Summer Book Club continues...

After I read The Reading Promise by Alice Ouzma, I felt that I needed to do something.  The obvious choice would have been to make a reading promise with my boy.  Nope.  I was too chicken.  I mean some days it just doesn't fit into our life.  Excuses, I know.  But I just wasn't there.  However, instead, I took Resolution 25 (stop preaching and start leading) to heart and started a Summer Book Club.  I invited friends from all areas of my life, old friends, school friends, church friends, neighbors, swim friends. They all have early independent readers... I decided this was the age when many parents stop reading to their children because the children are now reading to themselves.  I invited A LOT because I was afraid to invite just a few and have no one show up. Or commit. And I was asking for a commitment:  read to your child even though we are encouraging them to read by themselves.  It was a good thing I invited many because I only got one family from each of those groups.  Read aloud a book I've chosen, then come to my house for discussion, movie watching and comparison, and snacks.  If you ask them, they will come. They gathered for discussion and snacks and movie.  It was fun!  The friends of my son would gather in a circle and take turns answering questions as simple as, "Who are the main characters?" or "What is the setting?" as well as more complex questions such as, "How are the characters in both books similar or different?  Why?"  They didn't say, "Aren't we going to watch the movie?" rather they seemed to enjoy the discussion.  Then, during the movie, I would stop/start it to discuss comparisons between the book and the movie, without a complaint!  It was A.W.E.S.O.M.E.  This summer our books were Winn Dixie and Tale of Despereaux, both by Kate DiCamillo, and James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl.  After watching James, the kids all asked what was next?  I pointed out that we were already back in school and we might be too busy.  It was unanimous... we are continuing through the school year.  This month our choice is Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks and everyone in the group has ideas for what to read next, so now I will have to decide how to handle that because I LIKE CHOOSING THE BOOKS.  So my promise to my son may not have been to read every day to him, but rather to continue to read to him.  My promise was to encourage his friend's parents to continue reading to their now independent readers.  My promise to read and lead has turned out to be so much fun!  If you are interested in how to start your own group, please feel free to leave me a message.