Running a non-traditional book club

For a big chunk of this year, my library was closed while we awaited a new building. We began doing pop-up libraries & programs at places in our community, including the Farmer’s Market, City Hall, and other local places. My Teen Advisory Group met regularly at City Hall during the library closure, and they were such troopers about brainstorming ideas for the library despite the fact that they couldn’t even go to our library! Most of my teens had never been in a book club before and really wanted to start one right away.

Our biggest challenge was that since the library was closed, most of the teens didn’t have a guaranteed place to check out a specific book. Our solution was to run the book club in a non-traditional way: instead of all reading the same book and discussing it, everyone would read any book of their choosing and come ready to talk about it. This way they could read a book they had at home, got from school, borrowed from a friend, or found in a little free library. I even gave them the option of just telling us about any book that they want to, even if it’s something they read a long time ago.

I wanted to share what this experience was like, in case others are considering implementing this type of book club.

WHAT I LEARNED

• Teens felt less pressure! So many of my teens told me they loved not feeling pressured to read a specific book by a specific date. This helped make the book club feel fun rather than like more homework.
• Teens liked hearing a variety of titles. Since we each shared a book at each meeting, teens got to hear about a bunch of different titles rather than just one. Some of my teens were just getting into reading, and they benefited from the style of our book club that allowed them to discover more books.
• Teens could attend even if they hadn’t had time to read a book each month. I had several regular attendees who enjoyed coming just to hear about what other people were reading, or to socialize with.
• Each book club meeting will be wildly different depending on the teens who attend. Sometimes I had super chatty teens who brought a whole stack of books to talk about, and other times I had quieter teens who just wanted to sit back and listen to others. Sometimes the meeting would fly by as we talked about tons of books, and other times the hour would slowly tick by while I nudged them to talk.
• I got to know my teens really well. This book club was so nice for building relationships with library teens because I learned so much more about them as individual readers.
• Not all teens will know how to talk about books! This seems like a simple idea, but I quickly realized that many teens weren’t sure how to tell others about books. Some teens seemed nervous and began to talk as if they were giving a book report and some immediately told everyone how the book ended (I learned pretty quickly to implement a “no spoilers” rule!). I had to learn how to support these teens as they built up the confidence to share book recommendations with others.

 

MY TIPS FOR RUNNING A NON-TRADITIONAL BOOK CLUB

• Prepare other activities! Since we didn’t have a central theme or book to discuss, sometimes there were lulls in the conversation. It really helped to have some bookish activities for teens to do so we weren’t all just sitting around awkwardly waiting for someone to talk. Easy things like coloring sheets, DIY bookmarks, playing a playlist of book trailers, and writing shelf-talkers have worked well for my group.
• Have a bunch of book talks prepared! This is another way you can help move the conversation along or relieve some of the pressure off of the teens to talk. Sometimes the teens talk the whole time and I end up not using the booktalks, but it’s helpful to have them in the back of my mind when things get too quiet.
• Be ready to help teens when they get stuck. A lot of my teens were new to book clubs and weren’t quite sure how to talk about books. I tried to facilitate them and engage others in the conversation when I could tell they needed help.
• Keep it casual. I always remind my teens that they’re welcome even if they don’t have a book to talk about. They can come to socialize (so long as the socializing isn’t disruptive of the program, of course!) or just to hear what others are reading. I never want them to feel like they can’t come just because they haven’t read anything recently.
• Be aware of your marketing/promotion. People will see/hear the words “book club” and automatically think that they need to read a specific book. When promoting your book club, make sure to stress that teens can read anything they want. For my flyers, I usually incorporate a collage of a bunch of different book covers to convey that the book club isn’t about reading one specific book.
• Go with the flow! This book club worked so much better when I was flexible and let my teens steer it in the direction they wanted. Sometimes they wanted to talk about lots of different books and sometimes they wanted to just watch book trailers. Be willing to roll with it.
• Validate all reading! Make sure teens know that comics, webcomics, audiobooks, fanfiction, and all sorts of other things count as reading. This reading is just as valid as books and encourage them to tell you about anything they’re reading, regardless of format.

 

Originally, the plan was that once the new library opened, we would switch to a normal book club format. Many of my teens loved the way we’d been doing it and didn’t want to change! As a compromise, we’re going to try alternating between all reading the same book one month, and different books the next. I’ve loved this experience, which has given me so much insight into teen readers at my library!

Have you ever had a book club that was non-traditional? How did you run it and how did it go for you?