Thanks for all the great suggestions about a high school book club!
Here's a condensed version of the responses I received:
* What I'm going to do is have students read books by the same
author. Also, tell them to borrow from the public library.
* our BOCES has multiple book collections that teachers can
borrow; also, we can borrow individual titles from other districts
within our BOCES system.
* we choose a theme or topic. Each member chooses a book within
that theme or topic. Then, as each student finishes their book they
write a plot summary on our club's blog. When we meet we are able to
discuss elements of the particular theme or topic. What worked well for
that theme or what makes a piece that theme (what makes a mystery a
mystery. what makes a good mystery.). Using the blog is key otherwise
we spend the entire meeting discussing our individual plots.
* I had each student pick a book of their choosing from my media
center. The only rules were it had to be something they hadn't read
before and only one person could read the same book. I gave them 2 days
to pick a book and sign in so I could keep track of the books!
* One of my star students suggested that you use old English
textbooks. They do not have entire novels but excerpts of many and many
short stories.
* Check out pubic libraries and your state association for book
sets you can borrow. Do other schools in your area have classroom sets
different than the ones you use?
* I allowed the students to read any book they wanted. Then we
got together to discuss the books we'd all read. Then we voted on the
book talk (which is really what the discussion were) made us want to
read that book. I then made posters of the person and their winning
book and put them up around the school.
* We purchased 24 copies of Pete Hautman's Invisible (we chose
this after reading many other choices) and I did a book talk in all of
the 9th grade English classes to promote the program and the book.
Students received their copy of the book at no charge and we met once a
week before school to discuss the book. We offered refreshments like
rolls and juice but still, our attendance numbers went down each week.
It was very difficult for non-drivers to get to school early for book
club. I know that the students read the book whether they showed up for
book club or not because when they got to the pivotal moment in the
book, they all had the same reaction and would seek me out to share
their feelings about it. I don't want to ruin the book for you if you
haven't read it but there is definitely a point where the reader will
have a strong opinion of the book. It was so much fun to hear their
thoughts on the book. Buzz went around about the book and copies were
shared. The community ed. director stepped in and offered to pay for an
author visit so Pete came to speak to the 9th graders. Things I am
changing for this year--have the discuss take place on-line rather than
in-person so all students can participate at their leisure and their
reading pace. Include more than one grade
* I run a "See the Book, Read the Movie" book club for my grade
6/7 students. I order a class set of novels (32)- I pay for this through
Scholastic Book Fair funds but perhaps you could get PAC to support you.
The students read the book on their own time and then we meet to watch
its movie counterpart in the theatre. This year we're doing The Boy in
the Striped Pajamas or The Tale of Despereux (depending on when the
movie comes to our area). The students pay for the movie. We meet
afterwards for pizza and do a round-robin comparative analysis. The kids
LOVED it last year. The whole thing costs about $380, so I can only
afford to run it two or three times throughout the year. The novels then
move to our textbook library where teachers can teach them as a
whole-class novel!
* I used some of my book fair profit to purchase multiple copies
of several titles so my members could have two books to read for the
rest of the school year. You might check with Target and Dollar
Store,too. They offer grants for educational projects.
* We either pick an author or a genre in our HS book club as we
don't have money for purchasing 30+ copies of a single title. Our list
for this year includes Horror, Nicholas Sparks, Mystery, Romance,
Westerns, Manga/Comic/Graphic Novels, Adventure/Travel, Your Choice (for
December - it is too short and too busy) plus we have our Michigan
Thumbs Up list (best YA books, see
http://www.mla.lib.mi.us/tsdthumbsupguidelines for more information and
http://www.mla.lib.mi.us/tsdpastthumbsup for past winners and honors
books) that we do for two months in the spring before we meet with two
other area book clubs for book discussions and fun times. If your state
has something similar, it makes a great backbone to work from for a
month or two.
We meet 2 times a month during school (we have a homeroom that allows a
25 minute meeting - short but we talk books and that is what it is
about) and once a month after school (usually). The after-school
meeting is called "Read, Meet, and Eat" and we have pizza (I provide but
you could have everyone chip in a few dollars) and the students bring
chips, cookies, sides of whatever they want and pop (I also provide
plates, cups, napkins, and plastic eating utensils) and we watch a movie
of a book from the author/genre (we vote each month on suggestions from
the group and it must be a movie based on a book!) and we discuss film
tidbits with book tidbits (compare and contrast) and also have a great
time. We do not have great attendance at the after-school meetings as
we are a small school and people are in band, sports, drama and have
practices after school.
In addition to the Thumbs Up book club exchange, we do field trips to a
movie (this year it is Twilight - Harry Potter kept us going for several
years and we will probably see the next one this summer), we sponsor a
family at Christmas (donate items for them to have a gift-filled
Christmas), last year we went to Cedar Point as a group (but it wasn't
an official field trip), and we ran a Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar
Hero tournament in the library (as a fund raiser, it was more fun than
it was profitable, we made under $100.00 total). I'm sure there are
other things I'm forgetting (it seems like we are always working on
something) but that should give you some ideas. We tried working on a
non-food drive (diapers, toiletries, etc.) for our local food bank but
found that another group was already doing that so we contributed to
theirs instead of running it ourselves.
I do have the students elect a captain (or co-captains if the vote is
close) and rely on that person (those people) to present new ideas to
the group or lead fundraising and we have committees for designing a
t-shirt (we vote on several choices of graphic and quotes), the
Christmas family, etc. Helps cut down on my paperwork and time
constraints and gives the students a chance to lead and organize things.
* Depending on the size of your book club our Hennepin County
Library offers book club kits that we can check out. Maybe your county
library offers the same service!
* We started one last year and I barely knew the kids. I gave
them a bunch of choices/suggestions and then let them decide. We meet
at least 4 times a year and try to meet at other times outside of club
days. The kids read and bring the books they read and talk about them.
We just have a random hour-long discussion. I take notes and put them
on our blog. This doesn't cost any money and the kids take ownership
and like it.
* I interlibrary loan the books so we do not have to purchase
them. We choose a couple of books at the end of each book club meeting
(usually once a month) and I send a paper around for students to sign up
for what book they want to read. Sometimes students read both and
sometimes after a discussion they decide to read the one they didn't
read before. I try to read all the books and make notes about points to
discuss while I am reading. If I don't think I can read each book I
look for discussion guides. Some discussions are more lively than
others-I just like to keep the students reading and sometimes try to
challenge them to try another genre. I would love to start the digital
booktrailers that are being discussed lately but haven't had the time.
Tara Morstatt
Library Media Specialist
Manchester Regional High School
Haledon, NJ
973-389-2865
tmorstatt@mrhs.net
"Research means that you don't know, but are willing to find out."
-Charles F. Kettering
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