Book Clubs

     As a Librarian, I read a lot and encourage leisure reading among the students and staff. I decided to form two book clubs at my school in hopes of finding those life-long readers, like myself. One would be for students only and the other for faculty and staff only. The most difficult part of this process was the recruiting of book club members. I asked for recommendations by teachers and counselors and made announcements over the PA system to find interested student readers. To recruit my fellow teachers, I sent out a mass email and extended an invitation at our monthly staff meetings. In both instances the response was overwhelming. We had so many interested students that we did two book clubs, one for young men and one for young ladies.
The Thornwood High School Amongst Friends book clubs consisted of 12 students, three from each grade level. We had certain rules that we all agreed upon. The basic rules were based on truth and integrity. Everyone would read the book and show up on time for our meetings. Everyone had to share; participation is essential to any good book club. We would read eight books each school year and one of the books had to be a biography and one book selection had to be a self-improvement or self-help book. We would not read any ADULT FICTION. Each month we would invite four teachers to partake in our book club discussion and send them a formal invitation along with a copy of the book we are reading for the month.
     I solicited my fellow teachers to participate in a staff motivated and drive book club that would meet every six weeks and read a total of six books for the school year. We had very simple rules. Everyone gave a book selection and we voted on which books we wanted to read. Everyone also agreed to read one selection for professional development, covering topics like, classroom management, methodology and curriculum and student assessments. Everyone agreed to invite one administrator to our book discussion meeting for professional development. We also agreed that each person would bring a snack to share with the group for our book club discussions.