Reading Stems
Use these questions stems to talk about books with your child:
Conflict
* In the story ___________________ character has a problem/conflict.
*There are __________________ problems/conflicts in the story. They are …
* The conflict was solved by... I know this is the way the problem was solved because…
* In the story the conflict was between ______________. (a character versus another character, a character verses themselves, a character verses nature)
Style
* In the story the author used _____________ to really help me hear/see the story. (Especially look for adjectives metaphors and similes)
* After reading this section I can really see ____________ in my mind, because of the way the author described it.
* I really like the way the author wrote ________________ in the story. It was funny/sad/exciting/spooky etc.
* I really like the way the author used the word ______________ in the story. It was a perfect word choice.
Characters
* The main characters in the story were___________________.
* I would describe the character of ___________ like this….
* The author gave me a clue about the character of ___________ when he/she wrote ___________.
* I really liked/disliked __________ character because….
* ____________ character is important in the story because…
* In the story ____________ character changed. The change was…
Genre
* The genre (type of story) of this book was…
Fiction - Realistic Fiction Historical Fiction Science Fiction Fantasy Fairy Tale
Non Fiction - Biography Informational
Setting (Place and time)
* The story takes place __________________.
* I would describe the setting in this way… Because of these clues the author wrote …
* This setting reminds me of …
* The time the story took place in was… (a long time ago? in the future? present day? What time during the day? What season? What month? Try to be as specific as you can. )
Plot (The author’s plan for the story)
* The main things that happened in the story were…
* I was able to predict that _________ was going to happen next, because…
* I thought of a new way to end/begin/change the story…
Point of View
* The story is told from _____________ point of view. I can tell because…
* The point of view is first person/third person.
Mood (how you felt while reading the story)
* I felt _________ (happy, sad, excited, scared) while I was reading this book.
* The funniest, saddest, most exciting, most interesting, part of the story was…
* My favorite part of the story was…
Theme (Why did the author write the book? Was he/she trying to teach you something, or help you understand something?)
* I think the author wrote this book because…
* I think the message in the story was ___________ , because…
Author
* The author would have needed to know about _____________ to write the book, because…
* After reading this book I think the author is probably interested in _____________, because…
* I think the author wanted me to know ___________ after reading this book, because…
* If I could talk to the author I would ask him/her ___________, because…
Analysis of the story (What do you think about the story)
* I would/would not like to read more books about this topic, because…
* I enjoyed reading about ___________ in this story.
* I found ___________ pictures/illustrations most interesting.
* After reading this book I would like to know more about ___________.
* I believe that ___________ would enjoy reading this book because…
* This book gave me an idea to write my own story about ___________.
Conflict
* In the story ___________________ character has a problem/conflict.
*There are __________________ problems/conflicts in the story. They are …
* The conflict was solved by... I know this is the way the problem was solved because…
* In the story the conflict was between ______________. (a character versus another character, a character verses themselves, a character verses nature)
Style
* In the story the author used _____________ to really help me hear/see the story. (Especially look for adjectives metaphors and similes)
* After reading this section I can really see ____________ in my mind, because of the way the author described it.
* I really like the way the author wrote ________________ in the story. It was funny/sad/exciting/spooky etc.
* I really like the way the author used the word ______________ in the story. It was a perfect word choice.
Characters
* The main characters in the story were___________________.
* I would describe the character of ___________ like this….
* The author gave me a clue about the character of ___________ when he/she wrote ___________.
* I really liked/disliked __________ character because….
* ____________ character is important in the story because…
* In the story ____________ character changed. The change was…
Genre
* The genre (type of story) of this book was…
Fiction - Realistic Fiction Historical Fiction Science Fiction Fantasy Fairy Tale
Non Fiction - Biography Informational
Setting (Place and time)
* The story takes place __________________.
* I would describe the setting in this way… Because of these clues the author wrote …
* This setting reminds me of …
* The time the story took place in was… (a long time ago? in the future? present day? What time during the day? What season? What month? Try to be as specific as you can. )
Plot (The author’s plan for the story)
* The main things that happened in the story were…
* I was able to predict that _________ was going to happen next, because…
* I thought of a new way to end/begin/change the story…
Point of View
* The story is told from _____________ point of view. I can tell because…
* The point of view is first person/third person.
Mood (how you felt while reading the story)
* I felt _________ (happy, sad, excited, scared) while I was reading this book.
* The funniest, saddest, most exciting, most interesting, part of the story was…
* My favorite part of the story was…
Theme (Why did the author write the book? Was he/she trying to teach you something, or help you understand something?)
* I think the author wrote this book because…
* I think the message in the story was ___________ , because…
Author
* The author would have needed to know about _____________ to write the book, because…
* After reading this book I think the author is probably interested in _____________, because…
* I think the author wanted me to know ___________ after reading this book, because…
* If I could talk to the author I would ask him/her ___________, because…
Analysis of the story (What do you think about the story)
* I would/would not like to read more books about this topic, because…
* I enjoyed reading about ___________ in this story.
* I found ___________ pictures/illustrations most interesting.
* After reading this book I would like to know more about ___________.
* I believe that ___________ would enjoy reading this book because…
* This book gave me an idea to write my own story about ___________.