Book clubs are a great way to make reading fun! Here are some tips to make your child’s book club fun for the kids and easy for you.
BOOK CHOICE: Let members choose the books. I’m sure we’ve all had to read a book we didn’t like. Not fun. How? The mom-leader can read the backflap of each of the potential books that she’s scanned in advance and create a voting process so members have input to the books chosen.
THE MEETING: Make the meeting fun and switch the host home. Add a theme: Adding a theme which may include dress or food from the book is a great idea. Book clubs who’ve read JUST ADD MAGIC, make the recipes from the book, and act out scenes from the book. For LOST IN LONDON, I encourage groups to have a British tea!
Add a creative project: Adding a craft project can occupy kids’ hands. A book club that I Skyped with made recipedias for JUST ADD MAGIC.
Invite the author to Skype in: I love to Skype visit book clubs who’ve read my book and the kids love asking questions.
THE DISCUSSION: Provide questions to members in advance to give them time to think before the meeting. You can ask standard questions, like:
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- Which character did you most relate to?
- What does the book say about friendship?
- What are the conflicts in this book?
- Do you like the setting? What about the setting is interesting?
- Did you the ending?
- If you could ask the author any question, what would it be? (BTW, if you email authors, you will often get responses.)
- HAVE FUN!!! Reading is fun.
Check outhttp://www.rambunctiousreaders.blogspot.com/ for other book club tips.
Great blog! I have to say our “Cooks and Books Club” reading Just Add Magic was a big success here at Holy Redeemer School. We discussed the book, Skyped with the author (thanks, again!) and made recipes from the book. It was great! The girls in the club loved it and are anxious to get together again to read Lost in London!