How to Start a Children's Book Club

A children's book club fosters a child's lifelong love of reading.

A lifelong interest in reading is one of the most important habits a child can develop. Experts agree that reading to a child at an early age and older helps foster that interest. Another way to help a child become interested or stay interested in reading is to facilitate a book club for children to read and discuss books together.

Instructions

1. Decide what ages you want to include in the book club. An elementary school-age book club will read much different books than middle school or high school readers. This decision will be based on the ages of children you know wish to participate and the books you have in mind.

2. Pick a preliminary list of books on which you want the book club to focus. Some book clubs are organized by themes, such as fantasy, historical fiction or classics. You might also consider focusing on award-winning books. The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) offers a list of award winners past and present (see Resources). Other book clubs focus on current bestsellers, which can be found under Children’s Books on the New York Times website (see Resources).

3. Design fliers about the book club to generate interest. If you already have a group of children who want to join, this step will not be necessary. However, for maximum group diversity, distribute fliers to school libraries and public libraries. Include the target age for the book club, how often the club will meet and the types of books that will be read. Include the date and time of the first meeting and contact information.

4. The first meeting should be informational and a chance for the children to get to know one another. This is also the best time for you to meet parents and answer their questions.

5. Recruit local authors, librarians and community activists to talk to the book club. Coordinate the books you read with the speaker’s topic. Not every meeting needs a speaker, but having one every few months will give the children exposure to a leader in their community. Also plan activities to end book club discussions and ask for parent volunteers for snacks.

6. Ask for feedback from the children and their parents. Implementing member suggestions will help the book club grow and remain active.

Tips & Warnings

• Allow flexibility with the book choices for the club. It is important to go to the first meeting with a book list in case the children do not have suggestions, but the children may have book interests that you have not considered.

• Have discussion questions ready for each meeting. The questions do not have to dictate the discussion, but if the children seem stumped as to what to discuss about a book, the questions are a handy guide.

• Different families have different ideas of what is considered appropriate reading material for their children. Give parents copies of book lists and discussion questions so they can decide whether their children should participate.

Resources

• How to Host a Children's Book Club
• Association for Library Services for Children
• NY Times (for Bestseller Lists)