CREATE A FAMILY BOOKCLUB

Building Closer Families Through Reading 
Creating a Family Book Club

Looking for a way to get your family members to talk, explore and enjoy each other's company?  Start a family book club... 

Gather family members around, relax, and read on – this article will introduce how your family can start a book club – right in the comfort of your home, backyard, car, or vacation trip.  

Research shows that family time has decreased over the past several generations. It also indicates more difficulties in reading and school achievement.  Parents spend thousands of dollars on prepared programs purported to increase their children’s reading skills, phonics understanding, or boost brain activity. HUGE waste of time and money! 

It is very easy to improve both family time and children’s reading abilities through some short, pleasurable activities that cost nothing but a few minutes of time. Honest!  

Make a family commitment to at least 10 minutes several times a week. Make a commitment to at least ONE specific time where everyone knows the time IN ADVANCE. 

Gather your children together and brainstorm (think aloud, someone taking notes) on the kinds of topics they would like to read. For example: 10 year old son likes baseball, 6 year old daughter likes soccer, 4 year old daughter wants a kitten. Make a chart something like this:

Mom	Gardening	Getting organized	Better sleep	Italy
Stephen	Baseball	Swimming
Christine	Soccer	Guitar	Friends	cooking
Lisa	Kittens	sports

Next, find the children’s books your family already owns. Have everyone check to see if any of the books reflect the topics from the brainstorm. Set them aside in a special box (which can be decorated – use magazine pictures, the Sunday comics, old gift paper, etc.). Put the box in a place where everyone can find it easily.

If your family does not own books on the topics from your brainstorm, ask friends to borrow theirs, or even better, head to the local public library, and get every family member his or her own library card. 

There are thousands of books on the internet and YouTube (PROJECT GUTENBERG, OPEN LIBRARY) for example.

(Remember: Your tax dollars pay for the library – librarians, books, tapes, cds, videos, and Internet connections. Look for a future article on discovering the treasures of your public library.)