Online
Book Clubs for Kids
Joining
a literary discussion group online helps students pursue ideas
giving them the time to frame their responses and thoughts carefully.
The freedom to openly discuss a wide variety of topics often increases
the student’s enthusiasm for the theories and ideas presented
in literary works. Any medium that enables students to explore
literary ideas without fear of social rejection from their peers
should be used. Share these sites with your students. You may
be surprised at who decides to look into them. And maybe you’ll
join a club and find yourself easily discussing books with
students.
Kidsreads.com
allows members to exchange ideas about the book they’re reading.
Every month the members choose a new book to read from a list
of books previously nominated by the members. Membership is free
and those who participate in chats are allowed to vote on the
book to be read the following month.
Wired for Books,
www.tcom.ohiou.edu/books,
allows members to chat about the works of various authors. The
discussions are not moderated, but any inappropriate material
is immediately removed. The site allows students to listen to
author interviews, poems, or plays, and to watch literary videos.
It includes authors such as John Updike, Kurt Vonnegut, and Robert
Creely. The site requests that you use your real name and email
address when signing up.
Both The Washington Post and
The New York Times have good book clubs for older
students, washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/liveonline/books.htm
and www.nytimes.com/books/forums,
that cover a wide spectrum of fiction and non-fiction. CNN
and A&E also have book clubs, www.cnn.com/books
and www.aande.com/bookclub,
that are relevant to the field the organizations cover.
Education Update, Inc., P.O. Box 20005, New York, NY 10001. Tel:
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All material is copyrighted and may not be printed without express consent of
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