[LM_NET] HIt: HIgh School Book Club Ideas LONG

[Rita Sitron <rsitron@YAHOO.COM>]

Thanks to all of you who made great suggestions to increase our book club 
membership. We will definitely take these ideas.
  Rita Sitron
  LMS
  Walled Lake Northern High School
  rsitron@yahoo.com
   
   
  This is my third year running a book club during lunch. We started out 
with 
about 7 members and now have 21. We actually had to cut off new 
membership 
because the group was just getting too big. We meet on the 1st and 3rd 
Friday of each month. We never discuss a particular book. Rather, we 
discuss 
reading/book related questions such as "What book would you love to see 
made 
into a movie?" or "What book should never have been made into a movie?" 
or 
"If you were stranded on a deserted island for a year, what 2 books 
would 
you like to have with you?" Kids seem to enjoy this type of discussion 
and 
it lends itself well to short meeting times. We have pizza at lunch so 
that 
the kids don't have to wait in the lunch line. This year we have done 
one 
service project, collecting books for veterans. At the end of the year 
we 
have an ice cream social where each member invites one teacher of staff 
person. The kids really like that. And we're having a field trip next 
month 
to the city library which was recently renovated. I try to keep it 
casual 
and free form. Kids that like to read seem to enjoy it.

  I run a book club each fortnight at our school in the secondary area
[yrs 7-12, ages 12-18]. Things that have worked in the past are: food,
concentrating on a particular theme with a speaker/enthusiast, asking
booksellers to come in and letting the book club choose fiction books
for the library which generally ensures they are the first to read 
them,
the youth services librarian from the public library comes into our 
book
club about once a term, a speaker from Penguin books came and talked
about publishing bringing with her samples of book covers and galley
proofs, end of year excursion on a weekend when the club visits a range
of specialty bookshops in the city and we have lunch together. 

We meet at lunchtime, so I find the kids do not like sitting down for
too long listening to someone talk because this is just like school
work. Food is a winner, especially something like popcorn. Once a year,
in the middle of winter, I will buy fries from the local fish and chip
shop to help liven up our book discussion. We also hold a "literary
dinner" which is open to parents, staff and students. Our book club
helps organise the dinner and members get to sit with our guest 
speaker.
This year we are going to run a Reader's Cup competition which will be 
a
trivia style quiz about books. We have a boy's campus, so we are going
to take the challenge to the boys this year. I am from an Australian
school, but my situation is exactly the same: trying to hook the
students into coming along to the book club.

   knew having a book club at school would be a problem because, as you said, the 
kids that want to be in a book club are also in a bunch of other clubs too.  So, I 
never bothered to start one because I knew it would be a waste of time.  To prevent 
that, I decided to do the book club through the public library in the evening.  
This allows kids in many clubs or sports to still be in a book club.  Most public 
libraries would welcome this, I think.
   
   know what you mean about competing with sports, choirs, bands, etc.  We meet 
during the kids lunch periods, and since we have a split lunch, I meet with one 
group during first lunch and the other during second.  They bring their lunches.  
We all do one title.  (We are doing the Da Vinci Code this round).  At the last 
gathering, I get pizzas and soda.  The kids have done most of the pr.  I encourage 
them to bring a friend.  If the book is interesting enough, their friends usually 
sign up also.  When I started three years ago, I had three students and we tried 
meeting after school.  Too many conflicts.  Since we do lunch, I am up to 24 kids.  
One student just signed up for the first time.  She said she would have belonged a 
long time ago if she would have known we met during lunch.  Some people just don't 
listen to announcements, read posters around the school, or listen to people talk.  
:)  Kids telling kids, encouraging each other, talking it up, is, I think, the best
 way to go.  Good luck!
I've had as many as 40 kids come to my Battling Books Club.  I just
started it this year.  When new students come to the media center, I
tell them about it (I do get some that way).  We do it once a month on
activity day (30 minutes each period...we have 4) and I have it
scheduled second period.  I feed them a snack, too. If the truth were
told that is probably the only reason they come, BUT they have to bring
a copy of the book they've read and give a brief book talk.  Then we
vote on which book talk made us want to read that book.  The person
whose book talk won can give their book talk on the morning show 
(that's
optional) AND get their picture on a poster with their book talk.  I
hang the posters around the school grounds.

My main focus is to get kids to hear about different books and 
different
genres.
   
  I know one club that gives the books to students and they get to keep 
them.  That might be movtivating?

    A friend of mine has a "NO CLUB BOOK CLUB"--they disucss books online 
anonymously.  She has a blog site--OK'ed by the school--and the kids discuss under 
assumed names any book from a group she has pre-selected.  It works well for her--I 
can't get the web page to do that.
   

We have recently started a book club at my school and have been very
successful. We had over 30 kids show up to our first organizational 
meeting,
no small feat considering it is an all-boys school! I attribute the 
success
to doing a good book talk to generate interest. Our first book was
Inexcusable by Chris Lynch and I presented the was it rape scenario.
Students were talking about it all day long, even the ones that didn't 
want
to read the book. Also I think that we have been successful because we 
hold
all our conversations on an online discussion forum. This means we 
never
have meetings so it is easier for busy, high-achieving students to
participate. We have one culminating event for each book like a pot 
luck
dinner or movie night to do our final discussion and select a new book. 
It
has really been a lot of fun and very successful. Good luck!

So many kids are into fantasy and science fiction.  You could do
a book club that focuses on that genre.  I've done one in my
middle school that has worked well (called Flights of Fantasy). 
We do it during lunch so that it won't interfere with sports
after school.  We do meet weekly and discuss about 6 chapters at
a time but you could still do it where the kids talk about the
entire book.  I also did one with my high school students where
we read the next in the Narnia series, right after seeing the
movie.  The kids read the whole book and we discussed it one day
during lunch.  There are other genres that you can do, as well,
but fantasy seems to work the best.
This is our second year also. We also meet once a month and the  
students choose their own books. Then the group chooses an evening to  
watch a movie, or The movie, that goes with the book. But our numbers  
are small.
   
  I don't know where you are but is there a local author you can read and 
have come to your discussion.  I belong to an adult group and we have 
done this to jazz things up.
   
   

                
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