MentisReading journal — for any book, in any language
Upload the book as a file, search for it by title, or paste a link. Mentis fills in the reading journal in your school's format for grades 1–11. For a short story you can simply snap the pages. You can come back to the journal any time during the year and quickly refresh what the book was about.
Grades 1–11
template per curriculum
Any language
of the book and the journal
~1 minute
to a ready PDF
Finished the book in the summer, and by September you can't remember who the main character was?
Mentis helps you build a reading journal quickly in the correct school format. The journal stays in the app: before a literature lesson you can open it and remember what the book was about in a minute, instead of flipping through the pages again.
Especially convenient for families living abroad: the book can be in any language, and the journal can be in English, Russian or the original.
Without Mentis vs. with Mentis
Without Mentis
- Skim the book again to remember the plot
- Hunt online for the right journal template for the grade
- Translate the content from the country's language into your own by hand
- Start a fresh notebook entry from scratch every time
With Mentis
- Upload the book — a full journal entry is ready in a minute
- The template already fits the grade, from 1 to 11
- Journal in your language — English, Russian or the book's original
- Every journal in one place, available all year
How it works
Upload the book
Upload a file, find the book by title through search, or paste a link. If it is a short story and the book is on paper, you can simply snap a few pages.
Get the journal
Mentis builds a ready school-style entry for the grade you need, in the language you choose — regardless of the book's language.
Save anywhere
Edit any block in your own words and save the finished text as a PDF, or keep it inside the app.
The journal stays with you all year
You wrote the book down in the summer and it isn't going anywhere. Before a literature lesson, a test, or when the teacher asks what that book was about, open Mentis and refresh your memory in a minute. All the books you've read live in one place and are available whenever you need them.
What Mentis can do
3 levels by grade
Primary (1–4), middle (5–9), high school (10–11). The template adapts to the curriculum. You can also regenerate the text at any difficulty level.
Any source
A file (PDF, DOCX, TXT, FB2), search by title, or a direct link to the book. For short texts a photo of the pages works too, but for longer works a file or search is easier.
Open library search
Search for books across open libraries right inside the app.
Any language
Create the journal in English, Russian or the book's original language. Handy if you are studying not in your native tongue.
Edit any section
The journal is not locked. Rewrite any section, add your own thoughts, ideas and themes right in the interface.
Export to PDF
A finished journal, ready to print or send to a teacher.
What an entry looks like
Sample entryHere is what the result looks like for Fyodor Dostoevsky's "White Nights".
Reading journal
Grade 10 · English
Author
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Title
"White Nights"
Genre
sentimental novella
Year
1848
Main characters
The Dreamer — the narrator, a lonely, shy man who lives in a world of his own fantasies. He talks to the buildings and streets of St. Petersburg, invents stories about the passers-by and is afraid of real life. His dreaminess is not romantic but painful: it cuts him off from people and keeps him from acting. Nastenka — a 17-year-old girl who has spent almost a year under the care of her blind grandmother, who literally pinned the girl's dress to her own so she wouldn't run away. She is sincere and kind, but naive and emotional: all summer she waits for her sweetheart to return and does not know how to live if he does not come.
Plot
The action unfolds during the white nights of St. Petersburg, when the city empties out and everyone leaves for the country. The Dreamer walks along the lonely streets, "meeting" the buildings and rare passers-by. On the embankment he sees a girl being harassed by a stranger and steps in to protect her. That is how he meets Nastenka. She offers him friendship but asks him not to fall in love: her heart is taken by a lodger she promised to wait for a year. Over four nights they tell each other their stories. On the fourth night the lover does not answer, Nastenka despairs, and the Dreamer confesses his love. She says she loves him too — but at that very moment the lover appears. Nastenka rushes to him, but not before kissing the Dreamer. In the morning he receives a letter: she asks his forgiveness and tells him she is getting married. The Dreamer is left alone, yet he does not turn bitter — he is grateful for the minute of happiness he was given.
Themes and problems
The central conflict of the novella is not the love triangle but the clash of the inner world with reality. The Dreamer lives in his fantasies because reality frightens him. Nastenka tries to hold on to a promise that reality has already broken. Both look for happiness in an illusion, and both come up against the truth: a dream cannot replace the real world. The white nights of St. Petersburg underline this state: the city is beautiful but empty, and in that empty space loneliness becomes almost physically felt.
Main themes: loneliness and dreaminess as escape from life; the contrast between dream and reality; unhappy love and self-sacrifice; the search for happiness and disappointment; the city as a backdrop of alienation.
"My God! A whole minute of bliss! Is that really so little for the whole of a man's life?"
My takeaway
Dostoevsky shows that a person can stay human even when life has not lived up to their hopes. The Dreamer does not humiliate Nastenka and does not complain about fate: he is grateful for a single minute of real feeling, one that will "last a whole lifetime." That gratitude is the story's main lesson: it does not matter how long happiness lasts — what matters is that you keep the ability to value it and do not lose your dignity in the face of betrayed love. There is no villain in the book, only people, each vulnerable in their own way and each fighting for their own happiness.
Every block can be edited right in the app so you can add your own opinion. Save the journal as a PDF or leave it inside Mentis to come back to it before literature class.
Frequently asked questions
What is a reading journal and why do you need one?
A notebook where you record books you have read for class: author, genre, characters, plot, a quote and your takeaway. It helps with literature lessons and tests. Many schools check the journal in September, after summer reading.
How should the journal be laid out?
In primary school (grades 1–4) six items are enough: author and title, genre, main characters, a short plot (3–5 sentences), one quote, and a personal review. In middle and high school the requirements go deeper: conflict, themes, problem and historical context. Mentis fills in the right template for any grade from 1 to 11.
What if I don't have a file with the book?
No problem. Mentis searches open full-text libraries. Storefronts and preview services are excluded — we only pull from sources that carry the entire text.
What should I write in the review?
Three sentences: what you liked → what the book taught you → who you would recommend it to. A personal opinion matters more than a retelling. Mentis will draft the review — from there you can rewrite it in your own words.
Can I use the app instead of reading the book?
No. Mentis helps you quickly recall a book and fill in the school journal, but reading the book itself is still the point. It is especially handy when you read something in June and by September the details are fuzzy. The journal exists to refresh the plot, characters and main idea in about a minute.
What if the book is in a foreign language?
Choose the journal language — English, Russian or the original language. That way the content is clear in your native tongue, and you can turn the journal in in the language of your school.
Are the journals saved? Can I look at them later?
Yes. Every journal you create stays in the app and can be opened any time during the year — before a lesson or a literature test — to quickly remember what the book was about.