Lavar Burton said it best, “Take a look, it’s in a book.”
Books are an invitation to another reality, and can provide seemingly endless writing prompts to inspire creativity.
The following is a list of prompts on books to help your students explore the places that reading can take them. More about reading than specific books, you can tailor the prompts as your needs demand.
How to Use our Book Prompts
These can be randomly assigned, or you can pull numbers out of a hat and with the number corresponding to the numbered prompts.
Also, as mentioned above, you can take any of these and tweak them to fit a book you’re reading in class. Be creative!
The Prompts:
- Write about your favorite book character. Describe an event in their day.
- What is the most important thing you have learned from a book?
- Describe your favorite type of book. What is it that makes it your choice?
- Do you have one book you love to read over and over again? What is it and why?
- What is the best part of reading?
- Describe why you pick certain types of books?
- Do you like books based on truth or entirely made up? Explain.
- Write a story that revolves around reading. Include it however you want to.
- What is your favorite thing about a new book?
- Describe your perfect place to read in. Real or imaginary, tell us about it.
- Can you remember the first time you read a book by yourself? Describe how you felt afterward.
- Why do you like to read?
- Do you still go to the bookstore? Write a story about a bookstore.
- Replace the main character in a book with yourself. Describe an event in their day.
- Re-write the end of your favorite book.
- What the best part of the library?
- Write a story about a mystery in the library.
- Write an acrostic poem using the word READING.
- How many books do you read every month? Explain your answer.
- Pick a book title and see how many words you can make from it, then include those in a short story.
- Is there something that makes reading hard? What and why?
- Does your family like to read? Write a story about reading with your family.
- Describe what a world without books would be like.
- Explain something that you wouldn’t know how to do without a book.
- Can you describe the day you read your first book with chapters?
- Write a short story that would continue where a book left off.
- Explain why your favorite book should or shouldn’t have a different ending.
- Can you describe a setting in a book that you would like to visit?
- What places have you read about in a book and would like to visit?
- Can you imagine how places look from the descriptions in a book? What makes descriptions like this realistic?
- What is a lesson you learned in a book that has stayed with you?
- Describe something you were made curious about by a book and if you went on and looked for more information about it. Can you explain why?
- Do you have a favorite villain from a book? Re-write a scene in the book for their point of view.
- Have you ever read a book that makes you laugh? Why did you laugh?
- Would you rather read a scary book or a funny book and why?
- Can you describe a favorite book character that isn’t the main character?
- Write a story about a main character’s sidekick from a book you like. Make them the star this time.
- What activity would you like to try that you read about in a book?
- Write a story about what would happen if an important event in a book changed.
- Write a story about a librarian and be as creative as possible.
- What people, besides librarians, made their jobs about books. Pick one of these jobs and write about it.
- Make up a job about books. What does this person do?
- Write a story about someone who is an author and a struggle they have.
- Why or why not: would you be an author?
- How hard do you think writing a book is? Explain your reasoning.
Needing more writing resources?
If these prompts helped or if you need other educational resources please check out the rest of our website. We’ve got literally thousands of other free printables and writing inspiration available here, so remember to bookmark now!
There are plenty of ideas, resources and more writing prompts for you to use.
And if you have a resource or an idea for us, we would love to hear it!
