Fiction - Reading Response Questions
• You must choose ONE question to respond to each week in your notebook or on Edmodo.
• At the top of each response you need the DATE, the STANDARD, QUESTION #, Title, and
Author of your book!
• Each reading response must be 10-20 sentences in length.
• In each response, you must provide a quote from the text, and make an effort to SHOW
you thinking, and connect it back to what you have read!
RL 5.1 – I can accurately quote from a text. I can draw inferences while reading.
1.
Why do you think your author decided to write this book? Give a specific example from the text that SHOWS you
(or helps you infer) this.
2. Find a passage in the text that you thought was interesting or powerful. Copy it into your reading response. Then,
respond to this passage by explaining in YOUR OWN WORDS what the author is saying, and make an inference
about what message the author is trying to communicate to the reader through this passage.
RL 5.2 – I can find the theme in a story. I can tell how characters respond to problems.
1. What do you think the theme of this book is? Find a specific example in the text that SHOWS this theme.
2. What conflicts have been presented in the story so far? How have these conflicts been resolved? Give a specific
example that shows the conflict, and shows a resolution to this conflict.
3. How have your characters worked to solve the conflict in your story? Provide 2 examples that SHOW how your
character is working to solve this problem.
4. Summarize what has happened in your book so far in YOUR OWN WORDS.
5. Explain what the main conflict in the story is. Give 2 specific examples that SHOW this conflict.
6. In the poem or poetry book you have been reading, find 2 examples that show when the speaker is reflecting
about their topic. Re-write these examples, and explain what the speaker of the poem is thinking and feeling in
your own words (POETRY)
RL 5.3 – I can compare and contrast characters, settings, or events.
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Identify 2 of the characters in your book. Explain what you know about each character so far, and give 2
specific examples from the text that show their personality or motivations.
In detail describe the setting(s) in your book. Give 2 examples that show how this setting impacts your
characters.
Choose 2 characters in your book. Give specific examples that show how these 2 characters respond
differently to the same event in your book. Explain why they react differently.
Choose 2 characters in your book. Compare how they are similar, and provide 2 different examples for each
characters that SHOWS their similarities.
Choose 2 different settings in your book. Explain how each of these settings creates a different mood/feeling,
and causes characters to act/feel/think differently. Give an example from each setting to show this.
Explain HOW the setting of your book affects the events and outcomes in the book.
Explain what details the author provides to show us how the characters act with each other.
Explain and give 2 examples to show what attitudes the main character displays.
How does the dialogue help you understand the characters and their actions? Give 2 examples.
How does the main character change as the book moves along? Give 2 examples that show how the character
responds differently to an event at 2 points in the book that SHOWS how they have changed.
RL 5.4 – I can understand figurative language. I can understand similes and metaphors.
1.
Find 3 words that you don’t know the meaning to. Re-write the sentences the words are in, and explain how you
can determine the meaning of the word using context clues. Then look up the dictionary definitions of the words
and write them down.
2. Locate 3 examples of metaphors or similes in the text, and re-write them. What does the author compare with
each example? Explain why the author used this metaphor or simile, and how you think it helps you as a reader.
3. Find an example of a symbol the author uses throughout the book. What does this symbol represent, and find 2
examples of when the author uses this symbol in the text.
4. Find 3 different examples of figurative language in the text (hyperbole, idiom, personification, alliteration,
imagery). Re-write it, and explain WHY the author used this figurative language, and how it helps you as a reader.
RL 5.5 – I can understand the structures of stories, plays, and poems.
1.
Explain how this text is organized. Is it in chronological order, are there chapters, parts, does it jump around in
time, go in order, etc? Explain how the organization of the book helps you as a reader, or makes the book more
difficult to read. Why do you think the author choose to arrange the book this way?
2. Think about the chapters in your book, and choose one chapter to remove. Explain what chapter you would
remove, and then explain how this would change the rest of the book. Would it make the book better or worse?
3. POETRY – Choose one verse or stanza in a poem you read, re-write it. How does this verse/stanza fit into the whole
poem? What would change if it weren’t there? Why is this verse/stanza important?
RL 5.6 – I know how a narrator’s or speaker’s point of view influences a story.
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Who is telling the events in this book (narrator)? How do you know? Give an example that shows how you know
this. Is the narrator part of the story? Is this story being told in first person? How does this narrator affect the
telling of the story?
What is the narrator’s perspective? Are they in the story, or is the story being told by an outside observer? Give an
example that shows this perspective. How does the narrator’s perspective affect the telling of the story?
How does the narrator’s point of view influence how the events are described? Give an example and explain it!
Pick an event in your story. Why do you think the narrator described the events the way he/she did? Pick an
example to show the way they described this event, and explain why you think they described the event this way.
How would this story be different if another character were telling the story? Explain which character you would
choose, and how they would tell the story. Explain how this would be different from the current narrator.
RL 5.7 – Graphic Novel – I can explain how visuals contribute to a story.
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Look carefully at the style of the images in the book. How do they images help your understanding of the book?
Explain how the author uses words and images to tell the story. How do these images influence your perspective
of this story?
RL 5.9 – I can compare and contrast stories from the same genre.
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Compare the book you are reading to another book in the same genre. Compare and contrast the setting,
characters, and organization. What are the characteristics of the genre that make these book the same. What
elements of the stories are different.
Informational Text - Reading Response Questions
RI 5.1 – I can quote accurately from a text.
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Choose a quote from your book. Explain in your OWN words what the author is saying. What can you infer from
this passage?
RI 5.2 – I can find the main idea. I can find how the main idea is supported by details. I can summarize what I have read.
1.
What is the main idea of this text? Find a quote from the text that shows this main idea. What are the details that
support this main idea?
2. Write a detailed summary about what you have read in this book.
RI 5.3 – I can tell how people, events, ideas, or concepts are related.
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Choose 2 topics/ideas/concepts in your book. Explain the relationship between these concepts. What info did you
use to determine the relationship between these 2 concepts? Find a quote in the book to show this relationship.
2. Choose 2 topics/ideas/concepts/people in your book. How has the interaction between these two concepts
affected us today? Find a quotation in the book that shows this affect.
RI 5.4 – I can understand science and social studies words.
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Find 3 words in this text that you don’t know the meaning to. Re-write the sentences these words are in. Are there
any context clues that help you determine the meaning of the word? Are there any parts of the word you know?
Can you use prefixes or suffixes to help? Make a guess at what you think the words mean, and then look up the
actual meaning of the words.
RI 5.5 – I can compare and contrast texts.
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How is this book organized? Is it organized chronologically? By cause and effect? By problem and solution? How
does the organization of this book help you understand the text as you are reading? Why do you think the book is
organized in this way?
RI 5.6 – I can compare and contrast two texts that tell about the same event or topic.
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Does your book have multiple perspectives on the same event or topic? If YES … are these 1st or 2nd hand accounts
of the events? Describe the similarities and differences between the accounts. Why do you think these two
accounts are different?
RI 5.7 – I can use texts to locate an answer or to solve a problem.
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What are 3 questions you have after reading this book? Look up the answers in another book or online. Explain the
answers to each question AND where you found this information.
RI 5.8 – I can explain how authors support an idea.
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What is the author’s message in this book? Find a quote from the text that SHOWS this. Did the author use any
evidence to support his/her thinking? What evidence could the author have added to make the points stronger?
RI 5.9 – I can put together ideas from different texts to talk about a topic.
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What did you learn from this book? What were some of the important details that helped you to learn this? Compare this text
to another book you’ve read on the same topic. What was similar and different between these texts? What was one topic that
one author included that the other did not? Why do you think these authors made this decision?
EXAMPLE Weekly Reading Response
DO NOT COPY!
DATE – 3/7/13
RL 5.3 – Question # 1
Book: “The Lightning Thief” by Rick Riordan
This week I’ve been reading “The Lightning Thief” by Rick Riordan. The characters that I’ve met in my
book so far are Percy Jackson and Grover. Percy is a teenager that has earned the reputation of being a troubled
kid because accidents are always happening around him. In the book it states, “I hoped the trip would be okay.
At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn’t get in trouble” (p. 2). This quote shows that Percy gets in trouble a lot,
but it also shows that he doesn’t like getting in trouble since he doesn’t want it to happen again. Unfortunately,
this doesn’t happen when he goes on a trip to the museum. Nancy Bobofit (a bully at Percy’s school) decides to
dump her lunch into Grover’s lap. Percy gets angry, and then suddenly something happens with the water in the
fountain and Nancy is thrown into the fountain. Percy doesn’t know what happens, but I can infer that
somehow Percy caused this, and that it wasn’t an “accident”. I also have learned that Percy fiercely loves his
mother and friends. For example, when he see’s his mom after coming back from school he mentions, “My
mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should’ve been married to a millionaire, not to some jerk like Gabe” (p.
33). The fact that Percy wants the best for him mom SHOWS how much he cares for her. Also, when she is killed
by the Minotaur, Percy is very sad and can’t find joy in anything. This shows how much he loves and cares for his
mother.
Another character in my book is Grover. Grover is weak and has trouble standing up for himself. This is
shown in the text through the following quote, “Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny. He cried when he
got frustrated” (p. 3). Grover continues to show these characteristics in the book, especially when Nancy
Bobofit is throwing pieces of sandwich at him and he does not want to do anything to stop her.