Tags
The Top Ten Reasons to Host a Book Club in Your School
As a seventh grade language arts teacher in a public school, I see over 120 beautiful faces every weekday for 45 minutes a day. During those 45 minutes, I have a curriculum I am obliged to teach, but many times that curriculum gets in the way of what I know my students need: time to read and talk about what they have read. I get that it’s important (for state testing purposes, especially) to be able to determine why an author uses parallel structure in text, and I understand why students need to be able to write compound and complex sentences, but I believe it’s as important for kids to have an outlet for talking about what they have read. We have soccer club, football, cheerleading, pep squad and a host of other extracurricular activities. But for the longest time, we didn’t have a place for readers to gather and practice their art. In early February, my fantastic librarian and I decided it was high time to gather our readers and give them their own forum. We’ve met with our Book Club (no cutesy name required) twice so far this month, and everyone has had a fabulous time. So that brings me to my Top Ten List as created by book club members, my librarian and me.
The Top Ten Reasons to Host a Book Club in Your School:
- MAKE NEW FRIENDS – Many of the kids who attend book club are somewhat introverted. Gathering with others who have the same interests can encourage even the shyest in the group to contribute and friendships can spark from those common interests.
- WORK ON SOCIAL SKILLS – One of our book club members was encouraged (forced) to attend book club by her mom. Her mom believes that book club members will be more tolerant of children with social issues because they read widely, thus they have more empathy.
- HAVE FUN WITH OTHERS WHO LOVE THE SAME CHARACTERS – Katniss Everdeen seems to be everyone’s current favorite character. We have had so much fun talking about her in our Hunger Games book club. The kids feel like she’s a friend and talk about her like they’ve known her for years.
- DISCUSS BOOKS IN A SAFE ENVIRONMENT (WHERE YOU DON’T FEEL LIKE OTHERS WILL THINK YOU’RE A NERD) – Preteen and early teen readers don’t always feel comfortable talking about books in front of nonreaders; it makes them feel awkward. Book club is a safe haven for book lovers to unite without being judged.
- GET A DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW – In book club, so many ideas literally fly across the coffee table. We’ve heard on more than one occasion, “Huh, I never thought about that.”
- CLEARS UP CONFUSION – We had a multi-genre book club at the beginning of February. Several students read Unwind by Neil Shusterman. There was so much confusion about the book that was quickly resolved once the discussion started. I heard a couple of the students say they were going to go back and reread the novel now that they “got” it.
- LETS THE KIDS BE THE EXPERTS – It’s very important that the adults take the role of facilitator in book club – not a participant. As teachers, we tend to want to interject, but remember, this is for the kids. There shouldn’t be a right or wrong. If a child is on the wrong track about a novel, it doesn’t take long for a peer to redirect his or her thinking (see number 6).
- GET OUT OF THE CAFETERIA HOLDING TANK AND ENJOY A LITERARY DISCUSSION IN THE LIBRARY ON COMFORTABLE CHAIRS – Our students are penned in the cafeteria in the mornings. Sitting in the comfy chairs, talking about books is much more appealing to book lovers than sitting in a cramped cafeteria where odds are that your shoulder neighbor forgot to brush his teeth.
- ALLOWS STUDENTS TO INTERACT WITH THEIR TEACHERS IN A DIFFERENT ARENA (Yes, I’m a Hunger Games fan) – Students always see us with our “teacher face” on. It’s a nice change for them to see us engrossed in discussion and working hard NOT to use teachable moments.
- EAT A FREE BREAKFAST – No one is allowed to eat in the library…except book club members!!
Nina Anderson is an Unyielding optimist, wife, mom, daughter, 7th grade language arts teacher, student, avid reader. You can find her on Twitter as @NinaAnderson11.
Unyielding optimist, wife, mom, daughter, 7th grade language arts teacher, student, avid reader.
Nerdy Book Club 
I love book clubs! My problem is usually not having enough books. I’m always surprised at the number of families who do NOT visit the library – even in our mostly affluent area. I’ve mostly solved that issue by having three different book clubs (or book discussion group as I call them) and meeting during the students’ lunch times. This also means I can more easily offer different levels and genres.
One of first book club meetings was a multi-genre meeting. We had students sign up by genre. Each table was a genre. They loved this because they got to talk about their book and hear about others in the same genre. Not surprisingly, dystopian fiction had the largest group. Doing something like this may work since you don’t have several copies of the same book.
Love this idea! It’s far more flexible than trying to track down enough copies of the same book!
Love that idea!
We’ve never done this at our school & you’ve just convinced me to take your post to our librarian & start planning! I especially love that number seven, to show the students how much they can lead rather than follow. There can never be enough talk about books!
Great post! I have been running a book club with my Teacher Librarian for 3 years now and it has been fantastic. This year we had a donation which has allowed us to purchase multiple copies of the same book and then these “book club” copies can be used with classroom teachers for Lit Circles, etc. I love being chased down in the hallway by a child who can’t wait for our meeting to talk about our current book. It is such a lovely way to bond with students and also to keep connected to previous students. Great post! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the post. I really want to have a book club at my school. I’m thinking of starting one after spring break! How many students are in your book club? Do you think I should have a limit? Great post!
We do put limits on attendance. We limited attendance to the first 45 students. Sign up was on the library. We wouldn’t have turned anyone away had more signed up, but advertising a limit was our marketing ploy. Sign ups also allow us an estimate for food. We bought store brand granola bars and juice boxes or water.
Each book club membership is different. Last year we had about 15 consistent members. This year our multi genre meeting had about 38 kids. That’s pretty big considering it’s in the morning before school. Our Hunger Games book club had about 15 kids. We had to split into two groups so everyone had a chance to talk. And they want to meet again the week the movie comes out!
I sure hope you can organize it. Just jump in. You can’t really do it wrong!
Great post! I am student teaching in the fall and was thinking about starting a book club for the semester I was there. Do you think it is too much to accomplish in such a short amount of time?
Hi Jennifer! I think you should absolutely start a book club as soon as you get there!! The beauty of book club is you simply provide the time and place and help facilitate as needed. The kids are really in charge. It doesn’t take much time to plan, but I would recommend you enlist some help from your librarian. Also, our meeetings are about 25 – 30 minutes. I wouldn’t go any longer in junior high. There was more the kids wanted to say, but the beauty is hey left talking about books and were still talking later in the day. Limit the time so they want to come back.
Great list! I think this could apply K-12. Will you be getting paid to facilitate? If not, you should be.
Lol! No extra pay to facilitate. Almost all of our language arts teachers file in sometime during book club to watch/facilitate…we just like knowing the kids are talking about books.
I love this post! I am excited to try and start a book club at my school. Do you have any tips for starting out?
Nina, this is a timely post! I just started a book club at my school for our grade level. We don’t have an assigned book.We just talk about books we love. I am struggling to find a catchy name, but maybe we don’t need one. Ours is in the library and so far, it’s been great! Thanks for sharing your ideas!
Hi Janet! I would start by doing an informal poll of your students. Ask them what they’re reading. If you find a common book, organize a meeting using that title. If not, try the multigenre approach. Start advertising book club by talking about it with your kids. Between classes I would stand outside my room and snag a kid I knew to be a reader. I would quickly involve him or her into an animated, but quiet conversation about their current read. It didn’t take long for a small group to gather. After a couple of minutes, I would have to move the group toward the classroom and begin class. This left the group wanting more discussion. I broached the subject of a club and the idea spread like wildfire. Don’t wait until a more convenient time because there won’t be one. You can’t do it wrong. Good luck!
Thanks Nina! You’ve definitely given me a lot to think about. I can’t wait!
When I first started teaching, my librarian had started a Mother/Daughter Book Club. I thought this was completely unfair, so for the past eight years I’ve run concurrent Guys Read Book Club. It is, without question, my favorite thing to do at school.
No tests, no homework, no cost. We meet once a month in the evening. We encourage parents to read the books, as well, so we have a time that not only celebrates books, reading, and readers, but becomes a family activity, too.
Guys Read has a leg up, thanks to Jon Scieszka’s great website. My librarian is quite jealous of my endless supply of stickers and bookmarks.
As the years have gone by, I’ve become more bold as a book club leader. We’ve Skyped with authors. We’ve built and launched rockets. We’ve gone on movie field trips. For the past four or five years, we’ve ended the year by combining Mother/Daughter and Guys Read for a big BBQ potluck, all of us reading the same book. Recently my club and another across the country started what we’ve dubbed the Intercontinental Ballistic Reading Group, a book club/vlog project revolving around Tom Angleberger’s hilarious Horton Halfpott.
My club is for 4th and 5th graders. I wish they had a club in middle school, for all the reasons you’ve listed.
Great post. It really hit home with me. I fully support all book clubs! They are not difficult to start, and they are a joy to maintain (it sure doesn’t seem like work to me). They come in all shapes, sizes, and forms. Do what is best for you, your students, and your school.
Thank you for the post! What a great, great idea. I completely agree with #9. The students need to understand that we are learners and lovers of literature too, not always the “experts” we play in the classroom. Your students (and fellow teachers) are lucky to have this. I hope Book Club continues to thrive!
I have been holding a “Breakfast Book Club” about once a month for the past 10 years or so. I have used the same format in grades 2 – 5. Read the “assigned” book with your parents then come to the meeting and share your thoughts in an informal setting. I invite parents and their students who HAVEN’T read the book to come, too. Without fail, when a parent and their child attend as “observers” one month, they become participants from that point on. The point or the Breakfast Book Club is to emphasize to parents the importance of reading to their child and to encourage discussions around literature. I can’t imagine NOT having a Breakfast Book Club for my kiddos. The first book club meeting of the year is completely no-pressure. I read one of my favorite read-aloud books to the group and we discuss. The breakfast? everyone brings something to share: donuts, casseroles, cornbread, yogurt, coffee, o.j. – anything and everything. It’s a day that everyone looks forward to!