Starting a Children's Book Club
Encouraging Children to Read Through a Group Meeting
Choosing an Appropriate Age Group
Who do you want to come to your book club? Do you want to have high school students who are reading long chapter books and discussing difficult themes? Do you want to target elementary school students? Do you want to target a specific set of students (public school, private school, or home school)?
There are two ways to set the age of your book club. The first is to pick an age range, for example, 4-5th graders. Your book choices and activities must then center around that age group. The other option is to pick a book, and then allow any aged child who can read that book. This requires a variety of difficulty in discussion questions and activities.
Book Choice
In choosing your book, you must take into account the reading level of the children who will be coming, and the subject matter discussed in the book. Ensure that both the reading level and the subject matter are not too mature for your group of students. Another consideration to be taken into account is the availability of the book. Check local libraries to ensure that there are enough copies.
Running Each Book Club Meeting
Finding a group of students to attend your book club will be the hardest part of starting your club. Once you find those students, then you need to have a group email list or phone list to communicate with all the families involved to share book selection, location, and any last minute changes that may occur.
Preparing for the book club meeting involves reading the book yourself, and preparing both discussion questions and an activity or two for the students to do. Discussion questions should include both explicit questions (answers can be found in the text of the book) and implicit questions (answers are not directly found in the text). Discuss main themes found in the book, and the impact of those themes on the lives of the children.
Activities should be tailored to the age group of your students. Younger students can do drawings, pamphlets, and crafts. Older students can do more involved activities including writing activities.
Starting a children’s book club can be a great way to bring kids together and encourage reading. The discussion and activities can help promote deeper comprehension and build vocabulary. Parents will be encouraged to keep their children reading at home, and the children will be encouraged to read books that they may not have chosen to read.
