Where does the story take place?

When did the story take place?

What did the character look like?

Where did the character live?

Who are the key characters in the book?

What happened in the story?

What kinds of people are in the story?

Explain something that happened at a specific point in the story?

If you were going to interview this character / author which questions would you ask?

Which is your favourite part? Why?

Who would you like to meet most in the story? Why?

What do you think would happen next if the story carried on past the end of the book?

Who was the storyteller? How do you know?

Predict what you think is going to happen next. Why do you think this?

Is this a place you could visit? Why / why not?

How is the main character feeling at the start / middle / end of the story? Why do they feel that way? Does this surprise you?

Were you surprised by the ending? Is that what you expected? Why / why not?

What is the main event of the story? Why do you think this?

How has the text been organised?

Why do you think authors use short sentences?

How do you think it would end / should end?

Has the author used an unusual layout in the text? If so, describe it and say why you think they did this?

Has the author used a variety of sentence structures?

Has the author put certain words in bold or italic? Why have they done this?

Why did the author choose this title?

Do you want to read the rest of text? How does the author encourage you to read the rest of the text?

Can you find some examples of effective description? What makes them effective?

Which part of the story best describes the setting?

Can you find examples of powerful adjectives? What do they tell you about a character or setting?

Can you find examples of powerful adverbs? What do they tell you about a character, their actions or the setting?

Find an example of a word you don’t know the meaning of. Using the text around it, what do you think it means?

Can you think of another story that has a similar theme e.g. good over evil, weak over strong, wise over foolish?

Why did the author choose this setting?

What makes this a successful story? What evidence do you have to justify your opinion?

How could the story be improved or changed for the better?

What was the most exciting part of the story? Explain your answer as fully as you can.

What genre is this story? How do you know?

What was the least exciting part of story? Explain your answer as fully as you can.

When the author writes in short sentences, what does this tell you?

Do you know another story, which deals with the same issues e.g. social, cultural, moral issues?

Have you ever been in a similar situation to a character in the book? What happened?

How would you have felt in the same situation?

What would you have done differently to the character in a particular situation from the book?

How would you feel if you were treated in the same way as the main character?

What did the story make you think of?

Have you read any other stories that have similar characters to this one? If so, which story was it and what happened?

Do you think this book is trying to give the reader a message? It so, what is it?

Progressive questions to be used with non-fiction books