The Reading Pros

The Reading Pros is a group of young library patrons who are passionate about reading.  We currently have members in grades 3-6.  We meet once a month to discuss the book selection, play games, do activities centered around the book, and eat themed snacks.  My goal for the group is to encourage reading in a fun environment.  I plan to post a short recap of the meetings each month.

(The Reading Pros building Lego houses for the movie)

In January, we met to discuss The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson.  Most of the meeting was devoted to working on our long-term project:  a short film that the students wrote.  Originally, it was meant to be a stop-motion movie using Legos, but due to time constraints, we have had to change the plan a little.  The movie will probably be a combination of Lego stills and live action, but we are still in the planning stages, so who knows what the final cut will look like.  So, the book club members spent time going over the story outline and working on the backgrounds.

(From left to right:  Some Reading Pros working on the pool set for the movie; the mountain set; and the Lego mountain)

For the last half hour, it was back to normal book club business.  We discussed what we liked and didn’t like about the book.  There were nine book club members in attendance for this meeting.  To stay focused and allow everyone a chance to say something, I usually ask each person, ” What was your high for the book?” (meaning, their favorite part) and “What was your low?”  (the least favorite part).  This seems to work well because everyone knows that they will eventually get a chance to share something.  We ate our (high anticipated) snack of ice cream sundaes and hot chocolate.  This is more sugar than I would usually give them, but ice cream sundaes are featured in the book and after working hard for the first hour on the movie project, I figured they deserved a treat.

The next two book club meetings will be devoted to filming and editing our movie (which I will hopefully be able to share with you on the blog!)  In April, we will return to our regular structure (which has more emphasis on the book of the month).

Youth Librarians:  do you have a book club for kids, tweens, or teens?  Which books have you used in your groups?  Do you have any brilliant ideas for activities that you would be willing to share?  If so, please leave a comment.  I am always looking for ways to enhance our group.