Thanks so much to all of you who responded to my question about how to get books
for a high school book club when your funding is limited. I got so many great
responses and was really encouraged to see just how many of you have successful
clubs. It gives me hope that mine might be a success, too. After looking at all
the comments, I'm thinking of trying the genre-based club where each student picks
whatever book they like from a particular genre. Asking the public library for
loans and ILL's was suggested several times and I think I will try that as well.
All the hits are listed below. Again, thanks to all of you for your suggestions
and support.
Marian
We've had a book club for at least 10 years. It is open to students and staff. We
meet once a month during the lunch period. We have pizza delivered and serve soda
and cookies. Pizza is $ .75 per slice. We discuss the book and then offer 3 or 4
choices for the next month and the students and staff vote on the selection. We do
interlibrary loans through our library system of over 350 libraries. It works very
well for us. Currently, we have about 40 members.
Our September book club we discuss what we read over the summer and pick the books
out for October and November. We pick a new book every meeting, so we always know
what we are reading 2 months out ahead. I have about 15 kids in my book club. The
students who are fast readers take the book first and then pass it along. A couple
will get the book from the public library. That has really covered all the books
that we have read so far.
We had a fund raiser this fall that helped us purchase more copies of books for
bookclub. We asked for donations of gently used books and held a used book sale
during Teen Read Week.
To encourage students to donate books, for every five books they donated that
we could use in the sale, they got to choose one for free. This strategy worked
well and I will use it again. I held "pre-sale" for those who donated. The
donors got to choose their free books as well as have first pick of the others they
wanted to buy.
In conjunction with the used book sale, we sold hot chocolate and cappucino in
the library. This was a HUGE hit in the fall so we repeated the beverage sale a
couple of other times.
I'm in m first year with my book club. I have bought books out of my pocket.
Don't start that! It's just too expensive. I then started checking out multiple
copies from the local public library. I've had to pay a few small fines, but it
has worked out. I also arranged with other schools in my district to share books.
That's worked well also, but sometimes no one has the books we need. What I would
love to do is have each of the seven high schools in my district to buy one set of
books for next year and rotate them. It is just not easy doing a YA book club.
Half of my kids are spec ed but are sweet kids who do love to read but don't always
want to read the books we've picked. See if your public library can hep you out!
It's worth the struggle. Kids that join book clubs rarely have any other outlets
and this means a lot to them.
We have had students buy their own books if they wanted to be in a book club.
Part of that is because it is not a requirement to be in it. If it were part of the
curriculum, then I am sure that we would have to come up with some way to buy the
books.
I would check out used bookstores in your area. I don't know if you have
many of them, but in this country they are actually everywhere (which is great for
me!) so once I choose a book I start scouting around for copies and then tell the
kids that they can buy them off of me.
I partner with my public library. They do an Inter Library Loan (ILL) for 20 books
of the same title. The books are technically checked out to me but I keep track of
which student gets which book. If they loose the book (no one ever has) then the
library will transfer the checkout from my account to the students.
I purchase a small snack for all our meetings.
I have a small book club (6 members). I check out multiple copies of the same book
from the various public library branches in my city (Dayton, Ohio). The way Dayton
Metro Library works makes it easy because I can request copies online and pick them
up at one central location - they even have a drive-thru window! My student
population is such that the students don't misplace the books. I have worked at
places where this is not the case - so you have to be careful/know your students.
Sometimes the public library will work with you on this.
Our public library gathered the books and we checked them out with our library card.
For 19 years I have had student book discussion groups. Most years I've had 7th &
8th grade groups. this year I have combined 7 & 8 group and a separate 6th grade
group. I never wanted the price of the book to prevent a student from
participating. I bought books with book fair points, and using book club order
forms from a classroom. One year I had a wish list and had a parent sponsor a
group.
My book club is a genre book club. We all read anything we want then we get
together and book talk what we've read. Then they vote on which book talk made
them want to read that book next the most. The winner gets to "talk" their book on
the morning show, make a poster (with our poster maker machine ... photo of them
with the book and a short blurb about book), or do a book trailer ... whichever
they want to do.
That was the only way WE could afford to have a book club.
I charge dues at the beginning of the year. I use those dues to pay half for the
books that we read in our club.
This year I have continued a book club the previous librarian started. We were able
to purchase multiple copies of some books but I am not sure if we will be able to
next year. Let me know responses or post a hit. Also what titles you will be using.
The Hunger Games was a big hit this year. Thanks.
We were able to use fine money's to purchase the first set of 12 books - "Dear
John" We shared the books with 15 people. Now we are reading "Last Song" - students
are buying books themselves and sharing ( books were paperback and $4.00 at Sam's.
All girls so far in the club and we meet Wednesdays after school. Oneof the English
teachers got the girls together. We could also interlibrary loan to get enough
copies of a title.
I started my high school book club this year and kind of ran into the same issue
with funding. We actually lost our library funding in November, so I have been
struggling since....Anyway, I have a pretty successful book club, but not many
students want to buy their own copies of the books. I purchase 10 (paperbacks
only!) to rotate around the students. I am able to do this through hot chocolate
sales and through book profit earned from Scholastic book fairs. However, 10 is
not always enough! If I choose a fairly large book, it takes the kids longer to
read it and others wait. I don't like to put a time limit on how long they get the
book, because I do have some slower readers that participate. We only meet once a
month to discuss a particular selection. This is not a perfect system, but it is
working for us right now. Hope this helps!
We purchase the multiple copies from our library activity account (translation:
fine monies and money received from the sales from our library store ((poster
board, pencils, etc.)) and copier monies). If we required the students to buy the
books, we wouldn't have a book club. We also have specific money set aside in our
budget for "class sets." These are also used as book club "reads."
Hope this helps! This club has been in existence for about 10 years now.
We've gotten books in a couple of ways. We are a very small alternative campus of
about 150 students. Of those, we typically had about 15 kids per book club
meeting. We used campus activity funds to furnish books.
There is also a grant available from ALA--
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/ppo/programming/greatstories/clu
b.cfm
which gives you free copies of three titles for your kids to read.
However, you have to fill out an application, be approved, then file a report at
the conclusion of the year about it. Also, they choose the titles, not you. You
might want to check in to other places that you could get a grant or even solicit
donations from some local business or association.
I JUST started a book club at my high school and we overcame the financial hurdle
by making it a genre book club. It's AMAZING! Each month we read a different genre,
so we don't necessarily have the exact same members every month, we have sign-ups
every month in English classes and then we meet, talk, and enjoy. It works out for
introducing students to different authors and even genres they don't normally read.
You might try going to the local bookstore or Wal-mart and seeing if they will
donate so many in paperback for you school. I know that our local Wal-Mart is great
about donating to schools. You might also if you know the titles you want to use
hit garage sales or used bookstores, often their books are a dollar or less and
I've found that people when they find out I want it for a school library will even
just give books to me or cut the price in half. The other thing that I did when I
had my book club, I used an audiobook since the reader was faster and smoother and
we listened to a chapter then discussed it. The kids enjoyed doing it that way. I
actually still do that in many of my classes.
I had a GREAT business partner that bought the copies of the novels. His wife was
into the book club idea and participated in meetings to discuss them.
In my district, we borrow copies of books through ILL from our BOCES member schools.
I would like to know what you find out. This was my first year with a book club. I
did buy 9 copies of 2 different books but next year I dont' think I will have the
money for that.
You can purchase used copies of most books on amazon.com for nearly nothing.
Students could purchase thme there or give you the money for you to purchase them.
Marian Royal-Vigil
Librarian
Socorro High School
Socorro, NM 87801
mroyal@socorro.k12.nm.us<mailto:mroyal@socorro.k12.nm.us>
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