Book Club Objectives

Since this is my first book club experience, I've been looking at different websites and DISD circulating materials about starting a book club, and thought I'd share some of my findings. There were several websites viewed, but here are two: www.pbs.org/parents/readinglanguage/articles/bookclubs/start.html, and www.teenreads.com/clubs/club-about.asp#Starting.

This gave me a start, but I wanted more information, so I decided to try a book we don't currently have in the Kimball HS collection (but will soon), which is Joyce Kasman Valenza's "PowerTools Recharged," in particular, the section "Starting a Student Book Club," which was also very helpful.

[This entire book is a wonderful reference, especially the forms for MLA citation, Big6, plagiarism, etc., that I would recommend having a glance at when you have time.]

About this time, I found an online book club at the A.H. Meadows Public/Midlothian High School library web page:

(http://library.midlothian-isd.net/common/welcome.jsp?site=100), which lets you sign up for the book club and receive an short excerpt every day from any genre you like (I picked teen), and submit your discussion online.I decided to give it a go. Interesting! (But I have to admit I haven't been the best online book club member.)

Next, using the DallasISD OPAC Super Search option, in the Literary Reference Center, I found four articles about teen book clubs which were of interest.

In the KHS circulating collection, we have "Book Club for Middle School," by Taffy Raphael (a professor at University of Illinois at Chicago), Marcella Kehus (University of Toledo), and Karen Damphouse. This very thorough text, which began as an "alternative context for reading instruction" (and I'm wondering, a professional paper and/or doctoral dissertation) discusses theory, curriculum and assessment. There are some "Think Sheets" located in the back which can be photocopied, a couple I'm thinking about using. Associated with that book is their website, found at http://www.planetbookclub.com/home.html, which, in addition to being visually pleasing, had valuable content I wanted to spend more time with.

This led to my next question: Do I really want to be this serious? And so: What is the purpose of a book club? These answers were found online: "The purpose of this book club is to read and enjoy literature!" (about.com), "The purpose of the Book Club discussions is to increase cultural awareness, sensitivity, and competency through the appreciation and acceptance of differences in students, faculty, staff, and the clients that we serve." (http://www.nursing.umich.edu/oma/Programs/), and, from the Hennepin County Library, "It's fun! (It) encourages critical thinking...develops discussion skills...promotes respect for others' opinions..." (this is the one I felt most comfortable with).

Fun? Want it to be. Encouraging critical thinking? This is a distinct possibility. Sharing opinions? Don't think this will be a problem for the kids in our group. So, I'm not planning on necessarily having an educational or life-altering experience, but if it happens....ok.