A reading response question asks your child to say something about a reading and show where in the reading the answer comes from. Some ask what happened, some ask why, some ask what your child thinks. A good written answer is short: one sentence that answers the question in its own words, then one detail from the reading that backs it up. Below are reading response questions that work with any book, sorted by the kind of thinking they ask for. There is also a short original reading to practise on, a worked example of a spoken answer turned into a written one, three questions to try with suggested answers and a free printable worksheet.
Why write about a reading at all?
Talking about a book is the natural first step, and for many days it is enough. Writing asks for something more. Your child has to pick one answer, put it in order and find the words in the reading that support it. A spoken answer can wave at the story. A written one has to point.
There is research behind the habit. Writing to Read, a 2010 report for Carnegie Corporation of New York by Steve Graham and Michael Hebert, reviewed studies of writing about texts. Across them, writing about a reading had an average effect size of 0.40 on comprehension, and it did better than simply reading the text, rereading it or discussing it. One finding matters most at home. In the small number of studies with children who found reading harder, writing about a text helped when they were taught how to do it and showed no benefit when they were simply asked to write. The children in those studies were in schools, most of them in middle or high school, so treat this as a reason to show your child a worked example first, not as a promise about any one child.
Read this short passage together
The late library book
On Tuesday morning, Leo found a library book under his bed. It was called Birds of the Coast, and it was three weeks late. A postcard from his aunt was still tucked inside as a bookmark. Leo's mother told him the fine was ten cents a day. He emptied his money jar onto the table and counted one dollar and forty cents. That afternoon he walked to the library with the book, the jar and the postcard. He told the librarian, Mrs Okafor, that the late book was his fault and that he had brought all the money he had. Mrs Okafor looked at the book and then at the jar. “This is the first time a book has come back with a story inside it,” she said. Then she showed him a shelf of new books about seabirds.
Ask your child to tell you what happened before any questions. Keep the passage in view. Every answer below should be one your child can check against it.
Five kinds of reading response questions
Most good questions about a reading ask for one of five kinds of thinking. Mixing them across a week gives your child practice in each, and it stops every day from being the same retelling.
| Kind | What it asks your child to do | Example on the reading |
|---|---|---|
| Retell | put the main events in order, in their own words | What did Leo do after he found the book? |
| Explain why | give a reason the reading states or makes clear | Why did Leo take his money jar to the library? |
| Read between the lines | work out something the reading does not say outright, and show the clue | Did Leo have enough money to pay the fine? How do you know? |
| Connect | link the reading to their own life or to another book | Have you ever had to own up to a mistake? What did you do? |
| Give an opinion | take a side and back it with a reason from the reading | Should Mrs Okafor take Leo's money? Why or why not? |
The third row is the one children find hardest and the one worth returning to. The reading never says Leo was short of money. Ten cents a day for three weeks comes to two dollars and ten cents, and he had one dollar and forty cents. A child who works that out has read the passage closely.
Reading response questions for any story
These work with a picture book, a chapter of a novel or a myth. Choose one for the day, not the whole list.
- What happened first, next and last?
- What problem does the main character have, and how do they try to solve it?
- Why did a character make the choice they made? Find the sentence that tells you.
- How does a character feel at the start, and how do they feel at the end? What changed?
- What does a character say or do that shows what kind of person they are?
- What is one thing the story does not tell you directly, but you can work out?
- Which word or sentence helped you picture the scene best? Why?
- Where and when does the story happen? How do you know?
- What do you think will happen next? What in the story makes you think so?
- Would you have done the same as the main character? Why or why not?
- Does this story remind you of another book you know? How are they alike?
- What would you ask the author if you could?
Reading response questions for nonfiction
Nonfiction asks for slightly different questions, because the reading is explaining something rather than telling a story.
- What is this reading mostly about? Say it in one sentence.
- What are two facts you learned? Write them in your own words.
- How does something in the reading work, step by step?
- Why does something happen? What reason does the reading give?
- Which fact surprised you most? Why?
- What does a hard word in the reading mean? What clues helped you?
- How is this like something you already knew, and how is it different?
- What question do you still have after reading?
- If you had to teach this to someone younger, what would you tell them first?
- Do you agree with the writer? What part of the reading do you agree or disagree with?
Talk first, then write one answer
Children often know the answer and still freeze over the page. Splitting the work into three short steps helps. First, ask the question aloud and let your child answer aloud. Second, jot the key words of that answer as notes, with the detail from the reading that supports it. Third, turn the notes into a sentence.
The notes step is where the thinking happens. A child who writes fine 10c a day / 3 weeks late / jar $1.40 has already found the evidence. Turning that into a sentence is a writing job, not a reading one, and it is easier when the facts are already on the page.
A worked example: from a spoken answer to a written one
Question: Why did Leo take his money jar to the library?
Most children will say “To pay.” That is right, and it is a start. Ask what he was paying for, and how they know. Then write the notes together:
Notes
- pay fine for late book
- fine 10c a day / 3 weeks late
- told Mrs Okafor brought all money
Now turn the notes into an answer while you think aloud: “I'll start with the question's own words, so the reader knows what I'm answering. Then I need one detail from the reading that proves it. The fine and the late book are the proof.”
Leo took his money jar to the library because he wanted to pay the fine for his late book. His mother had told him the fine was ten cents a day, and he told Mrs Okafor that he had brought all the money he had.
Read it aloud and check it against the passage. The first sentence answers the question. The second gives two details, both from the reading. Nothing is invented. That two-part shape (answer, then evidence) is the one to aim for in almost every reading response.
Let your child try three questions
Use the same passage. Each question is a different kind. Talk through the answer first, and write notes if it helps. One question is plenty for a day.
- Retell: What did Leo do after he found the book? Write two or three sentences in order.
- Read between the lines: Did Leo have enough money to pay the fine? Say how you know.
- Give an opinion: Should Mrs Okafor take Leo's money? Give one reason from the reading.
Show suggested answers
- Leo found out the fine was ten cents a day and counted the money in his jar. Then he walked to the library with the book, the jar and the postcard and told Mrs Okafor the late book was his fault.
- No, Leo did not have enough money. The book was three weeks late, so the fine was two dollars and ten cents, but he only had one dollar and forty cents.
- I think Mrs Okafor should not take all of Leo's money, because he brought the book back himself and told her it was his fault. Or: I think she should take it, because Leo said the late book was his fault and he wanted to pay.
These are examples. Accept other wording if the answer matches the question, uses the reading for its evidence and makes sense read aloud. The opinion question has no single right side; the reason is what counts.
The second question is the hardest, because the answer needs arithmetic the reading leaves to the reader. If your child gets stuck, ask how many days are in three weeks, then how much ten cents a day comes to.
When a written response goes wrong
Most weak answers have one of six problems. Each has a quick fix. Work on one problem in a sitting, not all six.
| Problem | What it looks like | What to say |
|---|---|---|
| A one-word answer | To pay. | Say it as a whole sentence that uses the question's words. |
| No evidence | Leo was honest. | Which sentence in the reading shows that? Add it. |
| Evidence that is not in the reading | Leo cried because he was scared of Mrs Okafor. | Point to where it says that. If it is not there, it cannot be the evidence. |
| The whole story retold | A full retelling in answer to a why question | Read the question again. Which part of the story answers it? |
| An answer to a different question | Leo found the book under his bed. (asked why he went to the library) | Is that what happened, or why it happened? Try because. |
| An opinion with no reason | She should take the money. | Finish the sentence with because, and use something from the reading. |
How many questions, and how often?
One question after each reading is enough. Ask it after the reading, not during, so the story is not interrupted. Rotate through the five kinds over a week: retell on Monday, explain why on Tuesday and so on.
A plain notebook kept for this is a reading response journal. Date each entry, copy the question at the top and write the answer underneath. Over a few months it becomes a record of what your child has read and how their answers have grown. On a tired day, a spoken answer still counts. The habit of answering with evidence matters more than filling a page.
A free printable reading response worksheet
If you would like practice on paper, our Reading Notes sample is a complete 7-page worksheet PDF you can print. It is built on one public-domain reading, Down the Rabbit-Hole by Lewis Carroll, which is also free as a reading PDF. Read the chapter together first.
The worksheet practises the notes step from this guide in four sections: keep key words, make short notes, order the ideas and notes into sentences. In the last section your child turns a line of notes such as Rabbit words seemed natural / watch surprised Alice / Alice ran after it back into one or two complete sentences, which is the same move as the worked example above. This sample is the Independent Practice answer copy, so each exercise is followed by a suggested solution. Cover the solutions, or copy the exercises into a notebook and compare afterwards.
When your child has finished the worksheet, ask one question from the lists above about the same chapter and let them answer it from their notes. You may print and adapt the samples for your own household.
Where reading response fits with sentence and paragraph work
Many reading response answers are one sentence with because in the middle, so because, but and so is the natural sentence practice to pair with it. When your child's answers start to run to three or four sentences that belong together, they are ready to shape them into a paragraph. Sentence combining helps when an answer is a row of short sentences that need joining.
If you are new to teaching writing from a reading, our guide to starting The Writing Revolution at home shows where each activity fits. You can also open the other free samples on our home page. There is one for each of our six kinds of writing practice.
Zigzag & And is an independent publisher. We are not affiliated with or endorsed by The Writing Revolution. The examples in this guide are our own.