Start a book club for your kids! We did!

On Friday night, six or so children and moms in first grade
had the first meeting of the Worldwide Book Club. It was not
without drama. Earlier in the day one boy in the club had his
sneakers stolen by some feisty girls and it was awful for him.
So who should be invited to the book club? Both the culprit
and the perpetrator of the sneaker kerfluffle! Needless to say,
it was awkward. But the first graders handled it well
described a few paragraphs below!) and the
meeting started with an agenda everyone could handle and lots of snacks.

No one knew what to expect. We looked at lots of books and
went around the room and shared some of our favorites.
Mentioned with passion were: The Toys Go Out books,
Superfudge by Judy Blume, Helen Keller,
Courage in the Dark,Arnie the Doughnut by Laurie Keller,
How Does the Show go On? an incredible interactive book
about life in the theater, The Magic Treehouse Series, Calvin and Hobbes, Captain Underpants and more!
The children talked baout their favorite kind of books.
They mentioned exciting adventure, facts, biographies,
funny books, books about trouble makers and of course--dogs!

One mom read from The Toys Go Out and everyone listened
and thought about what would happen if our stuffed animals were actually
living creatures with personalities. One boy read from a Magic Treehouse
book and showed us how the tension and excitement of an
adventure book thrilled him. The boy whose sneakers had been
taken earlier in the day sort of "self medicated" through bibliotherapy
with some Calvin and Hobbes, but while reading the page, he replaced
the situation going on in the book with what had happened to
"the boy whose sneakers were taken" that day. This was amazing to witness.
The girl who had taken the sneakers just sat listening and giggled.
Truly a literary confrontation among first graders.

I have to say I just loved it. Hearing first graders talk
about books they love is pure joy. Most were eager to particpate.
Others were more cautious--just like in school and in the world.

The children voted on a name for the group--World Wide Book Club.
And another meeting was called for April 3rd.