How to talk to your child about a book

Worksheet comprehension is useful, but conversation is where understanding is built. Any parent can do this with a book their child is reading.

Six questions that work

• What do you think the character is feeling here?
• Which word tells you that?
• Why did they make that choice?
• What would you have done?
• What does that sentence tell us about the setting?
• What do you think happens next — and why?

The rule of one

Ask one question, then listen. A ten-minute conversation with one good question beats twenty quick questions fired in sequence.

Let them disagree with you

When a child argues their interpretation, they are reasoning. That is exactly the skill an exam asks for — and it is far more likely to appear in a conversation at the kitchen table than in a workbook.