Middle school book club fosters insightful talks

The small group of middle school students nibbled on gummy bears, cookies and apples while discussing this month?s read Thursday afternoon.

Attendance was down some from March, when the book club tackled ?Hunger Games,? but students were eager to share their thoughts.

?It?s been unbelievable really the depth of thinking we?ve seen ? it?s been awesome,? said Tena Nelson, one of four middle school staff overseeing the new club. ?They?re really digging into the books.

?The first discussion, we had no idea what to expect,? she said. As it turned out, the students had plenty to say without the teachers? coaxing or prepared activities.

?They really want to talk about the books,? Nelson said. If anything, the students are sometimes disappointed when they don?t get a chance to say everything during the 1.5 hour meeting, ?which is a good problem to have,? Nelson said.

?I have been amazed at the level of discussion during these meetings ? everything from writing style to character development ? it?s been really cool,? said parent volunteer Detra Dettmann. ?The teachers don?t have to prompt them too much because they all have thoughts.?

Interest in a book club had been expressed last year, but it wasn?t until this December that it got off the ground.

?We had three teachers that wanted to offer it to all of middle school,? Dettmann said.

Nelson said several of the teachers belong to book clubs themselves and know how much fun the book discussion can be.

?We have a lot of readers we thought would like that environment,? she said. The book club gives students an opportunity to read the book for fun, rather than for an assignment or grade.

At the organizational meeting in December, the teachers and students came with book ideas for the year. The students voted on their top choices, and on the third Thursday in January, roughly 16 readers began with ?Unwind? by Neal Shusterman.

In February, the book club tackled ?Firestorm? by David Klass. In March, they aligned ?Hunger Games? with release of the movie, and the number of participants swelled to more than two dozen.

Dettmann said one nice thing about the book club is ?it?s flexible if kids are in athletics. They can jump in any month.?

Thursday, the topic of discussion was ?The Knife of Never Letting Go? by Patrick Ness. ?The Wednesday Wars? by Gary D. Schmidt will be the club?s last book of the school year.

At every meeting, the students are challenged to bring snacks with some relation to the story. ?Firestorm? made mention of deep-sea fishing, so one student brought sushi he made with his father, Dettmann said. For ?Hunger Games,? the club enjoyed bread as a reminder of lead character Peeta, a baker?s son.

Dettmann raised funds for the club, so brand new books could be purchased for each student each month. After discussion, the students have the option of returning it or purchasing it at cost.

Nelson hopes students will show interest in continuing the book club next year.

She said middle school principal Laura Atwood, in her first year on the job, has really made creating a variety of activities a priority, so every student can find something to be part of. While a book club won?t attract every student, Nelson said it does meet the needs of a few.