Book review template Word

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 continue to 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. Its also a great way to force myself pay attention to how Im feeling while Im 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 isnt]. The review at the end helps me to organize my thoughts. I also find that I remember more once Ive written a review.

Once youve decided its 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 its a good starting point. Instagram reviews tend to be a lot shorter than blog reviews, for instance.

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 doesnt 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 youre 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.

Book Review Templates and Formats

Essay-Style

This is a multi-paragraph review, usually with no headers. Its 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? Dont evaluate a romance novel based on a mystery novels 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 didnt like it, but its 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 its very straightforward and applies to almost any fiction read. It can also be adaptedyou 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 dont neatly fit into these categories, or you could feel like you dont 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 Didnt 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 didnt 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:

A Listicle

Another approach to the review is not, strictly speaking, a book review template at all. Instead, its 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 ontraditional book reviews often get less views than more general posts.

On the other hand, listicles can come off as gimmicky or click-bait. Youll 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 110, 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 Njeris from Onyx Pages, because it shows exactly what shes 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 its usually informal and often silly. You can add what youre loving, what youre hating, and what questions you have as you go.

This is a fun format for when youre 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 dont 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. Dont 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 books cover
• Publisher
• Page count
• 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 publishers]
• What kind of representation there is in the novel [including race, disability, LGBTQ characters, etc]
• Anything youre tracking in your reading, including: authors of color, authors country, if a book is in translation, etc

Review Elements

Once youve established your basic information, youre 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/wouldnt recommend, or your own scale]
• Who would like it/Who wouldnt 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
• Genre-dependent ratings, like:
  • BooksandLalas Scary, Unsettling, and Intrigue ratings, for horror
  • World-building, for fantasy and science fiction titles
  • Art, for comics
  • Narration, for audiobooks
  • Romance, forromance
  • 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 its 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 youre looking for more ways to keep track of your reading, youll also like 50+ Beautiful Bujo Spread Ideas to Track Your Reading.