Search our site:

Book Club

A Book Club is a fun and exciting way to get your kids involved with reading. Not only do book clubs encourage children to read (or listen to a story), but they also teach children to increase their reading comprehension and develop an understanding of different opinions - especially their own opinion.

This can be as simple or as fancy as you choose. All books clubs begin by choosing a group of friends that will participate. Together, at the beginning of the month, choose a book that will be the topic for the book club.* Remember that you will have a couple of weeks to read the book, so choose one that can be completed easily by all members of the club.

Next, schedule a time for your Book Club Meeting. (If you are using our Reading Club Calendar , there is a day chosen during the month for this meeting. If that day doesn't work for everyone, be sure to find a day that will work.) Decide on a place and time to have your meeting.*

After you have chosen a book and a date, the rest is simple. All members of the club read the book before the meeting.

On the day you set, get together and discuss the book. Talk about whether or not you liked the book - and what you did or didn't like. Also, discuss the characters and the things that happened in the book. Do you think you would like the characters if you really met them? Do you think the story is realistic? What do you think about the author? Is he/she trying to teach something or express an opinion? What do you think about the illustrations (if there are any)? etc.

Talk about anything you feel about the book, but remember that everyone's opinion is important. No one should make fun of anyone else if they disagree with other members. Make sure that everyone feels comfortable talking about the book and how they feel about it.

After your discussion, choose a new book for the following month. (Now is a good time because hopefully everyone will already be there.)*

Optional ideas:

If you want to get more elaborate, you can assign someone each month to make invitations or announcements* to remind everyone about the meeting. These could be delivered to everyone a few of days before the meeting. Be sure to include the date, time, and place of the meeting. You also might want to remind everyone about which book was chosen.

In addition, you may want to assign different members to bring refreshments* or drinks for the day of your meeting. Make sure that if you will be bringing your books to the meeting that you take care of them - don't let any food or drink spill on them.

*You can make a schedule in advance so everyone gets a turn "hosting" the Book Club Meeting. You can choose what the host's responsibilities are - including having the meeting at their house, choosing the book for that month, making invitations or announcements, and providing refreshments for the meeting. If you do not have a host, all of the members of the club should decide when you start the club how to take care of these responsibilities.