There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully as those we spent with a favorite book. —Marcel Proust
One of my favorite pastimes is thinking about all the things I should have done with my kids when they were young but didn't. Okay, maybe not. There are times though that I can't help myself and this is one of them. Why oh why did a book lovin mom like me not think to do a book club with my kids? Think of the fun I would have had! Oh yeah, and my kids would have loved it too.
For those of you lucky enough to still have young readers in the house, here are some tips to make your kid lit book club a hit:
- Kids only. Grownups are boring and tend to take over. Of course you need to help in the planning and be present, but let the kids run the show. This in no way implies parents shouldn't read the books with their kids and talk about them at home (we highly recommend it), they just don't get to come to book club.
- Pick good books. This one is of course non-negotiable. We're here to help. Any of the picks below or on our bookshelf are sure to be crowd pleasers.
- Keep it small. Shoot for 4-7 kids. More than that equals chaos.
- Keep it simple and short. We're talking 1 1/2 hours max. Plan a couple activities around the book. Discussions won't come naturally, so come up with ways to spur them. Pinterest is full of great ideas, we've pinned some on our board here. Keep it fun!
- Snacks. Just like grownup book clubs, everyone is really in it for the food.
- Bonus: choose a book that has a movie coming out soon and plan to all go see it together.
