How to Discuss Books with Your Kids

Have a LITERATURE DISCUSSION with your child!
Promote deeper understanding of a text.
Ask Questions before, during, and after reading.

General Questions
(Helps the reader look for and use all kinds of information about the text)

• Who is the author?
• Who is the illustrator?
• Which pictures/illustrations helped you understand the story (better)?
• Is this book fiction or nonfiction?
• How do you know?

 

• What is the genre of this text/story?  And how do you know?
• Examples: realistic fiction, fantasy fiction, science fiction, humorous fiction, poetry, historical fiction, biography (nonfiction – about a real person), nonfiction (some specific topic like Planets)
• If the book is nonfiction, is it set up in a way that could make your child think it is fiction (maybe cartoons or humor is used to relay the facts, so children think it is not real)? Clarify that this is done because the author wants the children to enjoy learning about real people, places, or things.

• What print features does the book have? (Examples: cartoons, speech bubbles, headings, diagrams, maps, photos and captions, bulleted lists, special font like boldface print.)
• What can you learn, did you learn, will you learn from the print features?

 

 

Nonfiction
Organization/Topic

• Who is (are) the main character(s)?
• What kind of book is this? (How-to, Biography, Specific Topic like “The Rainforest”)
• Is the topic stated?
• Does this book tell a story, give facts, tell how to do something, or persuade you?
• What are the different parts of this book?
• What do you already know about this topic?

Style/Tone

• What are important words (vocabulary) in this book?
• How are these words connected/related to the topic?
• Did the writer bring in expert voices (quotes)?
• Did the author make any comparisons?

 Accuracy

• What is the main idea of this section or page?
• What details support this topic?
• Locate the (2/3) details that support the topic of this part or section or page?

Illustrations/Graphics

• What kinds of illustrations and graphics are included (photographs, drawings, diagrams, cross-sections, maps, sidebars)?
• What information does the chart (map, diagram, sidebar) give you?
• Does the author use illustrations or graphics to compare ideas?
• Do the illustrations help you understand the text?
• Explain how they helped you?

Fiction
Character

• Who is (are) the main character(s)?
• Wat does the main character look like?
• Is the main character also the narrator?
• How do you know? (Words like “I, me, mine, my” would be used –First person narrative)
• If not, what words are used? (Third person narrative: “he, she, they, him, her, them)
• When does the author introduce the main character?
• Who are the minor characters (if any)? What part did the play in the story?
• Which characters are not named?
• How are the characters related to each other?

Plot

• How does the story begin?
• How does the story end?
• What is the conflict/problem or personal experience in the story?
• What happens in the story?
• What were the major events?
• How is the problem solved?
• What is the resolution/conclusion of the story? (Usually last page or paragraph)

Some stories have a problem to be solved; others have a personal experience to be shared. Adjust the questions to fit the story type.

• Character-Problem-Solution OR…
• Character-Personal Experience-Conclusion

 

Setting

• Where and when does the story take place?
• What is the setting of the book?
• Where does the action take place?
• What time of year is it?
• How much time passes in the story? A day, several days, a year, a long time?
• What details helped you figure this out?
• Could the setting be a real place that exists now? (lends to realistic fiction)
• Does the setting change over the person’s life?
• Does the setting influence the character’s actions?

Theme

• What does the writer state are the important ideas
• What does the (title, cover}dust jacket, back cover, illustrations, chapter headings, opening page) tell you about the message of the book?

Craft

• Can you show places where you really saw ________?
• Has the author drawn on his or her own life in creating this story? (Sometimes there is an excerpt in the back of the book that tells about the author, and if the author has drawn from his or her personal experiences to create the story.)
• What kind of research went into writing this book?
• What do you know from the illustrations?
• What do the illustrations make you think?

 

 

 

SUMMARIZING
THIS SKILL IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR YOUR CHILD

GENERAL (Use language that helps your son or daughter (the reader) think about the most important information).

• Think about what you know so far. (Talk about this knowledge)
• What were the most important things the writer had to say (on this page, on these 2 pages, in this chapter)?
• What two or three sentences summarize the whole story (book or chapter} put all the summaries of the chapters together for a book’s summary)?

• Tell about the whole story in just a few sentences. (This is tough at first. Encourage your child. You may have to help at first. It is not an easy skill).

 

• Think about a few sentences that tell the information in the whole book.
• Can you summarize it all in a few sentences?

You can pull it together with this:
Somebody_________(characters) wanted________(problem) but ____(events), so ____________(conclusion).

• The writer told mostly about ____________.
• Tell about the whole story.
• Tell about eh important parts of this section of the book.
• What have you learned so far?
• What do you want to remember about this book?
• What was the most important information in the story?
• What were the important concepts (ideas) the writer told about?
• What is the book mostly about?
• Can you tell about the book/section/chapter in only a few sentences?
• What is something that happened in the story that you think is important?
• How would you describe this character (plot, setting)?

 

Predicting
(Use language that prompts your son or daughter (the reader) to use what he or she knows to anticipate what will follow)

• Think about what this book might be like because you know _______ (author genre, content).
• What clues do the title and illustrations provide?
• What do you think are possible outcomes?
• What information are you using to make your prediction?

 

• What information helped you make and change your predictions (vocabulary, background knowledge, point of view, text structure}the way the text is set up…Headings, subheadings, chapters, letter format, story within a story, diary or journal entries)

• Are your predictions correct (confirmed) or discarded (not accurate)?
• What did you learn that made you change your prediction?
• What did you learn that prove your prediction was correct?

 

• Did you change your prediction? Why? What did you read that caused you to change it?