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Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Girls Book Club

Two Writing Teachers
Girls' Book Club

My own children do not like to read...there- I said it! As a reading specialist, it breaks my heart, but I still make them read while bribing them. Last year, I started a girls' book club for my daughter and her friends. It was easy to find a book because I knew The Giver was going to be coming out as a movie in August, so The Giver was the obvious choice. We met three times over the summer, once in June, once in July and again on the opening night of the movie. For each meeting, the girls brought their books and I led the discussion of the assigned chapters. Several moms joined the group and were happy to have shared reading time with their daughters. I was very impressed with the girls discoveries and their thoughts about the plot and characters. I thought that our discussion would last 10-15 minutes, then we'd have a snack and the girls would play. This was not the case, the girls talked for hours about the book. I even hung large post- it notes in my dining room, where the girls added their favorite part, drew a picture or asked questions. They loved it! My daughter who was of course embarrassed about the whole thing, at first was peer pressured into reading the book, but ended up loving it. The night of movie release, we went to a local Chinese restaurant, discussed the ending of the book, and then went to see the movie. After the movie, we stood in the lobby for a long time as the girls discussed what they liked and what they were disappointed about in the movie vs. the book. I tweeted about the experience to Walden Publishing (they produced the movie) and they actually retweeted my post with the girls' picture. They girls were so excited! This summer, we are reading The Westing Game... I am hoping for a repeat of the excitement of last year.


7 comments:

  1. Jenny, I love this idea and in the spirit of full disclosure, I plan to steal it and use it with my rising 6th grader. I did a mother/daughter book club with my oldest daughter years ago and had long since forgotten the amazing bonding experience that resulted. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. I feel your pain about children that do not like to read especially when they are your personal off-spring. You are such a good role model for all your children, your personal ones and your classroom students.

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  3. I identify with your humble admission. Your book club is great! And wow, the girls got "famous!"

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  4. What a great way to spend time together AND get reading in! I love this idea of the book club and spending time together. Thank you for sharing!

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  5. Yay! I'm so glad you were able to get your daughter and her friends to find the JOY in books - especially the social piece. Bravo!

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  6. It sounds like your "making it happen" worked beautifully. I love both these books & have used them in book groups, too. That added tweet was the icing on the cake!

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  7. Welcome to our writing community! I'm glad you joined us last week and hope you'll be back on Tuesdays year-round.

    Thank you not only for finding a solution (a daughter/mom book club), but for your honesty. Lots of people wouldn't have been so forthright, but you were. Kudos to you!

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