The best book club questions for every kind of discussion. The questions presented here are applicable to any type of book or genre, including fiction, literature. If your book club is planning to read this heartbreakingly inspiring memoir, take a look at our book club questions for educated by tara westover. The official launch of book club central took place during the presidents program at the ala annual conference and exhibition in chicago on saturday, june 24, 2017.
Both groups took a pretest before the book club discussion and a posttest after the book club discussion. What are your initial impressions of the character. They will practice critical thinking skills while considering the personal impact and perception of literature. What is the effect on reading comprehension when using talk prompts with second grade students in book clubs. In a book talk, the goal is to engage the listeners and present a fun, exciting, and even suspenseful commercial for your book. Great sentence starters to help students push each others thinking and responding with evidencebased answers. This is a literary analysis technique called close reading. The first two things are easy to accomplish just read anything by. Even with a great book its not always easy to get the ball rolling, especially if the discussion guide jumps right into the serious issues of a book. Students can also be involved in selecting texts for their book club to study and discuss. For a book club focused on character, for example, i tasked students with tracking one character and marking in their book where they learned about the character through what he says, how he acts, and what others say about him.
Non fiction book club questions westfield memorial library. Litcourse 3 has a good discussion of close reading. Remind them of the question prompts and get them talking about the book to help them write questions e. Print these cards and stick them in students readers notebooks, around your library, on index cards. You can play games charades or win, lose or draw with bookspecific themes, do themed activities or even dress up as your favorite character for the meeting. Colby is part of the team that runs the summer literacy event nerd camp michigan. The effects on reading comprehension when using prompts. Decide to start with only a few of the cards on a ring and add to them later. In one of my past book clubs, we literally only read books that included discussion questions at the end of the book because we wanted to be certain wed have a meaningful discussion. Prompts for nonfiction reading group discussions keeping nonfiction book club questions simple, but open ended, will allow for plenty of opinions and encourage discussion among members. As a member or leader of a book club, you are likely to be reading books on a wide variety of topics, both fiction and nonfiction. Author tara westovers memoir educated has rocketed to the top of the new york times bestseller list to become one of the mustread nonfiction books of 2018. The following book club questions will have spoilers so if you havent read the.
General book club questions for study and discussion. Book club questions for the great alone by kristin hannah. Elementary school book clubs are a great way to engage children while developing their critical thinking skills and keeping them interested in reading. We announce the book selection on the first monday of the month and discuss on the last monday of the month at. The data revealed that when second grade students used talk prompts in book clubs, they were able to engage in deep conversations with their peers about text and there was an increase in their comprehension proficiency. Refer to the prompts on the cards as often as you can. Also, avoid questions that have simple yes or no answers. If your book club is hosted at someones house, have a themed treat or drink based on the book or a detail from the book. Which is why were providing you with this list of top book club questions that will generate general. Book club central, or bcc, will bring a world of information to book lovers, book clubs, libraries, and anyone who wants to increase their enjoyment of reading. Use the questions on this printable sheet to discuss any book your students might be studying. If you dont meet at someones home, maybe see if you can pick your months location based on something from the book. My current book club group is much more casual, but perhaps too much so.
Book discussion questions for any book courtesy of bookbundlz story. Ive been in a lot of book clubs, and i know its not always easy to get a conversation going on a book. If you are using the prompts to talk about books, your students will, too. Are they personal, sociological, global, political, economic, spiritual, medical, or scientific. Below are some tasks that should be addressed by the club coordinator. The great alone by kristin hannah is a gripping story about survival and human resilience. See more ideas about school reading, middle school reading, teaching reading. It is a community blog centered around the teaching of reading, and childrens books. Students can refer to the conversation starters on the bookmark throughout their meeting to prompt them on what to discuss. Each member or a team of 23 takes a card and answers the question. Each year more than 2000 kids, educators and book creators gather in parma to read, write, and.
Literature circlesbook club pack common core by read like a rock star book club for kids ideas literature circles 60 ideas for 2019 literature circles can be a place for cooperative learning. You want to ask questions that are openended and help people talk about themes and how the book relates to. These tasks may be delegated to other club members. Welcome back to autostraddles book club, where we pick a book and read it together and then talk about it. So, youve started your book club, youve bought enough wine to satisfy even your thirstiest pals, plus plenty of cheesy snacks. Select a number of questions, write each on an index card, and distribute. When writing your own book club discussion questions, avoid questions that are too general, like what did you think of the book. I may be biased, but moms book nook is the best online moms book club youll find.
While discussing books is our passion we also have active forums for talking about poetry, short stories, writing and authors. Definitely a more advanced suggestion of all the book club ideas but a fun challenge, i think. We announce the book selection on the first monday of the month and discuss on the last monday of the month at 9. In a book club, you dont have to just sit around and talk about the book. Were they brought to life in a cliche or in a unique manner. The boho berry book club is a meeting place to gather and talk about a different personal development book each month and the ways it can make our lives more awesome off the page. Want to see these questions in action, and join a fun monthly online book club no awkward silences, promise. And, its more persuasive than expositorythink sales and marketing. This list of 52 book journaling ideas is meant to help get your mind rolling about words, reading, books, and other aspects of a wellread life, whatever that. Just we did in 2019, on the 1st day of each month well be introducing you to the months prompt and the books team members each plan to read, along with some other suggested reads we think youll love. Write the words book club on the board or on a piece of chart paper. Ive found that the best book club discussion questions are ones that are openended and that get people to share their personal opinions.
Asking the right questions can mean the difference between a dull, lackluster book. We read and talk about both fiction and nonfiction books as a community. No matter the genre, age, notoriety, or length of the book of the moment, book club questions can kickstart or enhance your group discussion. Book club bookmarks with conversation prompts by beach. Accountable talk prompts by the littlest book club tpt. Use specific passages from the book as evidence for your ideas. These bookmarks act as a cheat sheet for students who struggle with what to talk about when their book club meets. A book talk is a short presentation about a book with the goal of convincing other people to read it. Whether you are discussing characters and their actions, setting, theme, or images, having a guide to questions that will. I suggest printing these on either white or colored cardsto.
Now comes the difficult partshaping your friendly chatter into an elevated, incisive conversation about the book you all agreed to read. You want to ask questions that are openended and help people talk about themes and how the book relates to deeper issues. Choose one question at a time and toss it out to the group. Remove the pressure by trying some of these discussion prompts. Explain that each group will join together with the other group in the class who read the same book and conduct a 15minute paired book club discussion in front of the class. Texts can be assigned based on student interests, reading level, or learning objectives. Throughout the remainder of the chapter, i will discuss my teaching experiences, defining readers workshop, observing the power of book talk, and introducing the. Meet aleks the fourth tuesday of each month to talk about topical books that will expand your worldview and challenge your way of thinking. We meet in a private facebook group and chat about a new book every month. As stated in previous sections of this series, mini lessons are not a necessary part of literacy circlesbook clubs. This is the fourth installment in a series of posts with ideas and suggestions for running effective literacy circles or book clubs with students from second grade through high school. For our 2020 book club weve put together another printable list of twelve different prompts, one for each month of the year.
Literature circlesbook club pack common core see more. The club is no longer active, however, all posts and prompts are still archived for viewing. Have students share their prior knowledge and experiences about book clubs. If youve never heard of book journaling and your interest is piqued by it, ive pulled together a list of 52 book journaling ideas to give you a prompt for every week of the year.
Jul 2, 2014 want to give kids something to talk about. Listen to students talk about the book and use their thoughts to help write questions. Prompts are wonderful tools to have when you are helping individual students make their way through a text or to check on how well the members of your small group are understanding the text. If youre ready to start a book club, heres 40 of the best book club questions, for fiction.
Minilessons that support effective book clubs center. The questions make great prompts for class discussion and creative writing assignments. Explain the goal of the paired discussionto synthesize ideas across groups, to critique ideas within a larger group, and to identify common themes and social issues. Students help each other understand a text and make sense of it. Our book club edition of conversation starters promotes lively discussions and gives you a fun, easy way to explore the plot, the characters and a whole lot more. What is a book talk your guide to making them work in. The role of club coordinator in a book club as the book club evolves, the role of the group coordinator will change. As we get older, were taught to leave behind our imaginations and join the adult world. This month, due to its terrifying relevance and to keep up with the discussion of the. I normally use prompts that promote and reinforce the comprehension strategies we teach and model in readers workshop minilessons. Colby is cofounded the nerdy book club with donalyn miller.
Book discussion questions for any book your book club. Book club ideas to breathe new life into your book club. How sodirectly,on a daily basis, or more generally. Creativity can be easily stifled when you are concerned with school grades, career choices, family needs, and the necessities of getting through the day. Ask your group if they think people should judge the book by its cover. The perfect book club is made up of three key things.
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