Comprehension Questions/Tasks for
Fiction Books/Stories
Before Reading
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Why did you pick to read this book?
Look at the pictures what do you think
will happen in this book? What makes you
think that?
What characters do you think might be in
our story?
What kind of problem do you think might
happen in this book?
During Reading
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What do you think will happen next?
What can you tell me about the story so
far?
Can you predict how the story will end?
Why do you think the character did
_______?
How would you have felt if you were the
character? (use different characters)
As I read____________, it made me
picture________ in my head. What
pictures do you see in your head?
As you read, what are you wondering
about?
Can you put what you’ve just read in your
own words?
Comprehension Questions/Tasks for
Nonfiction Books/Stories
Before Reading
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During Reading
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After Reading
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Look at the title of the book. In your
opinion, was it a good title for this book?
Why or why not?
Were your predictions about the story
correct?
If there was a problem, did it get solved?
What happened because of the problem?
What made you pick this book?
What do you already know about this subject?
What are you hoping to learn from this book?
Do you think this book needs to be read from
the first page to the last page like a regular
fiction text? Why or why not?
Look at the Table of Contents. What page
would we go to in order to learn more about
______?
Where is the first place your eyes go when you
look at this page? (the text, the picture, the
caption, the graph or diagram, etc.)
What is the most interesting fact you learned
about ______ on this page?
What did the author do to make this easier for
you to understand? (She provided a picture and
a caption; she defined new words; he used a
chart or table; he labeled his diagram to match
the text, etc.)
What have you read that you already knew
from some other book or source? Is there
anything you think you disagree with?
Why are some words
in boldface, italics, underlined, or in ALL
CAPITALS? What did you do to make sure you
understood those words?
After Reading
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What is this book/story about? What do you
think the author wanted you to learn from
reading it?
How can this book help you in life? How can
you help other people with this knowledge?
Name at least 2 text features used in this book.
Explain how these text features supported your
understanding of the text.
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Why do you think the author wrote this
book?
What is the most important point the
author is trying to make in his writing?
What was your favorite part of the story?
What would you have done if you were
the character?
If you could change one thing in the story,
what would it be?
Can you retell the story in order?
If you were __________, how would you
have felt?
What is the most interesting part of the
story?
Is there a character in the story like you?
How are you alike? How are you
different?
Why did you like this book?
Tell me the main idea or main lesson from
this story.
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What is something you read about _____ that
you didn’t know before?
What does ___ (vocabulary word) mean? How
do you know?
What does ___ (phrase or sentence from the
text) mean? How do you know?
How do you think the author learned so much
about this subject? Where did she get all this
information?
Why do you think this author wanted to write
such a book? What was his intention?
What caused ___ to happen?
What effect did ___ have on ___?