How to Start a Book Club for Teens??

[Ruthie in MS]

Forgive me if this topic has been presented before but I made a search and come up with NOTHING. I want to start a book club for tweens and teens in the fall but I need some help with planning. I have never attended a book club ever so I am at a bit of a disadvantage. I love books and have a desire to help teens connect through books. This started because we are part of a large homeschool group and while there are plenty of opportunities for teens to socialize my introverted daughter is having a hard time turning her acquaintance relationships to friend relationships. She has always loved reading before and this year I saw her personal reading take a nosedive (I blame the cell phone and myself) but she is excited at the thought of connecting with others over books and jump starting her reading life again. 

 

Now that you have that history in mind, I need help and guidance. I have the whole summer to prepare and I plan to use it wisely. I would love some information on starting a book club, fun activity ideas and book topics. Really, I need any help I can get. I have never really worked with a group of teens and I know this is a bit out of my comfort zone but I am willing to try, not just for my daughter but other tweens/teens who need this outlet. Also.... is it possible to combine such a large age group and still have a great time and connect with each other? I was thinking Grades 7-12 or 8-12 but is that too ambitious? I also have a rising 8th grader who is also interested in joining in.

PLEASE help. I want to make this happen.

[daijobu]

1 hour ago, Ruthie in MS said:

Now that you have that history in mind, I need help and guidance. I have the whole summer to prepare and I plan to use it wisely. I would love some information on starting a book club, fun activity ideas and book topics. Really, I need any help I can get. I have never really worked with a group of teens and I know this is a bit out of my comfort zone but I am willing to try, not just for my daughter but other tweens/teens who need this outlet. Also.... is it possible to combine such a large age group and still have a great time and connect with each other? I was thinking Grades 7-12 or 8-12 but is that too ambitious? I also have a rising 8th grader who is also interested in joining in.

PLEASE help. I want to make this happen.

 

I hosted a book club because I wanted my daughters to read more difficult material.  I wanted it to be a bit more "academic" in nature rather than just a social gathering with fun activities.  Also, I'm more of a math/science gal, so I outsourced it to an English PhD student.  I made sure to make it clear to parents in advance the books we would be reading during the year so everyone was clear.  (ie, there wasn't democratic book choice, etc.). 

7th-12th grade sounds ambitious to me, but could be doable.  How about 8th-10th grade?  

[...................]

My daughter started one two months ago and it’s doing pretty well. Hers is more about social and enjoying books than about academics. 

Heres what worked :

she advertised with a well made graphic banner to all the local Facebook and email homeschool groups 

she chose a central location with food and books (Barnes and Noble)

she advertised a specific GENDER- girls only 

she advertised a specific genre- fantasy and the fact that “relatively clean” books would be chosen 

she advertised for teens 13-17 only - believe it or not the one 12 year old that cane was truly not ready or fitting in-, I think she has stopped coming 

she is adding outings once a month. 

Heres whats not working :

Theres one bad apple who is complaining about the book choices, and sending weird ans negative texts to the group text. If we could have a do-over id encourage my dd to not let everyone have everyone else’s number or email 

the same bad apple is complaining about book choices all the time so for next year I will encourage my dd to have a list of about 16 books and have the girls choose 12 of them so they have a voice but it’s within boundaries 

Hope this helps

 

[Ruthie in MS]

6 hours ago, Calming Tea said:

My daughter started one two months ago and it’s doing pretty well. Hers is more about social and enjoying books than about academics.

This is what we're going for as well.  I appreciate your advice and personal input. I want teens to be able to have fun and talk about books with other teens. We're in an age where our culture is pushing them away from reading, so any encouragement is welcome. I also don't want to make this look like more school work. There will be a project or two but I want them to be involved and excited about coming.

 

As far as having it at Barnes and Noble, is there a meeting room or are they meeting within the store? I was just wondering about meeting and location dynamics and how that affects the group.

[...................]

11 hours ago, Ruthie in MS said:

This is what we're going for as well.  I appreciate your advice and personal input. I want teens to be able to have fun and talk about books with other teens. We're in an age where our culture is pushing them away from reading, so any encouragement is welcome. I also don't want to make this look like more school work. There will be a project or two but I want them to be involved and excited about coming.

 

As far as having it at Barnes and Noble, is there a meeting room or are they meeting within the store? I was just wondering about meeting and location dynamics and how that affects the group.

 

They're meeting in the cafe! No one minds and they've brought plenty of money and business so it's great.  They're not meeting on the weekend, and slightly off - hours so they've had no problems having enough tables. 

I think it's important going in that you and dd realize that they won't like everyone that comes and will need to be mature and professional in how to deal with group dynamics.  My dd has already learned a lot and is doing very well.  I am not in any way leading it, just there for advice for my dd, and the teens seem to like it that it's not being led by a parent.