When we read a body of work it will tend to set off emotions within our ourselves. Sometimes it will make us excited. Other times we may be angered or saddened by what we are reading. That what literature can do to its readers. When we can identify an emotional response that response is referred to as the mood of the story. The mood is often driving by the setting and the language the author uses. The unique thing about the mood is that it can often change and transform over the course of the work. In fact, the best works have many transitions throughout the course of a story.

While the mood is a more internal aspect to the reader the tone of a work is the approach the author takes to the work leaving us to determine the author's attitude of the subject they are exploring. The tone is often dictated by the word choice an author decides upon. Some of the words will produce a positive tone such as the use of the word "joyful" to describe a person. Other words could bring a negative tone such as the use of the "hostile" to describe a person. Then you have benign or neutral words such as "impartial" that make it hard to gauge the tone of the work. These worksheets will help students learn to identify and breakdown the mood and tone of a work.