A topic is a word or phrase (a few words) that tells what something is about. For example, a friend might ask you, "What's this book about?" Your friend doesn't want to know everything about the book. He or she just wants to know the topic. You would answer your friend with something like, "It's about mountain climbing," or "It's about the Second World War"
In this unit, you'll learn to look for the topic when you read. The topic is the key to understanding what you read. It also helps you remember. A good reader always asks, "What is this about? What is the topic?