How To Start Your Own Book Club

Two years ago I had an idea.

I wanted my girls to look forward to talking about books.

I wanted my daughters to discover that discussing ideas found in great books is actually fun.

I wanted my daughters to see their friends, and their friends’ mothers, talking together about books and ideas instead of about boys and people’s clothes.

I wanted to use inspiring literature to help me understand my girls better.

I wanted inspiring literature to help my daughters understand themselves better.

I wanted to spend time with my daughters.

I was loaned this book – 100 Books for Girls to Grow On by Shireen Dodson.  (Yes, I’ve already confessed that I never returned the book – okay?)

I was convinced I could do this after reading Dodson’s introduction.

I sent a probably weird e-mail to a handful of moms that I only was starting to know but who had daughters the same age as my girls.

That was two years ago.

Now we have monthly Book Club meetings that we all look forward to and we’ve read a stack of quality books and and made invaluable memories with our daughters.

Here’s a few ideas if you want to begin a Book Club too.

1.  Think first.  I’m a big fan of planning.  Decide why you want a Book Club and what your goals are.

2.  Limit the ages of the readers allowed.  Your Book Club members must be able to read at a similar level.  We’ve listened to plenty of our selections on audio and that’s been very helpful in certain busy months.  However, if you have a first grader in a book club with a sixth grader, you will compromise the level of honesty and positive discussion the group can have.  The readers need to be on similar levels.  We started at third grade and go to fifth grade and will simply move that age up each year.  In other words, next year there will be no third graders – only fourth to sixth.  We’ve found that a three year range is about as much of a gap as those years can handle.

3.  Allow one mom to be the (kind of) leader.  And that will probably be the mom who begins the club.  Not because she’s smarter or picks better books.  It is just helpful if there is one point person.  If everything is up for discussion, plans begin to change too frequently.  Sometimes it’s simply easier to have one person doing the planning.

4.  Decide how frequently you plan to meet.  We currently meet about once a month now, with a longer break in the summer months to account for busy schedules and vacations.  You could meet every other month if that works better.  It really doesn’t matter – so long as you are planned and you are reading.

5.  Gather your readers and mothers.  From the start, share your goals and ideas for the book club.  Explain why you want a book club (you’ve already decided this in number 1).  Explain your thoughts on frequency and age limits.  Be sure the moms know they are reading the books too.  Again, it is often easier to simply have a plan – dates and times and novels chosen – and then moms have the option to decline your invitation or not, but they know what is expected.

6.  Don’t let your feelings get hurt if some moms and daughters choose not to participate.  Life is busy, people.  Sometimes you just don’t have time to commit to a book club.  Don’t take it personally.

7.  Plan your meetings. We have pretty faithfully stuck to Dodson’s book.  Not so much because I’ve never read a better guide.  More so because she’s already done the hard work.  She sums up the story, provides an idea of reading length, offers questions for discussions and book club gathering ideas ranging from activities to food to experiences to share together to enhance the novel.

8.  Be excited to share an evening with your children.  I’ve found that time and time again Mosely and London and I have the most interesting conversations on our drives to and from Book Club.  Routinely, Mosely hops in the car, buckles up, grins and says, “Okay, girls – let’s talk about only girl things.  Stuff we don’t want our brothers to hear!”

I’d love to hear about any book clubs in which you already participate or any additional ideas you may have to help a club run smoothly and joyfully!