What is a Book Club? How can I join? What’s in it for my children?

Read. Read. Read. So much emphasis we put on reading but sometimes children never progress from the technical skill of being able to read to the reading for pleasure stage. They read for the sake of putting a comment in the reading folder. And they read to get enough points to get a reward. How can we help our children to fall in love with reading?

I am a very lucky parent. My daughter learnt how to read in a week at the age of 5. It just came effortlessly to her. I was jubilant. It was not long before I realised that it was the skills test that we passed. To teach the joy of reading would be a longer journey. We are still on this journey trying to withstand a major competition from TV and audiobooks so masterfully narrated by the best in the business. When I have to choose between a film and an audiobook, of course, I will lean towards an audiobook. In this format, imagination still plays a huge part. And yet a book wins. A book gives us a space to immerse ourselves in the story and make it come to life. Reading, pausing, re-reading passages, contemplating, reflecting. This is the kind of reading that I love and want children to learn and experience.

Every parent has their own system on how to help kids understand what reading is all about. Some parents set an example by reading the same book together at the same time and discussing it afterwards. This is one of my favourite approaches – it sets a common ground, brings in a friendly competition and establishes a reading routine in a fun way.

It appears that having someone that is on the same page with you is important. This is where Book Clubs come in. Being part of a Book Club creates an important sense of belonging and exposes children to a lot of different ideas about a book with which everyone is familiar. Finishing a book is not the end of the story. The story lives on in discussions, essays, role-playing. Book Clubs encourage reading on a deeper level.

Choosing a book that will win the heart of your child is an important task. Luckily Book Clubs can help with this by curating reading lists. If your school runs a book club, do try it out.

If your school doesn’t offer Book Clubs, there are many options for setting up a Book Club in your school.

In some schools, Book Clubs are run by library staff or teachers, while others delegate this job to parents or pupils. There are a few organisations that can help to set up a Book Club in your school.

Book Clubs in Schools is a not-for-profit organisation offering a unique peer-to-peer mentoring programme in the form of a Book Club which inspires a lifelong love of reading and critical thinking in children.

Chatterbooks is a network of children's reading clubs run in libraries and schools to encourage reading for pleasure. Chatterbooks clubs are run by library staff, teachers, teaching assistants and volunteers - people who are passionate about reading.

Give a Book work with and provide books for Book Clubs in Schools, a not-for-profit organisation offering a unique peer-to-peer mentoring programme which inspires a lifelong love of reading and critical thinking.

Book Club Guide .All you need to set up and run a successful Book Club or reading group in your school.

You don’t need much to set up a Book Club. It certainly helps to have a tool to set it up and manage it. With SchoolClubs you can host your Book Club for free forever. Get in touch to set up your free account.