A Note to Parents and Educators:

Reading with our children can lead to many unique opportunities to talk with our children. And as we talk with them, we begin to see their strengths, their abilities, their minds at work, and their imaginations at play.

The following questions are meant to be springboards for starting the discussion process. As you will see, many of them can also lead into other subjects such as art, history, or geography. Turning a story into a play or a comic book covers a range of abilities and provides opportunities to explore different means of communicating. Far more than exercises in grammar and syntax, reading and writing can take you beyond your own abilities and experiences to new adventures every time.

50+ Questions to Foster Discussion, Comprehension and Imagination in Your Young Reader

1. Who is the main character of the story?
2. What problem/challenge do they have to face?
3. Does the writer describe what they look like?
4. Could you draw a picture of that person?
5. Is there another person or event that causes the problem in the story?
6. How would you solve the problem?
7. Can you find an example of a sentence with three or more nouns in it?
8. What tense is used for the verbs in this story?
9. Is this story fiction or non-fiction?
10. Do the pictures add information to the story that isn’t part of the text?
11. How would you turn this story into a play?
12. What would a backdrop for this story look like?
13. Could this story have ended differently?
14. How many "scenes" did each chapter contain?
15. Did everything in the story happen in one location?
16. What parts of the story would you have to leave out to make it into a comic book?
17. Pick one scene from the story — what music would you play if this were happening in a movie?
18. Look at an example of dialog (characters speaking) — what do their words suggest about their age, education, job or the part of the world they might come from?
19. Is there a part of the story that is new or unfamiliar to you?
20. What do you think will happen in the next chapter or in the next book?
21. What do you know about the place this story happens in? (i.e., weather, city or country, past or future, …)
22. Does this story remind you of any other stories you have read in the past?
23. If you were recommending this book to a friend, what would you say?
24. If you were NOT recommending this book to a friend, what would you say?
25. How long is the average sentence in this story? Short, medium or very long?
26. Pick one page of your story - how often are conjunctions used?
27. Could you write a different story beginning with the same sentence as the story you just read?
28. Could you draw a map of the place your story took place? Why or why not?
29. Could you make a calendar of the story you’ve just read? Why or why not?
30. What is one lesson that the main character might have learned through the events of this story?
31. Who are some of the additional or supporting characters in this story?
32. How would the story be different without the additional characters?
33. If you were a newspaper reporter, how would you tell the same story?
34. Does this story show you how people might live differently than you do?
35. What do they do that is the same as in your home?
36. Are there any imaginary creatures in this story?
37. What animals are mentioned in this story?
38. Do the animals contribute to the story or are they part of the scenery? (i.e., a run-away horse, or a horse grazing in a pasture)
39. What do you know about that animal that isn’t in this story?
40. Did you find any part of this story funny? Why or why not?
41. If you could be part of the story, which person or animal would you be?
42. How do you think the illustrations/cover pictures were made? (i.e., pencil, photograph, paint)
43. Find a sentence that uses an adjective and change it — how does that affect the meaning of that sentence?
44. Can you find examples of color in this story?
45. Does this story suggest a topic you would like to learn more about?
46. Can you think of a different title for this story?
47. Approximately how many people are in this story?
48. Would you say this story has a happy ending? Why or why not?
49. What kind of story is your favorite? (Ie. adventure, mystery, history, …)
50. What would you like to read next?