If your question isn’t answered, add it in the comments!
Q: When are Book Clubs supposed to meet?
Q: Are Book Club Meetings in person or online?
Q: How do we use the Meeting Guides/ Discussion Questions?
Q: Is Parent & Daughter Book Club Free?
Q: What if my daughter isn’t Grade 2 to 5?
Q: This book is not at my daughter’s reading level. What should I do?
Q: One book a month isn’t enough! Got more suggestions?
Q: When are Book Clubs supposed to meet?
A: Meetings will be in October, November, January, February, March, and April. You can start your club with any month’s book, using the email you’ll get after signing up.
Q: Are Book Club Meetings in person or online?
A: We’d envisioned clubs meeting in person, so the girls can grow their leadership skills. If you’re part of a group of girls and parents who already meet online, and it is working for you: please tell us more in the comments!
Q: How do we use the Meeting Guides/ Discussion Questions?
A: Each Meeting Guide’s schedule is just a suggestion, to help you make sure that your book club has enough time for everything you want to do.
At each meeting, one parent-daughter pair should be designated to keep everyone on task by facilitating and being aware of the time. If the pairs in your club take turns hosting, it would make sense for the host pair to act as the facilitators. If your club meets in the same place every time, the job of facilitator should rotate.
During the first meeting, the parent facilitator might have to be quite active. However, as the meetings go on, hopefully you will find that the daughters step up to the task.
Whoever is acting as facilitator should print and read the Meeting Guide and Discussion Questions before the meeting, and make sure that your group has any necessary materials. The Discussion Questions are suggestions, not requirements. Use or adapt them in any way that is helpful to your group.
Q: Is Parent & Daughter Book Club Free?
A: Yes! But: not everything related to Book Club will be posted online. We’re emailing the materials to everyone. Each parent or parent-figure should sign up to get the Discussion Questions and Meeting Guidelines emailed to you.
Q: What if my daughter isn’t Grade 2 to 5?
A: Sign up for the Parent & Daughter Book Club and we’ll send you the materials to adapt until we expand the book club to other age groups.
Q: This book is not at my daughter’s reading level. What should I do?
A: Reading the book to your girls is our #1 suggestion for adapting the books for kids who are not ready to read a book independently. Reading out loud to children works their comprehension and idea-building muscles JUST as much as reading independently. The only piece of the reading process that you are taking care of for them is the decoding (reading the words on the page). Listening to a book has the added benefit of allowing the child to see a grown-up model strong reading behavior, and it’s also great bonding time.
Just because a book is categorized at a certain level doesn’t mean your girl won’t be able to read it. For example, many 3rd grade students will be able to read a 5th grade book independently, and some will not be able to read books at a 2nd grade level. Kids progress in their reading in unique trajectories, and their process often doesn’t align with standard grade-level benchmarks.
If reading this book aloud isn’t right for you, we recommend that you choose an alternate book at the appropriate level. You could ask your child’s teacher or librarian for help selecting a book. Even with another book selection, your club can still follow almost all the activities in the Discussion Guide, though the specific text questions would not apply.
We will be announcing six books throughout the year and some of those books will be at slightly higher and lower reading levels. Keep checking in, and hopefully one of the future book selections meets your needs better.
Q: One book a month isn’t enough! Got more suggestions?
A: Check out our post with Even More books. Previous Parent & Daughter Book Club authors Grace Lin, Mitali Perkins, and Alma Flor Ada have written books for a range of ages. Also, check out Mr. Schu’s favorite books on the horizon.
This is a pilot program: please give us feedback in the comments about the selections – which ones worked for you, which didn’t, and what books did you substitute?
*Not signed up to get Parent & Daughter Book Club materials yet?
Take me to the Book Club Sign Up!
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Comments 8
Joanna Habermann
My daughter has loved your reading lists so much. I know this is a girls organization, but I’m wondering if you know where to find book suggestions of equally amazing books for young boys with male protagonists? I find so much of the current literature marketed toward elementary-aged boys to be disappointing. Thank you!
Dorothy Ponton, Director of Marketing and Engagement
Hi Joanna, Thanks so much for letting us know your daughter loved the book selections. The good news is that our book selections are great for kids of any gender, and the parents of boys who’ve read them tell us they enjoyed them too. It helped them connect with their sisters, and changed the way they talked about their classmates.
That said, we aren’t the expert in books with male protagonists. Many of the authors we’ve featured do also have books with boys as main characters, so you can start there. Your local librarian is going to be the expert on books with male protagonists with themes similar to books on our list.
Suzanne
Hi,
What are your thoughts on having just 1 parent facilitate the book club? (Having a group of 6 girls — 4th/5th graders — and the same adult present every time.)
thank you!
Dorothy Ponton, Community Engagement Manager
Hi Suzanne,
Having her own parent or caregiver on the same page (no pun intended) is ideal. The girls and parents would be missing out on one of the best long-term impacts of learning leaderships skills together: a shared vocabulary and reference for when difficult situations arise in the future. Our impact survey from year one of book club demonstrated this.
When parents & girls read the same books, and the girls progress from watching parents discuss the books, to discussing the books themselves, to eventually leading the meetings, that shared journey is the framework for future skill building. When girls watch their parents respectfully disagree about their favorite part of a book, they learn about healthy conflict, for example.
That said, if the adults in a girl’s life can’t participate for some reason, having a teacher/ coach/ facilitator can be of great benefit. The girls will have a community of friends and the joy of reading something that isn’t for a school assignment.
Katie
I am interested in getting a local book club going. However, it is April. Does the book club have to begin in the listed months? Could I start now in April with October’s book and then move forward with November’s in May and so on and so forth?
Dorothy Ponton, Community Engagement Manager
Hi Katie,
This is an excellent question. Now that we’ve concluded our pilot year, the Book Club team met this morning to discuss this very issue (possibly while you were writing this comment!). My recommendation is that you start with October’s Meeting Guide and then move forward as you’ve described. Some clubs didn’t use the Discussion Questions portion of the guides at all, because the conversation flowed organically after everyone had their snacks.
The skills the girls learn and practice each meeting build upon each other, so that’s why I make that suggestion to go in order, even if you don’t read the book that is paired with each month. Soon I’ll publish a compilation of all the “Book Club Tips” in one place, so folks who want to use this structure with other books can keep going over the Summer.
Please let me know if you have any more questions.
Pradnya Ranade
Hello,
I’ve registered for the book club. But, I’ve never been part of a book club and, running a club for a group of girls who are not independent or will need guidance is an added challenge. What is the goal of this club–how are the girls developing leadership skills? By speaking in a group setting comfortably and freely? What are the girls expected to discuss and how do we channel them into developing leadership skills. Any suggestions or advice you have will be most helpful.
Regards,
Pradnya
Dorothy Ponton, Community Engagement Manager
Hi Pradnya,
Thanks for asking these questions! The goal of the book club is to offer some of the same skills we teach in our workshops.
Girls will get to practice communication, facilitation, and healthy risk taking. These translate directly into higher education and professional skills. At each book club, girls will articulate their thoughts, encourage quiet voices, disagree respectfully, and take turns facilitating group discussion.
Have you been receiving the Book Club Discussion Questions and Meeting Guides? If not, I’m happy to send them to you.