Book Club for Kids

I just got home from my January Book Club meeting.  We hadn't picked a book for January, but we needed to get together to choose books for the next few months.  Here are our selections:

February - Death Comes to Pemberly by P.D. James
March - The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow
April - Home Front by Kristin Hannah
May - The Round House by Louise Erdich

After our meeting, I walked out to my car with a friend of mine.  She told me how her daughter and one of her daughter's friends started their own little book club and they were reading Harry Potter.  It got me to thinking about a Kids' Book Club my sister and niece had taken part in when they lived in New Mexico.  I think they BOTH really enjoyed it!

I think it's a fantastic idea to start a Kids' Book Club.  Here's some ideas of how I would set it up - I may even see if my daughter is interested in starting her own Book Club!  I would have the moms help choose age/reading level appropriate books.  Here are some suggestions:

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, Flush by Carl Hiassen

 Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard & Florence Atwater, Charlotte's Web by E.B. White, Ramona the Brave by Beverly Cleary

 How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell, The Compass by Philip Pullman, The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keattey Snyder

The Call of the Wild by Jack London, The BFG by Roald Dahl

We would choose a meeting time, place and date - maybe alternate homes.  Depending on the age of the kids, I would have questions ready for discussion.  I would also have an activity and snacks related to the book.  For instance, for The Egypt Game, I would have maps of Egypt set out for exploration; we could make Egyptian costumes and taste Egyptian food like falafel. 

If there is a movie associated with the book, I would do a movie day Book Club.  After the movie, we'd discuss how the book and movie were alike and how they were different.  I'd organize a field trip to somewhere that would expand knowledge of something mentioned in the book.  A trip to the zoo to see the penguins after reading Mr. Popper's Penguins.  Maybe I'd decorate my house in the theme of the book or ask the kids to come dressed as their favorite character from the book. 

The possibilities of what you could do for each meeting are endless.  Let the book be your guide and let your imagination go wild. 

"Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him."  -Maya Angelou