"Book Clubs- 'The Book Club Companion'" Say/Do

The Book Club Companion

Say:

This week's reading focused solely upon book clubs. I felt very enlightened as I read the pages of The Book Club Companion because I, for one, have never experienced a book club firsthand (other than when Sty conducted one for us in class). I also have never lead one in any of the classes I have taught, neither have I seen a teacher facilitate one.

My idea of a book club has always been a bunch of old ladies reading hot and steamy books, like Fifty Shades of Grey, and giggling and gossiping about the naughty details. Even better yet, another idea of a book club I have is the Oprah book club and all of the books that have her infamous "Oprah Book Club" sticker. According to middle-aged women, that is the sign of a worth-while read. I, of course, never watched an Oprah book club in action, but I can only imagine the implications of a famous person endorsing a novel can have on it's reputation and readership stats.

The book clubs that were described in The Book Club Companion were starkly different than my pre-conceived ideas of what a book club is. In the beginning it hashes out the basic details of what a successful book club looks like and how it functions. You have about four people per group and it's all about student choice. However, it's a kind of limited choice because there are so many books in the world that there has to be some method to the madness. Teacher's are encouraged to choose several different books, from different genres that all have the same or similar themes. These themes need to be the same or similar to the core text that is being read as an entire class. This way students are reading texts that they enjoy and have, essentially chosen, that still connect them back to the core text of the unit. It allows for better conversation and connections.

This segues nicely into a brief conversation on how socratic seminars and book clubs work nicely together. The two activities have similarities and differences to one another. Unlike a book club, socratic seminars do not allow students to choose the text in which they will discuss in the circle. Those texts are chosen by the teachers. However, they are similar in the fact that the texts in both book clubs and socratic seminars point back to major themes and points in the core text that is being used for that particular unit. These two activities are also centered around conversation about a text.  Both activities require accountability for the conversations that are being had and bring about deeper understandings of a text. In my opinion, book clubs most definitely can influence and enhance the socratic seminars that are being facilitated in the classroom. This is because students are able to make connections from one text to the other to the other.

Making connections across texts, across personal experiences and across curriculum are very important aspects to studying literature. These are also things that are done when studying critical theory in the context of a particular text. As students are being exposed to critical theory, and especially if they enjoy breaking down a text in that way, they will begin to apply these theories when they are not even asked to. So critical theory analysis may begin to pop up in, not only their socratic seminars, but also their book clubs. As long as we, as educators, as providing safe places for our students to learn they will have plenty of environments and opportunities to analyze texts.

For my "Do" I wanted to have some material that I could see myself utilizing in the classroom while conducting book clubs. I wouldn't give all of these questions to the groups all at once, and I don't think I would give these questions unless they were stumped. I want my students to have the creative freedom to discuss things they would like to about the book. However, there are times when a group may need a push in the right direction just to get a conversation started. There are two lists of questions below. One list for fiction books and another list for non-fiction books.


Do:

The list of discussion questions for book club success:

1. Which character do you like the most and why? The least and why? 


2. What passage from the book stood out to you? 


3. Are there situations and/or characters you can identify with, if so how? 


4. Did you learn something you didn’t know before? 


5. Do you feel as if your views on a subject have changed by reading this text? 


6. Have you had a life changing revelation from reading this text? 


7. What major emotion did the story evoke in you as a reader? 


8. At what point in the book did you decide if you liked it or not? What helped make this decision? 


9. Name your favorite thing overall about the book. Your least favorite? 


10. If you could change something about the book what would it be and why? 


11. Describe what you liked or disliked about the writer’s style?

Nonfiction Book Club Discussion Questions

1. Did you admire or detest this person? Why? (Biography or Autobiography) 


2. What life lesson can be learned from this event or story? (General Nonfiction) 


3. Did the book read like a story, a newspaper article, a report, something else? Give examples. (General Nonfiction) 


4. What one new fact did you learn from reading this book? (General Nonfiction) 


5. What was the motivation for the writing of this book? (General but great for Bio or Auto Bio) 


6. Did you feel this book truly belonged in the nonfiction genre? (Memoir) 


7. Was the point of the book to share an opinion, explain a topic, tell about a personal journey, or something else? Did the author do it well? (General Nonfiction) 


8. What part of this book inspired you in some way? Explain. (Motivational, Self Help) 


9. Will you read other books by this author? Why or why not? (General Nonfiction) 


10. Did this book change your life in a positive or negative way? Explain (General Nonfiction)