WritersLockReading Log Template: Free Printable
Fourteen books, one page, dates and a rating.
A one page reading log with room for fourteen books: title, author, the date you started, the date you finished, the page count and a rating you fill in by hand. Free for home, classroom and library use.
Download the PDF
No email, no account, no watermark. Print as many as you want.
Free for personal and classroom use. Print as many copies as you like. Please do not resell or redistribute the file itself.
How to use this reading log
Log the book you abandoned. Write the title, write the author, put the page you stopped at in the PAGES column, and leave FINISHED blank. That counts. A log that only records finished books teaches a child that a book they did not like was time wasted, and the single most useful reading habit anyone can learn is putting down a book that is not working and picking up another one.
Fill in STARTED on the day you start, not retrospectively. It is the only column that has to be written in the moment, and the gap between the two dates is the most interesting number on the sheet: it tells you which books were actually gripping and which ones took three weeks of five reluctant pages.
The twenty squares at the top are a separate count from the table on purpose. They are for the year, or the summer, or the term — whatever the program is — and they carry across sheets. Fourteen rows fill up faster than twenty squares do, and a kid who has moved on to their second sheet with eleven squares filled can see the run they are on.
Rate the book the day you finish it, before anyone asks what you thought. The circles are outlines rather than filled shapes so the rating is something the reader marks rather than something the sheet decides how to display, and half a circle is a legitimate answer.
For a class set, print one per child per term rather than per month. A half-empty sheet at the end of a month reads as falling behind; the same rows spread over a term read as a shelf.
Why a paper reading log works for a summer program
A reading log has to survive being handed to a family, and paper is the only format where that is a single step. It needs no account, no device, no app store, no email address for a child, and no policy conversation about what a third party is collecting. It goes home in a bag and comes back with pen on it.
It also stays on the fridge, which is where the count actually accumulates. A log that lives inside a phone is a log a nine-year-old sees when a parent hands the phone over, which is not the same rhythm as walking past twenty squares every morning.
The honest limit: paper does not add anything up for you, and if the sheet is lost the count is lost with it. Photograph the sheet at the end of each month if the total matters.
What is on the sheet
- Books finishedTwenty small squares across the top. A running count that carries across sheets, separate from the table below.
- Fourteen rowsTitle, author, started, finished, pages and rating. Fifteen rows on A4.
- A five circle ratingOpen circles, not filled shapes, so the rating reads the same in colour and in greyscale.
- The best one so farA ruled line at the foot for the best book and why, which is the line that gets read out loud.
- A name ruleOne fill-in rule in the header, for a class set or a library program.
Printing notes
- US Letter and A4, both portrait. The A4 layout gains a fifteenth row rather than shrinking the fourteen.
- Designed for a school photocopier: the smallest type on the sheet is 7pt, the lightest rule is 0.75pt, and there is no fine hairline or faint tint that drops out on a second-generation copy.
- It prints in black and white with nothing lost. The header row tint goes grey and the row rules are heavier than the column rules, which is what keeps the table scannable without colour.
- Print at 100% with "fit to page" off, and use the 15mm margin: nothing on the sheet sits inside it, so a copier that crops slightly will not clip the table.
If you want to go further
More free printables
Frequently asked questions
Can I use this reading log for a school or library summer reading program?
Free for personal and classroom use. Print as many copies as you like. Please do not resell or redistribute the file itself. That includes classroom sets, library programs and sending it home with families.
What should a child do about a book they did not finish?
Log it. Title, author, the page they stopped at, and leave the finish date blank. Abandoning a book that is not working is a reading skill, not a failure, and a log that hides it teaches the opposite.
How many books fit on one reading log sheet?
Fourteen on US Letter and fifteen on A4, plus a twenty-square running count at the top that is meant to carry across several sheets.
Does it work for chapter books and picture books at the same time?
Yes, and that is what the PAGES column is for. A row is a row regardless of length, so a child reading twelve picture books and a child reading two novels both fill the sheet at a rate that feels fair to them.
Is there a version with a reading minutes column?
Not yet. If a program counts minutes rather than books, the PAGES column is the one to repurpose — write minutes in it and label the column header by hand on the master copy before you photocopy.
Reading time and screen time come out of the same hour
The log is not usually the thing that fails. WritersLock locks the apps that take the reading hour until the day's writing is done — and reading is what most people do with the minutes that come back.
Free 3-day trial in the app. The sheet above is free either way — no email, no account, no watermark.