Catch up on your reading this holiday season. Re-read your favourite books, take a library membership and exchange books with your friends.
Another interesting thing you can do is start a Book Club.
Here are seven easy steps to get started.
Members
Make a list of your friends or neighbours who you think would be interested in joining up. Don’t just stick to those who read. Think of your friends who do not too. Joining up may induce them to begin reading. But, make sure the readers outnumber the non-readers.
Make contact
You can make invitation cards and hand it over personally. Or, you could use your computer to make cards and then mail it to your friends inviting them to join.
On the card, make sure you write your intentions clearly. State what you wish to achieve with the Club and how you plan to go about it.
Guidance
Ask a parent to be present at the meetings. Parents can volunteer and take it in turns to supervise. This will keep the meetings in order and they may help in leading the discussions.
Book list
Make out a list of books you would like the club to read. Keep in mind the varied interests of the members and get an eclectic mix from adventure and mystery to history and humour and more.
Meetings
Decide the frequency of your meetings. Roughly, the way to go about calculating this would be by gauging how long it will take to read a particular book. Twice a month during the holidays and once a month when school is on, may work fine. Schedule the meeting for just an hour.
Agenda
Plan the agenda of your meetings. But, keep the discussions open. Introduce a theme connecting the book that is being discussed. You could device a game relating to that or organise a quiz. Make sure your meetings are lively events, that other children will long to be invited to.
Numbers
You can decide the size of the group – big or small. But, you need loyal members who will make an effort to be there for the meetings and participate too.
Rules
Establish rules. This is not a time to catch up on news or gossip. It is an hour set aside to discuss a book, the characters, the plot…
Next time
Towards the end of the meeting decide the book for the next one. Invite suggestions from other members too, so that you get to know about books you may not have heard of.
Remember
Send out reminders at least a week before the meeting.
