Victoria's Garden

Victoria's Garden was prepared in to one of the 

If you belong to a book group yourself, you will know that the pleasure of reading is multiplied when we share our ideas, explore differences of opinion and find common interests.

Do you want to run a mother and daughter reading group? A mother and daughter reading group will need to run outside regular school hours. 

Are you a teacher looking to start up a book club could replace a staff meeting once every half term.  

For that ‘book club’ feel, you will want to create an atmosphere that doesn’t feel like a lesson.  Is the area cosy and welcoming? What seating arrangement is going to suit you, around a table, informal soft seating? Will you need to have access to materials for drawing, writing etc.? Will you provide refreshments? Books and food complement each other perfectly, even if it’s simply juice and biscuits. 

What will you read?  How you approach this will be determined to some extent by the type of group you are setting up. For instance, for a group of high attaining readers, you may have the goal of developing greater breadth, or offering choices that they may not select themselves. For a group of ‘reluctant readers’, you may want to develop greater independence and build in an element of member choice. 

For special groups like mother and daughter reading groups, you might choose a book that allows a discussion about a shared experience.  

How often should you meet? You need to allow readers enough time to read the book but you also want to keep the momentum going, so once a fortnight, or once a month may be frequent enough. 

Keep the meetings regular, e.g. the second and fourth Tuesday every month, so that the meeting pattern is established and schedule dates in your diary. The group may lose interest if there are too many cancellations and postponements through lack of planning.  Ready, steady, go 

Nevertheless it can help to have some prepared questions or statements to kick start the discussion. Some generic question starters are given in my full guide ‘How to Set up a Book Club in your School’. 

Let the group know that you can change your mind by listening to what others say by modelling this: ‘I used to think… but when xxx said that made me think again’.

Step 1:

Talk about goals

Step 2: 

Ask Questions

Step 3:

Fan the Flames

Step 4:

Don’t forget to really listen

Reading Challenges

Accelerated Reading Club:  

*Become an Ambassador for your city and start your book club meetings using our platform to help guide your discussions.  

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