Book Club in school

chases0102

Hi all,

Just looking for a bit of advice regarding the above.

I am setting up a Book Club in my school, and just wondering what thoughts people might have on this, what worked well/didn't work well, particular books that might be a good idea to read, ideas for the reading space, etc.

Anything at all would be most welcome.

Cheers.

ian87

In my dads school they keep a big box of books in the staff room that you take a few and put in ones you don't want anymore. Works very well, even though dad brings in mainly my mams old books rather than his own! It helps that it's a 25 teacher school. I might suggest it in my school but not sure of the logistics of it working in a 6 teacher place. I could have done with it as I'm off sick at the moment.

Black Swan

I'm in a very informal student group that meets once-per-week at a locale javahouse near campus to discuss recently published fantasy & science fiction novels. If you are planning on starting such a book club, I would recommend that you sample your potential membership and pick a genre that's attractive to most of them.

chases0102

Cheers lads,

Will be taking the approach of sounding out a genre for those students who wish to join the club - club will be run at lunch time, so the students will want to be there.

The school itself is crying out for something like this, reading is very much an after thought at the moment.

Ideas for creating a stimulating and colourful reading environment would be most welcome!

spurious

We are lucky enough to have a JCSP library and our librarian runs a staff book club and a student book club. You might investigate the possibility of regular book club attendees being supplied with sandwiches, if you have a small budget.

chases0102

Yeah spurious, the above is a great point. Any incentive to bring them into the reading space, and generally making it a nice and relaxing place to read.

Any ideas on what book we could start with? On a provisional gauge of the numbers, it would seem that most, if not all, students will be from junior cycle. I believe we have a (albeit small) budget to get a set of books in for the Book Club.

eager tortoise

We have a JCSP library too which is a brilliant resource. I supervise students there at lunchtimes but they're free to read what they choose. I' d love to do a book club but the books have to stay in the school. As for popular titles, I'm in an all-boys school so these may or may not suit but the books going down well in our place include -
Holes - Louis Sachar (nearly everyone likes this book, but many students have read it in primary school)
Gangsta Granny/Mr Stink/Ratburger - David Walliams. His books have gone down very well with our 1st years.
The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins. You could watch the movie afterwards.
Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan There's a whole series if some of the kids wanted to read on.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon. He also has a nice shorter book called 'Boom' which might be a better choice if the students in question are reluctant readers.
Wilderness/A Greyhound of a Girl - Roddy Doyle. Very good and very accessible.
The Butterfly Lion/Private Peaceful/War Horse - Michael Morpurgo. VERY popular in our place.

Those are just a few titles off the top of my head. Again of course it will all depend on the age/interests and reading level of your members so they may or may not be suitable

spurious

In our staff book club, we recently introduced the idea of all watching a particular film from a couple of decades ago, just to break up the reading and give us something else to discuss. You might keep that in mind for a later date with your students' club. It might bring in some more reluctant readers.

chases0102

That's great eager tortoise, exactly what I was looking for...thanks.

Recognise most of them myself, but ones like the David Walliams ones, and the Percy Jackson series I will look into and perhaps order a set.

Cheers again