My students love mysteries! After my fourth graders picked a good mystery book and read it from cover to cover, we created Mystery Book Reports. This is included in my Book Reports That Motivate!

1.  Decorate a title page.

2.  Write a summary with suspense all the way up until “who did it.”  

Paste it inside on the left of the booklet. A graphic organizer or checklist of things for students to include is helpful!

a.  Description of the main character and setting at the beginning of the summary.

b.  Detailed information about the problem/mystery.

c.  Plot is clear, evident, and easy to understand.

d.  Good sentence structure and paragraph format.

e.  Details have words that create a picture in the reader’s mind

3.  Then write the ending and 2 other possible endings.  

Paste it inside on the right of the booklet. **Make sure to tell your students to mix up the endings! This will help when students present the mysteries to the class. They want to be able to stump their classmates and have them guess one of their own endings, NOT the real one!