Organizing a book club for your
kids is a great way to encourage them to read and form friendship bonds to last a lifetime. Here’s how to get started:
Invite Club Members – To encourage participation from all members, the group should include no more than eight to ten kids. Try to keep the kids in the same age range to ensure the books you choose will be on a common reading level. You could have same sex book clubs or include both boys and girls.
Pick a Meeting Time and Place -Most book clubs meet on a monthly basis at the same time, say 2 p.m. the third Saturday of the month, or 3 p.m. on the second Sunday. Try not to vary the times and dates so members can include book club on busy schedules. Groups can meet at a central location, such as a reserved room at the public library, or at members’ homes, local tea rooms, etc. Your meeting place could rotate each month, or stay at the same venue. Some clubs have members take turn hosting, for example. Just make sure you communicate upcoming locations with group members at the end of each meeting.
Choose a Club Name -Having a club name adds excitement and unity to the group. Name the group based on the kids’ shared interest in reading, or other unifiers (i.e. The Book Bunch, The Razzle Dazzle Readers, The Middle School Stars…) Get the kids involved. You can also search the Internet for ideas.
Design Group Tee Shirts/Mascot -Once you come up with a book club name, design a tee shirt that the children can wear to meetings. If the kids like animals you could even bring in a stuffed animal mascot, like an owl or bear, to preside at each meeting or be included on the shirts.
Decide Which Books to Read – Choose books for the next six months to a year, if possible. Mix up the genres (fiction, nonfiction, adventure, mystery, romance, classics, modern) so the children get exposed to a wide variety of books.
Plan Field Trips/Author Visits – There are film adaptations of many popular books so you might mix things up by planning an outing to see a movie version of a book you’ve read. You could also contact authors to schedule Skype or in person visits to your club to add excitement, or go to see a favorite author at a book signing at a local book store.
Manage Menus– Good food is part of the fun at any book club. Serve either light bites or a full meal. Some clubs make the menu fit the theme or locale of the story being read, for example, serve crepes when the book is set in Paris, or Mexican food if the focus of the story is the Day of the Dead. Make it festive and fun.
Dress Up As Your Favorite Book Character– Around Halloween time, or several months after you’ve been hosting your meetings, have the kids dress up as their favorite character from their favorite book or one of the books you’ve read.
Share Stories – If you have children who like to write in the club, designate time at the end of meetings for them to share portions of their own stories.
Have Fun – The sky’s the limit with the ideas you can bring in to make your kid’s book club exciting for new members. The key is to keep the kids reading, and most of all, to have fun!
Tonya Duncan Ellis is author of the Readers’ Favorite “Five Star†rated Sophie Washington children’s book series, geared toward readers ages 8-12 and is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).
www.tonyaduncanellis.com
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