The book club which I lead seems to have taken on a life of its own. We started with a book per half term and have gradually added to this. Anyway, this is an update on our activities and an ask for help with ideas.
The book club has children from eight to twelve. The children range from struggling readers to exceedingly voracious book consumers!
In terms of our core books, we have read
The book club has children from eight to twelve. The children range from struggling readers to exceedingly voracious book consumers!
In terms of our core books, we have read
- Return of the White Book by Rebecca Davis.
- A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
- Jungle Doctor to the Rescue by Paul White
- The boy who biked the World by Alastair Humphries
- John Paton: South Sea Island Rescue by Kay Walsh
The first additional activity was to add book recommendations from the children. Each child has a chance to recommend a book, to the group, at each session. The children are encouraged to mention the author's name, setting and genre in their recommendation and to avoid spoilers. I do interrupt if a child seems to be about to spill all the beans on the plot.
In order to encourage the children to read the recommendations, I have just introduced a small prize to be shared by the recommending child and the child who has taken up the challenge. This has been particularly popular!
Our new activity is that the children have been given the privilege of being one of the judging panels for the Royal Institution Young People's Book Prize. We are waiting for our package of books to investigate and the children are exciting about forming a judging panel.
The future planned activity is where I need help. I heard about podcasts where the participants give three favourite books, one they don't like and books that they are currently reading before being given three reading suggestions. This seemed like an ideal autumn activity for the group and would mean that the children have some individualised reading suggestions. However, I don't know enough about children's literature to manage this off the top of my head so the children filled in forms for me. I have some ideas but I'm looking forward to a summer of reading children's literature to fill the gaps in my recommendations! Where I would particularly value help is
- modern, quality series for avid readers
- historical fiction for children
- books for struggling readers which aren't babyish. Historical fiction for this group would be marvelous. I will include some audio books but would like to include one or two easier books.
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Willard Price has a series of books that my children enjoyed - my husband also read them when he was growing up & thought they were great. Adventures involving two brothers and their dad & included lots of interesting info on animals and natural history. They've been reprinted numerous times and are great especially for boys who don't have a natural affinity for reading. Volcano Adventure, Gorilla Adventure, South Sea Adventure are a few titles but there are quite a few more.
ReplyDeleteHistorical fiction - good readers may enjoy G.A. Henty's books. Some are better than others - let me know if you want some titles.
Thank you. The Willard Price sound ideal. Some Henty titles would be great. My eldest son read some and got fed up as he thought they were too similar but he may not have read the best.
DeleteThank you. The Willard Price sound ideal. Some Henty titles would be great. My eldest son read some and got fed up as he thought they were too similar but he may not have read the best.
DeleteYour book club sounds really lovely. Aaron has recently started enjoying the Magic Tree House series, his reading ability is actually far above them but he has found chapter books very daunting until now. The chapters are short and the language is simple.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sarah. The Magic Tree House sounds like the sort of thing I need particularly to inspire some confidence.
DeleteThank you, Sarah. The Magic Tree House sounds like the sort of thing I need particularly to inspire some confidence.
DeleteThe club sounds wonderful!
ReplyDeleteWe have found Enid Blyton, Encyclopedia Brown, and the three detective series (Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, older series only) as well as the Boxcar Children (up to #19)to be great for increasing reading fluency at that age. For young struggling readers we loved books about Eddie and Betsy by Carolyn Haywood, but they may be hard to find now.
And then I go to Ambleside Online for lists of more quality reading for various ages. Quite a few of our family's favorite read alouds are good for individual reading as well: http://anniekateshomeschoolreviews.com/2015/01/top-twenty-books-for-families-to-read-aloud/
Thank you for so many suggestions. Some of our favourites are on your Twenty Books to Read aloud post. I had just read Five Little Peppers and was going to put it as a suggestion for one of the children. Kon-Tiki is a book that I own but have never read so that needs to be remedied! Swiss Family Robinson is a book that I read to the older children but needs to be pulled out again. I hadn't thought about Ambleside on line for book club suggestions even though I had looked at it for ideas for my own children for next year. So many useful ideas!
DeleteWe've just been really enjoying the boy who biked around the world, after reading about in on your blog, so thank you for a great recommendation. Easier reader books we've found good, Dick King Smith, Boxcar children, Enid Blyton and Atinuke's No 1 car spotter series. Another option is would you be able to use a collection of poems book or a graphic novel? I read Lakika by Abadzis for myself which is a graphic novel about the 1950s USSR space program, obviously the ending isn't happy but an interesting read that may or may not be suitable. Historical fiction - more books that we've enjoyed that have a historical setting - When Hitler stole pink rabbit, Journey to the River Sea and Tom's midnight garden. Modern series, recommended by friends with 10-12 year olds Lion Boy triology and Michael Morpurgo. Looking forward to your recommendations after the summer's reading! Ellie
ReplyDeleteEllie, I'm glad that you enjoyed the Boy who biked the world. Thank you for the recommendations. I like the idea of a collection of poems. Poems can seem less overwhelming than a whole book and the graphic novel idea is really interesting. I hadn't heard of Lakika before but might be ideal for one of the children.
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