Who said book clubs just had to be for adults? Kids can get in on the fun, too! A summer reading book club for kids is the perfect way to get your children excited about reading while letting them stay in touch with all their friends. The key to planning the perfect kid-friendly reading club is to remember your audience. If you try to set up something like your adult book group, kids will lose interest fast. Here are a few easy ways to make it fun and keep everyone coming back!
Host a Summer Reading Book Club for Kids
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The Pre-Planning Phase
Keep it to a small group based on tastes & reading levels
Just because your kid is Mr. Popularity doesn’t mean you have to invite his entire social circle. Keep the club to a few kids who have similar book tastes. For example, my son loves books like Diary of a Wimpy Kid
and Captain Underpants
. He’s not really into fantasy or science fiction yet (although I’m trying so hard to get him to read Harry Potter since he’s obsessed with the movies). It makes more sense to invite four or five kids who also love those types of books than to invite ten kids and try to find a theme they all enjoy.
Decide on timing
Sit down with all the parents and work out a time schedule for the whole summer. That way, you know ahead of time who is going on vacation when, who has a birthday party on a certain date, and so on. Sure, you’ll end up with a few last-minute cancellations at some point, but it’s easier to nail down the times in the beginning than to try to get everyone on the same calendar page later on. While you’re doing this, make sure you’re giving the kids enough time to read the book! That will depend on their age, reading level and other time commitments.
Choosing the right book
Pick a fun book that screams “summer reading” rather than trying to force an educational or classic novel on the kids (unless, of course, your group loves the classics). Yes, we all want out children to read timeless literary works, but chances are strong they’ll read them in school at some point. Let them have a say in picking the book. They can either vote on a book each time or take turns picking it. Just make sure you schedule enough meetings so each kid gets a turn.
Here are a few lists to help inspire them and get them started:
- 37 Fabulous Summer Reading Books for Middle Graders
- Around the World in 80 Children’s Books
- 30+ YA Fantasy Books That Absolutely Need to Be on Your 2017 Reading List
You can either plan all the books for the whole summer up front or let kids pick them out as you go along. Honestly, I think getting them all together and choosing ahead of time is a lot easier. If they do change their collective minds and unanimously decide to ditch a book or swap it with another, fine, but planning ahead of time gives parents a chance to buy the books in one order (or a trip to the store) and reserve books at the library if need be.
Book Club Day Planning
Now that you’ve got the basic logistics down, it’s time to plan for the actual club days themselves. Whether you are hosting a club day every week, every month or just once during the whole summer, planning ahead means the difference between calm and chaos.
Discussion Questions
While you don’t want to completely control the conversation, it’s a good idea to read the book yourself and come up with a few discussion questions to get kids started. They can also come up with their own questions as they read the book and jot them down in a special “book club only” notebook. Keep your list of questions light and fun. If the kids want to discuss deep themes, like the motivation behind Dav Pikey’s decision to put his hero in underpants, they’ll get there on their own.
Plan book-themed activities
Remember, kids have shorter attention spans that adults. They most likely aren’t going to want to sit around discussing the story for two hours straight! To be completely honest, even I don’t have that sort of attention span, and I love to talk books. Plan on about half an hour of book talk, then move on to fun activities based on the story. This can include quiet time things like book-inspired crafts or even more active things like playing games.
For example, if your group just finished Treasure Island (yeah, I know I said no classics, but it’s a fun classic!), you could host a treasure hunt in your backyard. Check out these 3 ideas for amazing & educational literary adventures in your own backyard or these fun Alice in Wonderland party ideas! I also found this adorable bookmark craft on Instagram. It’s easy and fun!
Feed your voracious readers
Don’t forget the snacks! A book club isn’t a party, so you don’t have to go crazy with fancy cupcakes and an all-you-can-eat buffet. Time your meeting so the kids have already eaten a decent meal and aren’t quite ready for the next. Think snack time party versus dinner party. If you’re feeling extra clever, you can find some cute book-themed snack ideas that aren’t terribly hard to pull off, like these Beauty and the Beast inspired treats. Some books don’t really scream “snack theme,” though. Kristy has an amazing Instagram page filled with incredibly easy & healthy snack ideas for all ages to inspire you.
Wrap it up and get ready for the next club day
The kids have talked each other’s ears off about the book, zipped through every activity you planned and polished off all the food. Now what? If you still have a lot of club time left, just let them go. Give them time to unwind and socialize! You can also get them involved in cleanup so you’re not stuck doing it all yourself. Before everyone leaves, take a moment to confirm the next date with parents. Even though you already did this, it’s a good idea to make sure plans haven’t changed.
That’s pretty much all there is to it! I think the most important tip is to remember that this is a low-key event. Don’t go into full-on party planning mode or you’ll end up spending a fortune and stressing yourself out. Even if you end up with four kids sitting around talking about a book for five minutes and then running around the yard for the next 55, you’ve done the important part: encouraged them to read!
Have you ever hosted a book club for kids? What other tips would you include?
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I love how you made reading fun. Mine are still too little to read on their own, but these are really awesome ideas. I love the Harry Potter books so I am quite excited for when I can share that love with my kids.
That is an awesome way to make reading fun for the kids. My kids have required summer reading from school that they always dread, so I might use this idea.
It’s definitely a good way to liven up required reading! I didn’t have a required list until I was in high school. I feel like summer should be a sort of “choose your own literary adventure” thing.
Before I retired as a school principal, I did book clubs with my students on a monthly basis. I wonder if there would be any interest for me to do one with the neighbor kids?
What a great idea! My son will be starting kindergarten this Fall and reading will be really important to him!
What a really great idea. This would be something my kids would enjoy as they all love reading so much!
I hate the idea of summer brain drain! Such a helpful post that kids can benefit from. Thank you!
My oldest loves to read. He got that from me. I actually signed him up for a reading program this summer at our library but this is a great idea too.
There is something about summertime and reading that reminds me of my childhood. Every summer we’d head up to the cabin and head to the local library and stock up on books to read over a months period. Can’t wait to do this with my kids one day!
Reading always reminds me of summer, too! I’ve always been a big reader, but to me, summer is all about staying up late engrossed in a good book.
I’d never have thought about a kids book club before, but this is such a good idea to encourage reading x
These are some great tips to have kids have the best time while reading! A kids book club is a great idea.
What an excellent post for children’s reading during the Summer.
I like all the tips and other resources you provide.
I also like your snack preparation ideas.
This is such a great idea. I’ve attended adult book clubs, but never thought about doing one for kids. It’s a smart way to encourage summer reading.
This is such a great idea and I’m sure it really does encourage your kids to read more. My kids are too young but I’ll have to remember this for when they are older.
I nanny kids that LOVE to read. I need to let them know about this, they would enjoy this!
That’s pure awesome! It’s good to have activities and snack prepared so that they have something else to do after or before discussing the book that they read for the week.
I am really LOVING this idea!!!! I want to do this with my son, he’d love it! And what a great way to foster learning and reading all summer long!
Thank you! I’m glad you love it! Let me know how it goes if you do it with your son!
Aww I remember seven reading As a child. These snacks would have definitely kept me focused and interested
Oh such a great idea for kids! They will surely enjoy this reading book club!
These are all great ideas! I bet my eight year old daughter would love to start a reading club with her neighborhood friends this summer!
Great ideas. Would love to encourage the kids to read more this summer! Really like the idea of a reading club to make it a social event & activity for them.
Pre-planning is very important because you have to choose just the right titles and get the kids excited about reading over the summer.
I am so glad to have come across this post. I was planning to start a book club this summer for my son and these ideas will come handy for sure.
This is such great information! My oldest was just talking to me about something similar to this just yesterday.
I love the themed activities. We are planning on going to the summer reading program at our local library as well.
A Summer book club would be great. I love these wonderful ideas.