Organizing a Group
- If you are organizing the book club, decide on the total number of people who will be in the group. If students are organizing the book club with your help, let them make the decision—but do offer your guidance. Usually 12 to 15 members work best. This allows for each person in the group to participate in the discussion.
- Decide the ages or grades of students who will be included in the group. There probably should not be more than 2-3 years’ age difference between participants.
- Get the word out. Students with an interest in animal issues can decide to create a book club. Build membership by spreading the word to other students, making flyers to hang in school or local libraries, or within the context of another club, such as Girl or Boy Scouts.
Meetings
- Choose a time, day, place and frequency of meetings. Meetings can be held monthly or bi-monthly. Most groups find that monthly meetings work best without interfering with school work and other activities.
- Place of meeting. Meetings can take place in a library, in a classroom, after-school program—you decide.
- Parental Consent. It is important to confirm with parents the date and time of the meetings. Send parents information about the book club.
Responsibilities within the Discussion Group
Facilitating Discussion: In the first group meeting or when the group is just starting out, a teacher or librarian can lead the discussions until the group gets familiar with the process and with one another. Eventually, each member of the group should take turns leading a group discussion.
The Facilitator:
Introduces the people in the group to each other. The facilitator provides each person with a name tag or goes around the room and has each person introduce themselves.
Before the discussion, set up a few rules for the students to follow. For example, don’t interrupt when someone is speaking, don’t call out, respect other’s opinions, etc.
Provide information about the author and a review of the book. This information can be given prior to book club meeting.
Prepare the discussion questions and go around to each person in the group to get everyone’s responses and opinions. The job of the facilitator is to encourage the group to take part of the discussion and to have fun in the process.
Book Tracker: Involve the students. Assign someone from the group to send out reminders about the time and place of the next meeting and the book you will be discussing.
What to Bring: It is important to bring the assigned books, but it’s equally as important to bring snacks. One person should not be responsible for bringing snacks each month. This responsibility should rotate each month.
Suggested Discussion Questions
- What did you like about this book?
- What characters did you like?
- What are some of the major themes in the book?
- What problems did the characters face?
- What scene do you remember the most?
- What do you think the author was trying to say in the book? Did he or she get that point across?
- What did the main character believe in? What did he or she have to fight for?
- What are your concerns about the book?
- Could you relate to any of the characters?
- Are there any events in the book that are like your own life?
- Were the animal characters treated appropriately in the book?
- What are some of the animal issues in the book?
- Is the information about animals factually correct?
- Are the needs of animals discussed?
- Is compassion toward all animals—including humans—shown?
- Are animals given human qualities or are they shown the way they really are?