Book clubs have become a growing favorite activity, club or activity for adults in the past couple of
years. Television talk show hostess Oprah Winfrey even started a monthly book club for her television
program. It could provide an excellent summer or year round learning activity when the kids are not
in school. Book clubs can be started for kids in the community with a few helpful tips.
The meeting place is where there is pleanty of comfortable space such as a local community room,
parent's living room, backyard, or even the public park if the weather is warm enough.
It could be either lead with very little guidance (preteen and tweens) or a lot of guidance
(early elementary school students). The guidance could range from book selection to actually leading
the discussion section with questions. However, preteens, tweens, and middle school students might
want to select the individual books and discussion topics.
The starting questions do not have to be complex or difficult to start or restart the session when it slows down. Who
was your favorite character in the book? Who could you most relate to in the book (preteens)? Which character would you like
to become your friend? Which character inspired you the most? What was your favorite chapter in the book? Which character
would you like to join your next playdate?
The book club could meet once a month during the school year or weekly during long holiday breaks
and the summer months. The frequency depends on the grade level, book reading speed, school workload,
and the availability schedule of the individual book club members.
Overall, a book club can be adapted into a fun learning activity for kids and parents. It is
pretty easy to set up to provide many supplemental educational lessons for kids, preteens, and tweens.
