BOOK REVIEW

“Show me a family of
readers, and I will
show the people who
move the world.”

Napoleon Bonaparte
“The more I read, the
more I acquire, the
more certain I am
that I know nothing.”

Voltaire
“Reading is to the
mind what exercise
to the body.”

Joseph Addison
• One of the basic school
requirements is writing a book
review or an article critique. A
book review or an article critique
gives essential information about a
book (fiction or nonfiction) or an
article (e.g., from newspaper,
magazines, academic journals) and
provides an evaluation or a critical
analysis of it.
•This type of academic writing
is usually required in courses
in the Humanities such as
literature, history, and
philosophy, and in the Social
Sciences such as sociology,
psychology, and political
science.
1. Read the Material
• Before you can begin writing a book
review or an article critique, you have
to read and understand the material
first. Academic materials demand a
different way of reading from those
which require mere pleasure reading.
The material that you will review or
critique would require you to read
actively, intelligently,
and critically. You have to go beyond
the content of the material.
2. Determine the Elements
• As you read, take down notes. Write
down the following elements which
will be useful in your review or
critique: title; genre; for a book:
theme(s), characters, mood, and
tone; for an article: main ideas or
arguments, and presentation of
ideas; author’s writing style and
language; and author’s purpose.
3. Formulate questions about
the content.
•These questions may be about
concepts that you do not fully
understand or you want to
elaborate later on in your
analysis.
4. Read the material more
than once for an in-depth
understanding of what the
author is trying to convey.
• Write the Review or Critique Paper
• Your paper should give an informed
analysis of the material. It should be
more than just a summary of the
book or article.
• Be mindful of the structure of your
review or critique. Like all essays, a
book review or an article critique has
an introduction, body, and
conclusion.
Introduction
As a starting point for your
book review or article critique,
use the notes that you have
taken down while you were
critically reading the material.
Be guided by the following
when writing the introduction:
1. Know the context or
information in which the
material was written—author’s
background (i.e., life, culture,
and beliefs); and social,
economic, or political
conditions in which the
material was produced.
2. Mention the title of the
material, year or date of
publication, and author’s name.
3. If writing an article critique, state
the main argument or author’s
purpose of the material.
4. Come up with a thesis statement
which will indicate what your
evaluation of the material will be. If
you are doing a book review, is it a
positive, negative, or mixed review?
If you are writing an article critique,
are you for or against the main
argument?
5. Briefly summarize the book or the
main points of the article.
Techniques one may use in a
book review:
1. Quotation
2. Questions
3. Short Story
4. Poem
5. Joke
Body
This is the analysis and
evaluation part of the review or
critique paper. Here are some
questions that can help in your
critical evaluation of the
material.
• When writing a book review:
• What are the setting, theme(s),
plot, characterization, and other
significant literary devices used
by the author?
• How do these elements
contribute to the overall meaning
of the book?
• What are the strengths and
weaknesses of the book?
• What significant human experience
and relationships can you relate
with in light of your personal
experience?
• How is the book similar to and/or
different from other books in the
same genre?
• Is the book informative,
entertaining, or meaningful? Would
you recommend it to others? Why or
why not?
• When writing an article critique:
• Are the ideas presented clear and
convincing? What pieces of evidence
are used to support the author’s ideas?
Are they valid or accurate?
• Is the purpose of the paper achieved?
If yes, how? If no, why not?
• What is the overall structure of the
article? Are the ideas logically
organized and adequately developed?
• What are the strengths and
weaknesses of the article?
• What further issues does the
article raise?
• Does the article contribute to
your knowledge or understanding
of a particular concept or topic?
How is it helpful to other works
in its discipline or to works of
related topic?
Considerations:
•Elements
•Literary Devices
•Approaches
•Value of Content
•Validity
 Conclusion
•This is a brief summary of
your overall evaluation of the
material. You may include here
the main reasons, stated in
the body paragraphs, why you
agree or disagree with the
author.
 Task
Choose a short story
and write a review.