Melissa Stoller - The Parent-Child Book Club: Connecting With Your Kids Through Reading

THE PARENT-CHILD BOOK CLUB

CONNECTING WITH YOUR KIDS THROUGH READING

A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO ORGANIZING AND CONDUCTING YOUR FAMILY BOOK CLUB

MELISSA STOLLER & MARCY WINKLER

HorizonLine Publishing LLC

New York, NY

The Parent-Child Book Club

Connecting With Your Kids Through Reading

By Melissa Stoller & Marcy Winkler

Copyright 2009 by Melissa Stoller & Marcy Winkler

All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the author.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2008941146

ISBN: 978-0-9821870-0-5

Printed in the United States of America

0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Cover and page design by One-On-One Book Production, West Hills, CA

DEDICATION

We dedicate this book to our children: Zoe, Jessie, and Madeleine Stoller, and Max, Steven, and Elana Litvack-Winkler.

You are our inspiration.

Disclaimer

This book is designed to provide information about the subject matter covered. It is not the purpose of this book to reprint all the information that is otherwise available to the author and/or publisher, but to complement, amplify and supplement. You are urged to read all available material.

Every effort has been made to make this book as complete and as accurate as possible. However, there may be mistakes both typographical and in content. Therefore, this text should be used only as a general guide.

The purpose of this book is to educate. The authors shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused, directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you to the many people who have made this journey with us and in some special way contributed to this project.

To Valerie and Devon Kerr, who helped us found our first parent-child book club.

To Gagan and Raviv Sarch, who were actively involved in our second book club.

To Felice Farber, Michael Donohue, and Bria Donohue, who have joined us in many family book clubs over the years, and who continue to offer excellent ideas in our ongoing second book club.

To Jacqui and Stephanie Schein, Susan Gold Sleppin and Jamie Sleppin, and Robin and Jessica Freedman, who enthusiastically contribute to our third book club. And to Susan and Sarah Olick, who not only contribute, but brilliantly host our meetings.

To Dina M. Gold, who lent her editing skills to our manuscript.

To Connie Berger, editor extraordinaire, who has worked tirelessly on all drafts of our manuscript, and who has also provided endless hours of free babysitting so we could finally finish this book!

To Carolyn Porter and Alan Gadney, our outstanding team at One-On-One Book Production and Marketing.

To our parents, Connie Berger and the late Harry Z. Berger, and Lorraine and Michael Winkler, for teaching us to love reading.

To our husbands, Larry Stoller and David Litvack, who have provided love and encouragement throughout this process, and who have added their insightful views to our family book club meetings.

And again, to our children, Zoe, Jessie, and Madeleine Stoller, and Max, Steven, and Elana Litvack-Winkler, who have enriched our lives immeasurably, and have allowed us to make meaningful connections with them and with our families as we have travelled together on this great adventure.

Thank you!

INTRODUCTION

Only connect

E.M. Forster

O ne of the main goals of parenthood is to make connections with our children. We want to share moments of true understanding, encourage relevant and complex discussions, and create experiences that build memories and closeness. It may seem obvious that this would be a goal of parenthood of course all parents strive to have meaningful relationships with their children. But in this age of computer games, the internet, hand-held electronic games, ipods, and television with almost unlimited channels (not to mention homework and after-school activities), making real connections on a daily basis can be challenging.

We believe that reading with our children and communicating with them about books is one of the best ways that we can stay connected with our families. With that goal in mind, we have founded three parent-child book clubs. Now we have written this book to show other parents how to implement a parent-child book club within their families as a single but very effective way to ensure connectedness.

Our model of the parent-child book club is meant for families with children ages four to nine, and works with boys and girls, as well as with siblings. Our first book club has been operating successfully for eight years. Since we founded that first parent-child book club, our friends have expressed great interest in modeling our book club within their own families. Based on the positive results of our first book club, we started a second book club for our younger children with several more friends who were interested in our concept. Our third book club, which comprises the school friends of one of our daughters, is a further reflection of how we put our model into action. With this book in hand, you will be able to easily and successfully devise and implement a parent-child book club to ensure connections in your own families.

Book Club Benefits

Our parent-child book club offers families many tangible benefits, such as fostering a love of and mastery of reading, analysis, and discussion, as well as a deeper exploration of art and science projects and other enrichment activities. Underlying all these benefits are the connections you will see emerging between the children and parents within the book club and among the families who participate.

First, the book club fosters a love of reading in children. Some children may already be avid readers, others may be more reluctant and less interested in reading. We have found that the initial reading interest level of the child does not correspond to the interest level in the book club. As the children read and prepare for each book club, they enjoy the activity more and more. Sharing a pleasurable activity will bring families closer together.

The book club will also help your children develop reading and analytical skills. As the children become more comfortable and capable readers, they will have the opportunity to delve more deeply into the books. They will learn to predict outcomes, contemplate character traits and motivations, think about plot and dialogue, and focus on writing style. As their skills and confidence grow, they become more connected to the book, the activity, and the group.

The book club also fosters a love of discussion about books. As adult book club members know, reading takes on an entirely new dimension when a discussion is added. Sharing different points of view, learning to really listen and then to respond to someone elses ideas, learning to respect opinions that may differ from ones own, learning to articulate and defend a position, and learning to enjoy the give and take of a good dialogue truly enrich the reading experience. Engaging in meaningful discussion between parents and children in a positive, supportive, and fun environment enables family members to easily and effortlessly make and strengthen connections.