insightful observations, using The Narrator’s personal interactions to illuminate the diversity of the United States.

The Narrator initially sticks to the highways, trying to make it to the West Coast as quickly as possible. But a hitchhiker named Duke convinces him to get off the beaten path and enjoy the ride. “There’s not a place that’s like any other,” [39] Dukes contends, and The Narrator realizes he’s right. Suddenly, the trip is about the journey, not just the destination. The Narrator ditches his truck and traverses the deserts and mountains on his bike. He destroys his phone, cutting off ties with his past and living only in the moment.

As he crosses the country, The Narrator connects with several unique personalities whose experiences and views deeply impact his own. Duke, the complicated cowboy and drifter, who opens The Narrator’s eyes to a larger world. Zooey, the waitress in Colorado who opens his heart and reminds him that love can be found in this big world. And Rosie, The Narrator’s sweet landlady in Portland, who helps piece him back together both physically and emotionally.

This supporting cast of characters is excellent. Duke, in particular, is wonderfully nuanced and complicated. He’s a throwback to another time, a man without a cell phone who reads Sartre and sleeps under the stars. Yet he’s also a grifter with a “love ‘em and leave ‘em” attitude that harms those around him. It’s fascinating to watch The Narrator wrestle with Duke’s behavior, trying to determine which to model and which to discard.

Doane creates a relatable protagonist in The Narrator, whose personal growth doesn’t erase his faults. His willingness to hit the road with few resources is admirable, and he’s prescient enough to recognize the jealousy of those who cannot or will not take the leap. His encounters with new foods, places, and people broaden his horizons. Yet his immaturity and selfishness persist. He tells Rosie she’s been a good mother to him but chooses to ignore the continuing concern from his own parents as he effectively disappears from his old life.

Despite his flaws, it’s a pleasure to accompany The Narrator on his physical and emotional journey. The unexpected ending is a fitting denouement to an epic and memorable road trip.

The Book Smugglers review Anissa Gray’s The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls :

I am still dipping my toes into the literally fiction pool, finding what works for me and what doesn’t. Books like The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray are definitely my cup of tea.

Althea and Proctor Cochran had been pillars of their economically disadvantaged community for years – with their local restaurant/small market and their charity drives. Until they are found guilty of fraud for stealing and keeping most of the money they raised and sent to jail. Now disgraced, their entire family is suffering the consequences, specially their twin teenage daughters Baby Vi and Kim.  To complicate matters even more: Kim was actually the one to call the police on her parents after yet another fight with her mother. […]

Examples of children’s and YA fiction book reviews

The Book Hookup reviews Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give :

♥ Quick Thoughts and Rating: 5 stars! I can’t imagine how challenging it would be to tackle the voice of a movement like Black Lives Matter, but I do know that Thomas did it with a finesse only a talented author like herself possibly could. With an unapologetically realistic delivery packed with emotion, The Hate U Give is a crucially important portrayal of the difficulties minorities face in our country every single day. I have no doubt that this book will be met with resistance by some (possibly many) and slapped with a “controversial” label, but if you’ve ever wondered what it was like to walk in a POC’s shoes, then I feel like this is an unflinchingly honest place to start.

In Angie Thomas’s debut novel, Starr Carter bursts on to the YA scene with both heart-wrecking and heartwarming sincerity. This author is definitely one to watch.

♥ Review: The hype around this book has been unquestionable and, admittedly, that made me both eager to get my hands on it and terrified to read it. I mean, what if I was to be the one person that didn’t love it as much as others? (That seems silly now because of how truly mesmerizing THUG was in the most heartbreakingly realistic way.) However, with the relevancy of its summary in regards to the unjust predicaments POC currently face in the US, I knew this one was a must-read, so I was ready to set my fears aside and dive in. That said, I had an altogether more personal, ulterior motive for wanting to read this book. […]

The New York Times reviews Melissa Albert’s The Hazel Wood :

Alice Crewe (a last name she’s chosen for herself) is a fairy tale legacy: the granddaughter of Althea Proserpine, author of a collection of dark-as-night fairy tales called “Tales From the Hinterland.” The book has a cult following, and though Alice has never met her grandmother, she’s learned a little about her through internet research. She hasn’t read the stories, because her mother, Ella Proserpine, forbids it.

Alice and Ella have moved from place to place in an attempt to avoid the “bad luck” that seems to follow them. Weird things have happened. As a child, Alice was kidnapped by a man who took her on a road trip to find her grandmother; he was stopped by the police before they did so. When at 17 she sees that man again, unchanged despite the years, Alice panics. Then Ella goes missing, and Alice turns to Ellery Finch, a schoolmate who’s an Althea Proserpine superfan, for help in tracking down her mother. Not only has Finch read every fairy tale in the collection, but handily, he remembers them, sharing them with Alice as they journey to the mysterious Hazel Wood, the estate of her now-dead grandmother, where they hope to find Ella.

“The Hazel Wood” starts out strange and gets stranger, in the best way possible. (The fairy stories Finch relays, which Albert includes as their own chapters, are as creepy and evocative as you’d hope.) Albert seamlessly combines contemporary realism with fantasy, blurring the edges in a way that highlights that place where stories and real life convene, where magic contains truth and the world as it appears is false, where just about anything can happen, particularly in the pages of a very good book. It’s a captivating debut. […]

James reviews Margaret Wise Brown’s Goodnight, Moon on Goodreads:

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown is one of the books that followers of my blog voted as a must-read for our Children's Book August 2018 Readathon. Come check it out and join the next few weeks!

This picture book was such a delight. I hadn't remembered reading it when I was a child, but it might have been read to me... either way, it was like a whole new experience! It's always so difficult to convince a child to fall asleep at night. I don't have kids, but I do have a 5-month-old puppy who whines for 5 minutes every night when he goes in his cage/crate (hopefully he'll be fully housebroken soon so he can roam around when he wants). I can only imagine! I babysat a lot as a teenager and I have tons of younger cousins, nieces, and nephews, so I've been through it before, too. This was a believable experience, and it really helps show kids how to relax and just let go when it's time to sleep.

The bunny's are adorable. The rhymes are exquisite. I found it pretty fun, but possibly a little dated given many of those things aren't normal routines anymore. But the lessons to take from it are still powerful. Loved it! I want to sample some more books by this fine author and her illustrators.

Publishers Weekly reviews Elizabeth Lilly’s Geraldine :

This funny, thoroughly accomplished debut opens with two words: “I’m moving.” They’re spoken by the title character while she swoons across her family’s ottoman, and because Geraldine is a giraffe, her full-on melancholy mode is quite a spectacle. But while Geraldine may be a drama queen (even her mother says so), it won’t take readers long to warm up to her. The move takes Geraldine from Giraffe City, where everyone is like her, to a new school, where everyone else is human. Suddenly, the former extrovert becomes “That Giraffe Girl,” and all she wants to do is hide, which is pretty much impossible. “Even my voice tries to hide,” she says, in the book’s most poignant moment. “It’s gotten quiet and whispery.” Then she meets Cassie, who, though human, is also an outlier (“I’m that girl who wears glasses and likes MATH and always organizes her food”), and things begin to look up.

Lilly’s watercolor-and-ink drawings are as vividly comic and emotionally astute as her writing; just when readers think there are no more ways for Geraldine to contort her long neck, this highly promising talent comes up with something new.

Examples of genre fiction book reviews

Karlyn P reviews Nora Roberts’ Dark Witch , a paranormal romance novel , on Goodreads:

4 stars. Great world-building, weak romance, but still worth the read.

I hesitate to describe this book as a 'romance' novel simply because the book spent little time actually exploring the romance between Iona and Boyle. Sure, there IS a romance in this novel. Sprinkled throughout the book are a few scenes where Iona and Boyle meet, chat, wink at each, flirt some more, sleep together, have a misunderstanding, make up, and then profess their undying love. Very formulaic stuff, and all woven around the more important parts of this book.

The meat of this book is far more focused on the story of the Dark witch and her magically-gifted descendants living in Ireland. Despite being weak on the romance, I really enjoyed it. I think the book is probably better for it, because the romance itself was pretty lackluster stuff.

I absolutely plan to stick with this series as I enjoyed the world building, loved the Ireland setting, and was intrigued by all of the secondary characters. However, If you read Nora Roberts strictly for the romance scenes, this one might disappoint. But if you enjoy a solid background story with some dark magic and prophesies, you might enjoy it as much as I did.

I listened to this one on audio, and felt the narration was excellent.

Emily May reviews R.F. Kuang’s The Poppy Wars , an epic fantasy novel , on Goodreads:

“But I warn you, little warrior. The price of power is pain.”

Holy hell, what did I just read??

➽ A fantasy military school

➽ A rich world based on modern Chinese history

➽ Shamans and gods

➽ Detailed characterization leading to unforgettable characters

➽ Adorable, opium-smoking mentors

That's a basic list, but this book is all of that and SO MUCH MORE. I know 100% that The Poppy War will be one of my best reads of 2018.

Isn't it just so great when you find one of those books that completely drags you in, makes you fall in love with the characters, and demands that you sit on the edge of your seat for every horrific, nail-biting moment of it? This is one of those books for me. And I must issue a serious content warning: this book explores some very dark themes. Proceed with caution (or not at all) if you are particularly sensitive to scenes of war, drug use and addiction, genocide, racism, sexism, ableism, self-harm, torture, and rape (off-page but extremely horrific).

Because, despite the fairly innocuous first 200 pages, the title speaks the truth: this is a book about war. All of its horrors and atrocities. It is not sugar-coated, and it is often graphic. The "poppy" aspect refers to opium, which is a big part of this book. It is a fantasy, but the book draws inspiration from the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Rape of Nanking.

Crime Fiction Lover reviews Jessica Barry’s Freefall , a crime novel:

In some crime novels, the wrongdoing hits you between the eyes from page one. With others it’s a more subtle process, and that’s OK too. So where does Freefall fit into the sliding scale?

In truth, it’s not clear. This is a novel with a thrilling concept at its core. A woman survives plane crash, then runs for her life. However, it is the subtleties at play that will draw you in like a spider beckoning to an unwitting fly.

Like the heroine in Sharon Bolton’s Dead Woman Walking, Allison is lucky to be alive. She was the only passenger in a private plane, belonging to her fiancé, Ben, who was piloting the expensive aircraft, when it came down in woodlands in the Colorado Rockies. Ally is also the only survivor, but rather than sitting back and waiting for rescue, she is soon pulling together items that may help her survive a little longer – first aid kit, energy bars, warm clothes, trainers – before fleeing the scene. If you’re hearing the faint sound of alarm bells ringing, get used to it. There’s much, much more to learn about Ally before this tale is over.

Kirkus Reviews reviews Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One , a science-fiction novel :

Video-game players embrace the quest of a lifetime in a virtual world; screenwriter Cline’s first novel is old wine in new bottles.

The real world, in 2045, is the usual dystopian horror story. So who can blame Wade, our narrator, if he spends most of his time in a virtual world? The 18-year-old, orphaned at 11, has no friends in his vertical trailer park in Oklahoma City, while the OASIS has captivating bells and whistles, and it’s free. Its creator, the legendary billionaire James Halliday, left a curious will. He had devised an elaborate online game, a hunt for a hidden Easter egg. The finder would inherit his estate. Old-fashioned riddles lead to three keys and three gates. Wade, or rather his avatar Parzival, is the first gunter (egg-hunter) to win the Copper Key, first of three.

Halliday was obsessed with the pop culture of the 1980s, primarily the arcade games, so the novel is as much retro as futurist. Parzival’s great strength is that he has absorbed all Halliday’s obsessions; he knows by heart three essential movies, crossing the line from geek to freak. His most formidable competitors are the Sixers, contract gunters working for the evil conglomerate IOI, whose goal is to acquire the OASIS. Cline’s narrative is straightforward but loaded with exposition. It takes a while to reach a scene that crackles with excitement: the meeting between Parzival (now world famous as the lead contender) and Sorrento, the head of IOI. The latter tries to recruit Parzival; when he fails, he issues and executes a death threat. Wade’s trailer is demolished, his relatives killed; luckily Wade was not at home. Too bad this is the dramatic high point. Parzival threads his way between more ’80s games and movies to gain the other keys; it’s clever but not exciting. Even a romance with another avatar and the ultimate “epic throwdown” fail to stir the blood.

Too much puzzle-solving, not enough suspense.

Book review examples for non-fiction books

Nonfiction books are generally written to inform readers about a certain topic. As such, the focus of a nonfiction book review will be on the clarity and effectiveness of this communication . In carrying this out, a book review may analyze the author’s source materials and assess the thesis in order to determine whether or not the book meets expectations.

Again, we’ve included abbreviated versions of long reviews here, so feel free to click on the link to read the entire piece!

The Washington Post reviews David Grann’s Killers of the Flower Moon :

The arc of David Grann’s career reminds one of a software whiz-kid or a latest-thing talk-show host — certainly not an investigative reporter, even if he is one of the best in the business. The newly released movie of his first book, “The Lost City of Z,” is generating all kinds of Oscar talk, and now comes the release of his second book, “Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI,” the film rights to which have already been sold for $5 million in what one industry journal called the “biggest and wildest book rights auction in memory.”

Grann deserves the attention. He’s canny about the stories he chases, he’s willing to go anywhere to chase them, and he’s a maestro in his ability to parcel out information at just the right clip: a hint here, a shading of meaning there, a smartly paced buildup of multiple possibilities followed by an inevitable reversal of readerly expectations or, in some cases, by a thrilling and dislocating pull of the entire narrative rug.

All of these strengths are on display in “Killers of the Flower Moon.” Around the turn of the 20th century, oil was discovered underneath Osage lands in the Oklahoma Territory, lands that were soon to become part of the state of Oklahoma. Through foresight and legal maneuvering, the Osage found a way to permanently attach that oil to themselves and shield it from the prying hands of white interlopers; this mechanism was known as “headrights,” which forbade the outright sale of oil rights and granted each full member of the tribe — and, supposedly, no one else — a share in the proceeds from any lease arrangement. For a while, the fail-safes did their job, and the Osage got rich — diamond-ring and chauffeured-car and imported-French-fashion rich — following which quite a large group of white men started to work like devils to separate the Osage from their money. And soon enough, and predictably enough, this work involved murder. Here in Jazz Age America’s most isolated of locales, dozens or even hundreds of Osage in possession of great fortunes — and of the potential for even greater fortunes in the future — were dispatched by poison, by gunshot and by dynamite. […]

Stacked Books reviews Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers :

I’ve heard a lot of great things about Malcolm Gladwell’s writing. Friends and co-workers tell me that his subjects are interesting and his writing style is easy to follow without talking down to the reader. I wasn’t disappointed with Outliers. In it, Gladwell tackles the subject of success – how people obtain it and what contributes to extraordinary success as opposed to everyday success.

The thesis – that our success depends much more on circumstances out of our control than any effort we put forth – isn’t exactly revolutionary. Most of us know it to be true. However, I don’t think I’m lying when I say that most of us also believe that we if we just try that much harder and develop our talent that much further, it will be enough to become wildly successful, despite bad or just mediocre beginnings. Not so, says Gladwell.

Most of the evidence Gladwell gives us is anecdotal, which is my favorite kind to read. I can’t really speak to how scientifically valid it is, but it sure makes for engrossing listening. For example, did you know that successful hockey players are almost all born in January, February, or March? Kids born during these months are older than the others kids when they start playing in the youth leagues, which means they’re already better at the game (because they’re bigger). Thus, they get more play time, which means their skill increases at a faster rate, and it compounds as time goes by. Within a few years, they’re much, much better than the kids born just a few months later in the year. Basically, these kids’ birthdates are a huge factor in their success as adults – and it’s nothing they can do anything about. If anyone could make hockey interesting to a Texan who only grudgingly admits the sport even exists, it’s Gladwell. […]

Quill and Quire reviews Rick Prashaw’s Soar, Adam, Soar :

Ten years ago, I read a book called Almost Perfect. The young-adult novel by Brian Katcher won some awards and was held up as a powerful, nuanced portrayal of a young trans person. But the reality did not live up to the book’s billing. Instead, it turned out to be a one-dimensional and highly fetishized portrait of a trans person’s life, one that was nevertheless repeatedly dubbed “realistic” and “affecting” by non-transgender readers possessing only a vague, mass-market understanding of trans experiences.

In the intervening decade, trans narratives have emerged further into the literary spotlight, but those authored by trans people ourselves – and by trans men in particular – have seemed to fall under the shadow of cisgender sensationalized imaginings. Two current Canadian releases – Soar, Adam, Soar and This One Looks Like a Boy – provide a pointed object lesson into why trans-authored work about transgender experiences remains critical.

To be fair, Soar, Adam, Soar isn’t just a story about a trans man. It’s also a story about epilepsy, the medical establishment, and coming of age as seen through a grieving father’s eyes. Adam, Prashaw’s trans son, died unexpectedly at age 22. Woven through the elder Prashaw’s narrative are excerpts from Adam’s social media posts, giving us glimpses into the young man’s interior life as he traverses his late teens and early 20s. […]

Book Geeks reviews Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love :

WRITING STYLE: 3.5/5

SUBJECT: 4/5

CANDIDNESS: 4.5/5

RELEVANCE: 3.5/5

ENTERTAINMENT QUOTIENT: 3.5/5

“Eat Pray Love” is so popular that it is almost impossible to not read it. Having felt ashamed many times on my not having read this book, I quietly ordered the book (before I saw the movie) from amazon.in and sat down to read it. I don’t remember what I expected it to be – maybe more like a chick lit thing but it turned out quite different. The book is a real story and is a short journal from the time when its writer went travelling to three different countries in pursuit of three different things – Italy (Pleasure), India (Spirituality), Bali (Balance) and this is what corresponds to the book’s name – EAT (in Italy), PRAY (in India) and LOVE (in Bali, Indonesia). These are also the three Is – ITALY, INDIA, INDONESIA.

Though she had everything a middle-aged American woman can aspire for – MONEY, CAREER, FRIENDS, HUSBAND; Elizabeth was not happy in her life, she wasn’t happy in her marriage. Having suffered a terrible divorce and terrible breakup soon after, Elizabeth was shattered. She didn’t know where to go and what to do – all she knew was that she wanted to run away. So she set out on a weird adventure – she will go to three countries in a year and see if she can find out what she was looking for in life. This book is about that life changing journey that she takes for one whole year. […]

Emily May reviews Michelle Obama’s Becoming on Goodreads:

Look, I'm not a happy crier. I might cry at songs about leaving and missing someone; I might cry at books where things don't work out; I might cry at movies where someone dies. I've just never really understood why people get all choked up over happy, inspirational things. But Michelle Obama's kindness and empathy changed that. This book had me in tears for all the right reasons.

This is not really a book about politics, though political experiences obviously do come into it. It's a shame that some will dismiss this book because of a difference in political opinion, when it is really about a woman's life. About growing up poor and black on the South Side of Chicago; about getting married and struggling to maintain that marriage; about motherhood; about being thrown into an amazing and terrifying position.

I hate words like "inspirational" because they've become so overdone and cheesy, but I just have to say it-- Michelle Obama is an inspiration. I had the privilege of seeing her speak at The Forum in Inglewood, and she is one of the warmest, funniest, smartest, down-to-earth people I have ever seen in this world.

And yes, I know we present what we want the world to see, but I truly do think it's genuine. I think she is someone who really cares about people - especially kids - and wants to give them better lives and opportunities.

She's obviously intelligent, but she also doesn't gussy up her words. She talks straight, with an openness and honesty rarely seen. She's been one of the most powerful women in the world, she's been a graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law School, she's had her own successful career, and yet she has remained throughout that same girl - Michelle Robinson - from a working class family in Chicago.

I don't think there's anyone who wouldn't benefit from reading this book.

Hopefully, this post has given you a better idea of how to write a book review. You might be wondering how to put all of this knowledge into action now! Many book reviewers start out by setting up a book blog. If you don’t have time to research the intricacies of HTML, check out Reedsy Discovery — where you can read indie books for free and review them without going through the hassle of creating a blog. To register as a book reviewer , go here .

And if you’d like to see even more book review examples, simply go to this directory of book review blogs and click on any one of them to see a wealth of good book reviews. Beyond that, it's up to you to pick up a book and pen — and start reviewing!

Continue reading

More posts from across the blog.

100 Books to Read Before You Die

Prepare yourself for some frightening news: you have, according to LitHub, only a finite amount of time left in your life to read. The average American, for instance, re...

The Ultimate Guide to the 15 Best Emily Dickinson Poems

One of the most daring voices ever to craft a couplet, Emily Dickinson feels as relevant now as when her first volume of poetry came out under her own name — in 1...

What Is Steampunk? 25 Defining Titles from This Singular Speculative Genre

When you hear the word steampunk, it probably conjures up visions of tight corsets, thick goggles, top hats, and intricate costumes involving clockwork and other machinery. Everyone is dressed in lace and waistcoats, but they wield strange techno...

Heard about Reedsy Discovery?

Trust real people, not robots, to give you book recommendations.

Or sign up with an

Or sign up with your social account

• Submit your book
• Reviewer directory

Want to be a book reviewer?

Review new books and start building your portfolio.

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Writing a Book Review

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

Book reviews typically evaluate recently-written works. They offer a brief description of the text’s key points and often provide a short appraisal of the strengths and weaknesses of the work.

Readers sometimes confuse book reviews with book reports, but the two are not identical. Book reports commonly describe what happens in a work; their focus is primarily on giving an account of the major plot, characters, and/or main idea of the work. Most often, book reports are a K-12 assignment and range from 250 to 500 words. If you are looking to write a book report, please see the OWL resource, Writing a Book Report.

By contrast, book reviews are most often a college assignment, but they also appear in many professional works: magazines, newspapers, and academic journals. They typically range from 500-750 words, but may be longer or shorter. A book review gives readers a sneak peek at what a book is like, whether or not the reviewer enjoyed it, and details on purchasing the book.

Before You Read

Before you begin to read, consider the elements you will need to included in your review. The following items may help:

• Author: Who is the author? What else has s/he written? Has this author won any awards? What is the author’s typical style?
• Genre: What type of book is this: fiction, nonfiction, romance, poetry, youth fiction, etc.? Who is the intended audience for this work? What is the purpose of the work?
• Title: Where does the title fit in? How is it applied in the work? Does it adequately encapsulate the message of the text? Is it interesting? Uninteresting?
• Preface/Introduction/Table of Contents: Does the author provide any revealing information about the text in the preface/introduction? Does a “guest author” provide the introduction? What judgments or preconceptions do the author and/or “guest author” provide? How is the book arranged: sections, chapters?
• Book Jacket/Cover/Printing: Book jackets are like mini-reviews. Does the book jacket provide any interesting details or spark your interest in some way? Are there pictures, maps, or graphs? Do the binding, page cut, or typescript contribute or take away from the work?

As You Read

As you read, determine how you will structure the summary portion or background structure of your review. Be ready to take notes on the book’s key points, characters, and/or themes.

• Characters: Are there characters in the work? Who are the principal characters? How do they affect the story? Do you empathize with them?
• Themes/Motifs/Style: What themes or motifs stand out? How do they contribute to the work? Are they effective or not? How would you describe this author’s particular style? Is it accessible to all readers or just some?
• Argument: How is the work’s argument set up? What support does the author give for her/findings? Does the work fulfill its purpose/support its argument?
• Key Ideas: What is the main idea of the work? What makes it good, different, or groundbreaking?
• Quotes: What quotes stand out? How can you demonstrate the author’s talent or the feel of the book through a quote?

When You Are Ready to Write

Begin with a short summary or background of the work, but do not give too much away. Many reviews limit themselves only to the first couple of chapters or lead the reader up to the rising action of the work. Reviewers of nonfiction texts will provide the basic idea of the book’s argument without too much detailed.

The final portion of your review will detail your opinion of the work. When you are ready to begin your review, consider the following:

• Establish a Background, Remember your Audience: Remember that your audience has not read the work; with this in mind, be sure to introduce characters and principles carefully and deliberately. What kind of summary can you provide of the main points or main characters that will help your readers gauge their interest? Does the author’s text adequately reach the intended audience? Will some readers be lost or find the text too easy?
• Minor principles/characters: Deal only with the most pressing issues in the book. You will not be able to cover every character or idea. What principles/characters did you agree or disagree with? What other things might the author have researched or considered?
• Organize: The purpose of the review is to critically evaluate the text, not just inform the readers about it. Leave plenty room for your evaluation by ensuring that your summary is brief. Determine what kind of balance to strike between your summary information and your evaluation. If you are writing your review for a class, ask your instructor. Often the ratio is half and half.
• Your Evaluation: Choose one or a few points to discuss about the book. What worked well for you? How does this work compare with others by the same author or other books in the same genre? What major themes, motifs, or terms does the book introduce, and how effective are they? Did the book appeal to you on an emotional or logical way?
• Publisher/Price: Most book reviews include the publisher and price of the book at the end of the article. Some reviews also include the year published and ISBN.

When making the final touches to your review, carefully verify the following:

• Double-check the spelling of the author name(s), character names, special terms, and publisher.
• Try to read from the vantage point of your audience. Is there too much/enough summary? Does your argument about the text make sense?
• Should you include direct quotes from the reading? Do they help support your arguments? Double-check your quotes for accuracy.

Wendy Laura Belcher

How to write an academic book review.

This article “Writing the Academic Book Review” was originally written by Belcher to aid participants in a workshop sponsored by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center in February 2003 and to encourage book review submissions to  Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies . Book reviews in the field of Chicano studies can be sent to  the journal; for information, see the  new submissions page. The article was updated in 2015. Cite as Belcher, Wendy Laura. 2003. “Writing the Academic Book Review.” Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center. Last Modified 2015. Retrieved from https://www.wendybelcher.com/writing-advice/how-to-write-book-review/ on [month year]. See also the best-selling book of advice on writing, now in its second edition: Writing Your Journal Article in 12 Weeks: A Guide to Academic Publishing Success.

Why Write a Book Review?

Writing book reviews is not only the easiest and quickest route to publication, it is a good way to improve your writing skills, develop your analytical skills, learn how the journal publishing process works, and get to know editors. Since some libraries can’t buy books unless they have been reviewed and many individuals won’t buy books unless they have read a review, reviewing books can definitely advance your field. Indeed, scholars in smaller fields sometimes get together and assign books for review so that every book published in their field is reviewed somewhere. Just remember that book reviews do not “count” as much on a curriculum vitae as an academic essay. If you are doing more than two book reviews a year, you may be spending too much time on book reviews and not enough on your other writing.

Choosing a Book

Think about what kind of book would be most useful to you in writing your dissertation, finalizing a paper for publication, or passing your exams. Since book reviews do take time, like any writing, it is best to chose a book that will work for you twice, as a publication and as research. Alternatively, some recommend that graduate students focus on reviewing textbooks or anthologies, since such reviews take less background knowledge and editors can find it difficult to find people willing to do such reviews. Although the traditional book review is of one book, editors will often welcome book reviews that address two or more related books–called a review essay.

Choose a book that (1) is in your field, (2) is on a topic for which you have sound background knowledge, (3) has been published in the past two or three years, and (4) has been published by a reputable publisher (i.e., any press affiliated with a university or large commercial presses).

Books on hot topics are often of special interest to editors. It can also be rewarding to pick an obscure but useful book in order to bring attention to it. To avoid complications, it is best not to review books written by your advisor, spouse, or ex!

To identify a suitable book in your field:

• Look up the call number of the favorite book in your field and go to the stacks of your university library. Do a shelf search around the call number to see if anything similar or related has been published in the past couple of years.
• Go to any book database—your university library on-line, Worldcat , Amazon.com , the Library of Congress —and search using two or three keywords related to your field (e.g., Chicano fiction, Chicana politics, Latino demographics, Latina high school education) to find books in your area.
• Read magazines that review books before publication—such as Choice , Library Journal, or Kirkus Reviews —to get a sense for interesting books that will be coming out. You can get copies of books for review before they are published. Editors especially like reviews of just published books.
• Read those academic journals that list books recently received for review or recently published in their area. 
• Ask faculty members in your department for recommendations.

Once you have identified several books, locate copies and skim them. Pick the book that seems the strongest. Do not pick a book that has major problems or with which you disagree violently. As a graduate student, you do not have the protection of tenure and may one day be evaluated by the person whose book you put to the ax. If you really feel strongly that you must write a negative review of a certain book, go ahead and write the review. Academia is, after all, quite oedipal and young scholars do sometimes make their reputations by deflating those who came before them. Just realize that going on record in such a public way may have consequences.

Choosing a Journal

Identify several leading journals in your field that publish book reviews. One way to do this is to search an on-line article database or something like Book Review Digest , if your library has access. Using several key words from your field, limit your search to book reviews and note the journals where the results were published.

Before starting to write your review, contact the book review editor of one of the journals. This is important standard practice; in particular because most journals do not accept unsolicited reviews. You do not want to write an entire review of a book and send it to a journal, only to be told that they don’t accept unsolicited reviews or that a review of that very book is to appear in the next issue.

So, send a short e-mail to book review editors at prospective journals (most journals have websites with such information) identifying the book you would like to review and your qualifications for reviewing it. This e-mail need not be longer than two sentences: “I am writing to find out if you would welcome a review from me of [ Book Title ], edited by [editor] and published in 2012 by [pubisher]. I am currently writing my dissertation at Stanford on the history of the field of [name of a field related to book].”

Another reason why you want to contact the book review editor is that they often can get you the book for free. Publishers frequently send books for review straight to journals or, if the book editor directly contacts them, straight to you. Of course, you don’t need to wait for the book to start your review if you have access to a library copy. If you get a free book, make sure to write the review. A book review editor will never send you another book if you don’t deliver on the first.

If the book review editor says yes, they would like a review of the book from you, make sure to ask if the journal has any book review submission guidelines. In particular, you want to make sure you understand how long their book reviews tend to be.

If the book review editor says the book is already under review, move on to your next journal choice or ask the editor if they have any books on the topic that they would like reviewed. You are under no obligation to review a book they suggest, just make sure to get back to them with a decision. It is perfectly acceptable to say “Thanks for the suggestion, I’ve decided to focus on writing my prospectus/dissertation.”

Reading the Book

It is best, when writing a book review, to be an active reader of the book. Sit at a desk with pen and paper in hand. As you read, stop frequently to summarize the argument, to note particularly clear statements of the book’s argument or purpose, and to describe your own responses. If you have read in this active way, putting together the book review should be quick and straightforward. Some people prefer to read at the computer, but if you’re a good typist, you often start typing up long quotes from the book instead of analyzing it. Paper and pen provides a little friction to prevent such drifting.

Take particular note of the title (does the book deliver what the title suggests it is going to deliver?), the table of contents (does the book cover all the ground it says it will?), the preface (often the richest source of information about the book), and the index (is it accurate, broad, deep?).

Some questions to keep in mind as you are reading:

• What is the book’s argument?
• Does the book do what it says it is going to do?
• Is the book a contribution to the field or discipline?
• Does the book relate to a current debate or trend in the field and if so, how?
• What is the theoretical lineage or school of thought out of which the book rises?
• Is the book well-written?
• What are the books terms and are they defined?
• How accurate is the information (e.g., the footnotes, bibliography, dates)?
• Are the illustrations helpful? If there are no illustrations, should there have been?
• Who would benefit from reading this book?
• How does the book compare to other books in the field?
• If it is a textbook, what courses can it be used in and how clear is the book’s structure and examples?

It can be worthwhile to do an on-line search to get a sense for the author’s history, other books, university appointments, graduate advisor, and so on. This can provide you with useful context..

Making a Plan

Book reviews are usually 600 to 2,000 words in length. It is best to aim for about 1,000 words, as you can say a fair amount in 1,000 words without getting bogged down. There’s no point in making a book review into a 20-page masterpiece since the time would have been better spent on an academic essay that would count for more on your c.v.

Some say a review should be written in a month: two weeks reading the book, one week planning your review, and one week writing it.

Although many don’t write an outline for an essay, you should really try to outline your book review before you write it. This will keep you on task and stop you from straying into writing an academic essay.

Classic book review structure is as follows:

• Title including complete bibliographic citation for the work (i.e., title in full, author, place, publisher, date of publication, edition statement, pages, special features [maps, color plates, etc.], price, and ISBN.
• One paragraph identifying the thesis, and whether the author achieves the stated purpose of the book.
• One or two paragraphs summarizing the book.
• One paragraph on the book’s strengths.
• One paragraph on the book’s weaknesses.
• One paragraph on your assessment of the book’s strengths and weaknesses.

Writing the Review

Once you’ve read the book, try to spend no more than one or two weeks writing the review. Allowing a great deal of time to fall between reading the book and writing about it is unfair to you and the author. The point of writing something short like a book review is to do it quickly. Sending a publication to a journal is always scary, sitting on the review won’t make it less so.

Avoiding Five Common Pitfalls

• Evaluate the text, don’t just summarize it. While a succinct restatement of the text’s points is important, part of writing a book review is making a judgment. Is the book a contribution to the field? Does it add to our knowledge? Should this book be read and by whom? One needn’t be negative to evaluate; for instance, explaining how a text relates to current debates in the field is a form of evaluation.
• Do not cover everything in the book. In other words, don’t use the table of contents as a structuring principle for your review. Try to organize your review around the book’s argument or your argument about the book.
• Judge the book by its intentions not yours. Don’t criticize the author for failing to write the book you think that he or she should have written. As John Updike puts it, “Do not imagine yourself the caretaker of any tradition, an enforcer of any party standards, a warrior in any ideological battle, a corrections officer of any kind.”
• Likewise, don’t spend too much time focusing on gaps. Since a book is only 200 to 500 pages, it cannot possibly address the richness of any topic. For this reason, the most common criticism in any review is that the book doesn’t address some part of the topic. If the book purports to be about ethnicity and film and yet lacks a chapter on Latinos, by all means, mention it. Just don’t belabor the point. Another tic of reviewers is to focus too much on books the author did not cite. If you are using their bibliography just to display your own knowledge it will be obvious to the reader. Keep such criticisms brief.
• Don’t use too many quotes from the book. It is best to paraphrase or use short telling quotes within sentences.

For further advice about writing for publication, see Writing Your Journal Article in Twelve Weeks: A Guide to Academic Publishing Success by Wendy Laura Belcher (University of Chicago Press, 2019).

Writing the Academic Book Review

I no longer teach this course , but you might want to think about teaching it, so I provide the information here.

This workshop aids students in actually writing and publishing a book review for a peer-reviewed journal. At the first session, students receive instruction on why graduate students should (or should not) write book reviews, how to choose a book for review, how to chose a journal for submission, how to read a book for review, how to plan and structure a book review, and five common pitfalls of reviewing. Students also form small groups to discuss the book each plans to review.At the second meeting, students bring a draft of their book review for exchange and feedback. At the third meeting, students arrive with a final version of their essay to submit to an editor for publication.

This workshop is sometimes offered by a particular journal with the editors serving on a panel the first night to provide students with specific advice for submitting reviews to their journal. I did such a workshop for Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies , with the editors Chon A. Noriega and Alicia Gaspar de Alba.

Session 1, Week 1

• Introduction to book reviewing
• Selecting an appropriate book to review
• Five essential elements of any book review
• Typical errors graduate student reviewers make

Session 2, Week 10

• Assignment: First draft due
• Discussion of the writing process and challenges
• Exchanging and critiquing first drafts
• Some instructions on revising

Session 3, Week 16

• Assignment: Final draft due
• Working with editors and the publication process
• Refreshments