Write a Book Report Without Reading the Book
Book reports, to some, are among the most unpleasant tasks that young students face. It can be difficult to summon up the motivation to finish the book, especially if it is particularly boring. Follow these steps to make a book report out of nothing if you are a lazy, workshy individual who has a 'can't be bothered' attitude or, you have been assigned a virtually impossible task by your teacher or tutor.
Steps
- Ask for help! If you don't understand the book because you don't understand the language it is written in, for example, you are English and don't speak much French, and the book is written in medieval French, you've been set a virtually impossible task! Speak to your tutor or teacher and explain if the assignment is beyond your ability. If your teacher believes you can write the book report they have set, ask if there are translations of the book available in your native language or some language you understand. Ask if there is an abridged version, a modern version, a screen play script, or even a children's version. Getting to know the basic story or content of the book will help if you do decide to try to read the actual book.
- Read as much of the book as you can. If you don't have time to read the book and have a genuine reason, try asking for an extension on your assignment. Read what you do understand of the book. Even when you didn't understand some word or phrases or sometimes some situations even, try to take out the meaning of the thing you didn't understand and focus on what did make sense to you. Read the chapter or chapters you did understand again and again to get as much detail from those parts as possible. You can always BS your report a little by stating in it that you focussed on this specific part of the book as you felt it was the most pivotal part of the story or most informative part of the book.
- Get some help on line. There may be copied of the assigned book review published online that you can 'borrow' from.
- If you lack time only and are perfectly capable of reading the book, then you can read some chapters only. Read the first and the last para of other chapters and then write book report. Be careful - don't make your own story for the leftover part only write what you understand from the part you read, don't ever try to guess situations or events. If you have to write a specific amount of words and are looking to fill space, you can make stuff up about what happens in a fictional book you haven't read by making statements like: "The characters behave in a way contemporary to their time and place, had this story been set in another time or place, events may of played out differently such as 'add something here that is relevant to the story', however the main character, 'XXXXX' would still of....etc" This shows you understood the story but give you a little creative licence to fill your word count without actually knowing everything about the book.
- Go to a website dedicated to the author and his or her works, these are usually chock-full of facts about the book in question. If you can't find a site then Google or check Wikipedia.
- If you can choose a book, choose one you know one of your friends is reading and ask the friend who is reading it to tell you about . |Don’t tell them that you haven't read the book, just pretend that you are wondering how they liked it, or say that you didn’t understand one part. Then, hopefully, they will inform you of what they know in a boastful manner. Take advantage of this to grill them for further information.
- Skim through the book and try to read at least a little of each chapter. The back cover or inside of the book jacket usually has the basic plot line and the names of the main characters. When you know the plot outline, try to look for the climax of the book. It should be closer to the end of the novel, although this is not always the case.
- If the book has been made into a film, play or other dramatization, watch it! Whilst acted out stories don't always stick exactly to the original plot of a book, you'll get some clues. If nothing else it may help you understand the book a little better.
- Find out if the book you are been assigned to write a book report or have chosen to write about is available as an audio book. Listening to the story instead of reading it might help.
- Consider, if you have a choice of book to write an assignment on, selecting a book you have read but not read recently. Perhaps you have a favourite book that you have read many times that you can write your report on.
- If you need to write a book report on a non fiction, research the topic in general and find other books on the same subject. Compare the book with others. You don't have to read the book totally to be able to provide more statistical information about it in your report. For example, 'Whilst Wilder's Works of EA Billingares devotes two chapters to Billingares development of photographic techniques, Thompson's History of Photographic Coloration barely mentions his work giving just one paragraph to his use of Cholretal Tinting'. Comment on the quality of the illustrations if you can and are getting desperate. Note when the book was published and see if there's any suppositions you can make based on political feeling at the time, or the economy.
- Don't get marked down for bad spelling, grammar and punctuation. Present your report well for more marks. Produce a neat, tidy book report. Your teacher or tutor will be more suspicious that you haven't put as much effort as you could into your book report if it is full of bad spelling, is messy and not well written.
Tips
- Try to add in saying "In chapter ___ this happened and I felt ______" That doesn't mean you have to read the book, but maybe just flip to a page and skim that chapter.
- Try to put in something like "In the middle of the book difficult things happen and the (main character) changes and at the end the problems are fixed." Sometimes improvisation works!
- Explain what you might feel when reading the book like saying "I was so relieved that the character made it through." etc.
- Add lots of praise for the book, as this will make the report indistinguishable from your classmates' projects. The last thing you need is a teacher telling other people about how good a report writer you are when you have told other students that you didn't read the book.
- Try not to focus on one part of the book unless you have to. Your teacher may become suspicious and confront you on why you chose to write on one specific part. You can always just prepare for this by thinking of a plausible reason but it is best to just spread your comments out onto more than one happening.
- The worst thing you can do is choose a popular book that you don't want to read. Chances are your teacher knows the plot line to Moby Dick, Frankenstein and many others!
Warnings
- Never get caught! You could get into trouble!
Things You'll Need
- The book
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- Write a Good Summary for a Book Report
