Middle School Book Club -- March

Wonder by R. J. Palacio

Finding a book that everyone will like is a challenge, but we picked a winner this month with Wonder by R.J. Palacio. Everyone had positive things to say about the book, but the proof of their enjoyment is in the fact that most of the club had the book finished before the first meeting. The book led to interesting discussions on bullying and genetics, among other things.

Starting a new school is tough for everyone. Starting a new school when your face is severely deformed is extra tough. As much as Auggie wants to be a regular kid, fitting in is hard when your face makes people stare, and rude comments about it are inevitable, especially in 5th grade. But Auggie's no ordinary kid, and it's a toss-up as to who will be the more changed by the end of 5th grade: him, or those at his school.

A Book Club Collaboration

The hardest part about library programming for teens is getting them in the front door. With that in mind, I approached the teacher-librarian at a local high/middle school three years ago, and we started a book club together. She provides the teens, I bring the pop and cookies, and we both raid our shelves for enough books for everyone.

It's worked well, and by utilizing both library collections, we have a wider selection of potential books to choose from. The teacher-librarian sometimes picks up a few copies of a book if we are short, but pooling our resources means we don't have to buy entire sets of books every month.

From the beginning, we've been flexible, adapting the book club to suit our schedules and the needs of the year's crop of students, but a few things have always remained the same.

Food

We run it during the school's lunch break. The teens usually bring their own lunches, but we've always got pop, cookies, and pizza.

Schedule

We meet twice a month. Once when we are half-way through the book, and once when we are finished. Not everybody is half-way through at the first meeting, but since we don't discuss spoilers, everyone can join in. If someone still hasn't finished the book by the second meeting, it's usually because they're not enjoying the book and don't care about spoilers. And if they really love the book, they'll be finished before the first meeting.

Book Club Questions

Mr. Google finds me book club questions, and I read through them before our meetings, but we keep things pretty open. Every book club starts with discussing the book, but we always wander off topic. We've discussed everything from religion to science to bullying, and several teens have said this is their favourite part of book club.