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Sometimes I dream about world domination.

Really, I do.

You know, a world where book-inspired play is taken to a whole new level.

Not just me and my kids and a book or two, but rather whole schools, even whole towns, with libraries’ worth of books and stories.

I promise I’d be a benign ruler. And one of my first cabinet appointments would be Dr. Matt Finch.

Matt knows a lot about taking playing by, with and out of the pages of a story to a whole new level; I first came across Matt in teen zombie battle. Always a good place to find future members of one’s dream team, don’t you think?

Since then, having wiped away the blood and gore, he’s constantly surprised and amazed me with his ideas for getting people of all ages creating and having fun, whether via comics inspired by M.C. Escher, gambling (of sorts) and games at the British Library or laying down The Great Kiwi Book Domino Challenge.

Shortly before Christmas last year Matt and I finally managed to meet up in person and when we did so he let me in on a new project of his – an incredible multi-player game he’s devised that gets kids and grown ups really excited about books, whether drawn from a library’s collection or with a bookseller’s stock. I knew straight away I wanted to somehow make this game happen wherever possible and so I’m truly delighted that today I get to tell the world about it, and share it with you all.

But first some more details!

Playing by the book: So Matt, what’s your elevator pitch for the game?

Matt Finch: It’s an all-ages roleplay version of events like the Frankfurt Book Fair. Children form teams which are mini publishing companies. They explore a collection of books, then compete to acquire titles which they create posters and marketing materials for.

We’ve also run this activity with adults too, at workshops and training sessions. If anything, the grown-ups are even more competitive.

Photo: Susie Bishop, Pencombe CE Primary School

Playing by the book: In your experience of running this game, what do the kids get out of it?

Matt Finch: Kids get to really explore and engage with a wide range of books, not just in terms of content but also design and other physical qualities.

There’s a bit of relay racing and simple money management as they try to beat other teams to the books they want. They then get to respond creatively to the books that they’ve chosen. Older children often think very strategically about the business of marketing.

It’s a rare chance to blend reading, creativity, and real-world business skills.

As part of the game, players have to browse lots of books and decide which ones they’d like to stock.

Playing by the book: And what about the adults facilitating the game? What’s in it for them?

Matt Finch: Libraries, schools, or booksellers who host the game get to engage communities with their collection in a new and inspiring way. When children’s publishers or booksellers get involved, it’s a chance to see how their target market engage with your stock – and what kind of marketing materials they would create for their books.

Whenever we’ve played this game we’ve tried to assign one adult to each team. We tell the children that the adult on their team is not their boss or their leader, but an extra resource for them to use. By changing that dynamic, adults get to work alongside the children in a different way, supporting but not directing…even taking orders from children when necessary!

Playing by the book: I’m sold! Take me to your game!

Matt Finch: You can download the full instructions for The Book Fair Game here!

Playing by the book: HURRAH!

Players enter a bidding war for the books they most want to stock

Playing by the book: But before I run off and round up some people to play the game with me, I’ve a couple more questions.

Why is playing with books so important?

Matt Finch: Books are hardly the only gateway we have into other worlds and other ways of knowing, but they’re one of the most established and reliable. That kind of ancient magic needs to be explored freely, irreverently, and enthusiastically.

A game like the Book Fair lets children consider the book as a physical object – they even get to sniff them. It also encourages children to reflect on their personal response to a book and how others might respond to that book, too.

Playing by the book: What process do you go through when designing play opportunities which feature books?

Matt Finch: It’s great to incorporate literacy into even the most boisterous play activities. During our live zombie sieges in Australia and New Zealand, the ‘survivors’ had the chance to evaluate fiction and non-fiction as survival aids. In another session for younger children, time travel adventures began with spotting anachronisms in mocked-up newspapers.

In our biggest trial of the Book Fair game, with 100 kids from three schools, we actually folded the activity into a day-long adventure with ninjas fighting bandits – and setting up a bookshop as part of their quest.

For me, play begins with storytelling, and books are just one of many excellent hooks on which we hang the stories that inspire play.

Photo: Susie Bishop, Pencombe CE Primary School

Playing by the book: Did you “play” / act out books as a child? If so, what do you remember doing?

Matt Finch: Oh, all sorts of bizarre stuff got mashed together. By the end of junior school, it was intense. French Resistance stories out of Commando comic blended with Larry Niven scifi which was probably too old for me – with guns that shot slivers of anaesthetic crystal to knock out baddies! Take that, Nazis!

I also played with Star Wars toys, except they were never Star Wars characters. Lando and Leia were the heroes, Luke was a Space Nazi (spot the recurring theme) because he had blonde hair and a single black glove.

And it wasn’t just books. There are embarrassing photos out there somewhere of me and my brother dressed up as Agnetha and Anni-Frid from ABBA. It was about crossing the lines from everyday life to make believe, through any and all points of contact.

Playing by the book: What’s the last book you’ve read (for adults or children) which inspired you to do something, whether that was a trip to visit somewhere, a creative response, cooking new dish or….??

Matt Finch: I’m currently talking to Brisbane’s Rock ‘N’ Roll Writers’ Festival about possible partnerships and that led me back to eccentric rocker Julian Cope’s book The Modern Antiquarian, a guide to the stone circles of Britain.

It’s totally indulgent and bonkers, but experts were forced to agree that he’d done his homework and researched the book well. It’s a kind of deranged gazetteer to these ancient neolithic sites, and another example of how books are a gateway, at any age, between mundane life and weirder worlds. You only need to skim it once and you’ll be hankering to visit your nearest stone circle.

Playing by the book: Matt, just for you, here’s my favourite stone circle:

The Ring of Brodgar, Orkney

Maybe this is where my cabinet and I will hold our inaugural meeting when I finally take over the world. Yes. I rather like that idea.

Huge thanks to Matt (left) for setting free his Book Fair game into the wide world. Do download it and see how you could use it in your library, your school, your book group. Matt and I would love to hear about the adventures you have with it.

Matt Finch (@DrMattFinch) is 2016 Creative in Residence at the State Library of Queensland and writes a weekly newsletter, Curious, Mysterious, Marvellous, Electrical which you can join here: tinyletter.com/marvellouselectrical

Save the date! It’s time to start planning now!

International Book Giving Day #bookgivingday takes place on 14th February each year. The aim of the day is to get books into the hands of as many children as possible thereby increasing children’s access to and enthusiasm for books.

International Book Giving Day is a 100% volunteer initiative born out of the knowledge that:

International Book Giving Day’s focus is on encouraging people worldwide to give a book to a child on February 14th. Why not use the day as an excuse to:

1) gift a book to a friend or family member,
2) leave a book in a waiting room for children to read, or
3) donate a gently used book to a local library, hospital or shelter or to an organization that distributes used books to children in need internationally.

For this year’s International Book Giving Day, I’ve teamed up with Sara Stanley who is currently volunteering creating safe and welcoming play spaces for children in a refugee camp in Grande-Synthe , Dunkirk, France.

The children of the camp have few possessions and even fewer opportunities to play. Many show clear signs of trauma after fleeing violence and enduring treacherous journeys to Europe. Quiet safe spaces to read are limited and there are plans to build a structure to house a library.

How can I help?

Sara and I would like to invite you to donate a book for the children in the refugee camp in Grande-Synthe. We’re working with independent book seller MarilynBrocklehurst who runs The Norfolk Children’s Book Centre; order any book you’d like to donate via Marilyn and she will act as a collection point for Sara, who will take the books to the camp following International Book Giving Day. Sara won’t only take the books, she’ll use them in her play with the children in the refugee camp, so you can be sure that any book(s) you choose will actually get into the hand of kids for whom the books will make a real difference.

Sara reading with children in the refugee camp

Languages spoken on camp are Urdu, Farsi, Persian and Sorani Kurdish, though of course residents in the camp are keen to learn English. Children of every age from newborns up to young adults are found in the camp, with the majority being 3-11 years old.

The camp is moving sometime mid to late January onto a better site in Dunkirk and Sara will be organising a better library space. A wonderful refugee called Besh will be helping run reading groups and philosophical play sessions with Sara as well as family share-a-story sessions. So as you can see, the books you could choose to send will really be used, helping to create a space where play and fun can still take place.

Part of the camp at Grande-Synthe

You can order any book you’d like to donate to the children’s library at Grand-Synthe refugee camp in Dunkirk by emailing [email protected] with the details (you’ll then be contacted to confirm details and arrange payment). Anyone around the world can order a book this way. As well as books aimed at 3-11 year olds and books in the languages mentioned above, wordless books, comic books and books which might help children and families around issues many of them have experienced – war, escape, displacement, death – are especially welcome. There are also more general recommended booklists on the Norfolk Children’s Book Centre website.

The current indoor play space at Grande-Synthe

Your donations will help provide a wonderful opportunity for families to rebuild a sense of normality and communication in the universal language of imagination.

If you would like to help Sara in her work here again is what you need to get you started:
http://www.ncbc.co.uk/new/index.html – Norfolk Children’s Book Centre website
[email protected] – the email address to use to order the book (if you’d like to order via phone or online, the details are all here: http://www.ncbc.co.uk/new/Ordering.html)

This month’s session with my bookgroup for 8-12 year olds was all about “Sweets, treats and feasts”. Here are the activities that were planned:

1. Looking at cookery books, both for adults and children, and each finding a recipe we liked the sound of to photocopy and take home.

Cookery books included:

Cherry cake and Ginger beer is particularly worth pointing out as the focus of this cookery book are foods which feature in many children’s classics such as the Enid Blyton books, the Pippi Longstocking books and ‘What Katy Did’.

In a related vein, Scone with the wind features 72 literary inspired recipes, arranged by genre though this book’s primary focus is adult literature. If you’re ever after even more literary themed cookbooks, Goodreads has a list (thanks to @chaletfan for alerting me to this). One of the books on this list I would have liked to have included in my session is Fairy Tale Feasts by Jane Yolen but unfortunately it’s not easily available in the UK.

2. Finding a poem about food we liked and reading it to each other. The anthologies I had ready included:

Just for fun, here are two videos of poets reading poems about food:

Joseph Coelho – Halloween's crumble from CLPE on Vimeo.

3. Playing match the food with the book. Samples of food and books which include said foodstuffs were to be laid out on the table. By reading the blurb, and taking a look through the books (as well as using their general knowledge about any of the books they had already read) the kids were to be encouraged to match the food to the book using this handy printout:

Just in case you need some help matching the yummy things with the books here’s the key:

Turkish Delight – The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis
Marmalade – The Paddington Bear stories by Michael Bond
Marzipan – The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
Caramel wafers – The Tom Gates books by Liz Pichon
Bertie Bott’s Every Flavored Beans – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling
Peaches – James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Honey – the Winnie the Pooh stories by A. A. Milne
A lollipop – The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
Smarties – The Tracy Beaker books by Jacqueline Wilson
Vicious Viennese Whirls – Cakes in Space by Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre
Mints – The Lockwood and Co stories by Jonathan Stroud
Pink wafers – Knitbone Pepper Ghost Dog by Claire Barker and Ross Collins
Broccoli – The Astounding Broccoli Boy by Frank Cottrell Boyce (What, you don’t think broccoli is a treat?!
Bourbon Biscuits – Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens
Chocolate Creams – Mistress Masham’s Repose by T.H. White
Whipple Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (I printed this wrapper to go around a chocolate bar)
Iced buns – The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow by Katherine Woodfine

If you wish to use the printout, you can download it here (pdf).

After completing the matching, the sweets and treates were to be “raffled off” to the kids – by pulling raffle tickets out of a box (no money exchanging hands), and taking home whatever sweet treat(s) matched their number. Yes, including the broccoli…..

4. Writing our own “ideal feast” in a circle, each adding words/phrases as went around, aiming to be descriptive and bold.

Very sadly for me, for the first time ever, no-one turned up to the book group (a drop in session) :-(. But all the treats were donated to the local foodback, and at least all the planning hasn’t gone to waste as I’m able to share it here with you!

For a completely different take on theming a children’s book group around chocolate and sweets, do take a look at this free Chatterbooks Activity Pack on the theme.

For your own delight and delectation, I heartily encourage you to check out The Little Library Cafe and The Piebrary both of whom regularly post book-inspired recipes on their blogs.

Lots of book friends helped me gather ideas for this session. Thanks go to each and every one of you, especially friends on twitter and in the Reading for Pleasure in Schools Facebook group. Additional food suggestions, which I didn’t make use of for my bookgroup but which might be useful for you, include:

Strawberry creams – Jane Elson’s A Room Full of Chocolate
Gobstopper – Boy by Roald Dahl
Scones – The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo
Raisins – Danny, the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl
Doughnuts – Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl
Boiled Eggs – Five Go Off in a Caravan by Enid Blyton
Aniseed Balls – Milly Molly Mandy by Joyce Lankester Brisley
Gingerbread biscuits – The Pippi Longstocking stories by Astrid Lindgren

Once a month I run (as a volunteer) a children’s reading group at our local public library. It’s targeted at 8-12 year olds and we’ve been going about 7 months now. It brings me enormous pleasure!

I thought it would be a fun idea to bring together lots of mini case studies about how different people have set up book groups for children in the hope that it might encourage some of you to consider setting up one in your community or your child’s school. You’ll find lots of tips and practical advice in these case studies and just maybe you’ll also find yourself thinking that you too could run something similar.

Case Study 1: Gita @storyvilled

“I’m writing this post after the Chatterbooks group I run weekly at our local primary school. I am not a teacher or librarian but a parent. Armed with an MA in Creative Writing and Children’s Literature I decided it would be fun to set up a children’s book group. As all who work with children know, the reality is both harder and MUCH more rewarding than I’d imagined.

Today, in forty minutes we:

1) Returned last week’s books and gave feedback. Lovely comment from a girl re SF Said’s Phoenix that it was ‘surprising and sad.’ Couldn’t have said it better myself.

2) Designed our own planets, thinking about distance from the sun, number of moons, gravity, atmosphere and planetary life (this month’s theme is Science Fiction).

3) Chose from a selection of new books and issued them.

4) Talked about ‘Why I can’t live without books’ in preparation for a World Book Day event. This led to a discussion with a child about his family history involving an exciting tale of how his grandfather escaped Nazi Germany! I promised to find ‘When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit’ by Judith Kerr for him next time.

5) Discussed how amazing ‘El Deafo’ by Cece Bell was with a girl who’s borrowed it THREE times, and whether her friend could borrow it though it didn’t fit our theme of Science Fiction (Yes!)

However much you’ve planned (and I do!) the best and most surprising moments are child-led.

I couldn’t have done it without:

1) Support from the school (in my case a keen Year 6 teacher.)
2) Joining Chatterbooks (this is free) and in my case going on a training day (this is not.) They provide a great monthly newsletter with suggestions for themes and activities. Link here: http://readingagency.org.uk/children/quick-guides/chatterbooks/
3) The AMAZING online community of book bloggers and tweeters who have helped me find books to attract young readers.

TOP TIPS!

1) All the children LOVED graphic novels (reviews here: http://specsisters.wordpress.com/2014/11/04/highbrow-lowbrow-nobrowdoes-it-matter)
2) A display board helps to promote the club and the children enjoy seeing their ‘mini-reviews’ posted.
3) Bring BISCUITS!”

Photo: Mike Licht

Case Study 2: Carmen from Rhino Reads

“Last year I ran an informal book group for 13 year six children (10/11yrs) We met every Wednesday in the school library during their lunch break. And I learnt just as much as the children did!

Running a book group can be a hugely rewarding experience. The satisfaction of watching a child find *that* book – the one that chimes with them and becomes the beginning of a special journey- is a truly wonderful feeling. Sharing books and ideas with children is a real privilege. You become part teacher, part librarian, part mentor and part friend. It is immensely fun! But it can be tricky, too. Here’s what I have learned over the last year…

Structure is helpful… But don’t be afraid to go wherever the kids take you.
The book group was set up as part of the East Sussex Children’s Book Award -for the children to read the shortlist and vote for their favourites – so we had a ready made starting point and structure which was very helpful in the initial ‘getting to know each other’ stage. We had six books to read through, review, and write about creatively. It only took us a couple of weeks before we were flying wildly off tangent and reading all sorts of brilliant books alongside the shortlisted six, but that initial structure helped us immensely. You could shadow a book award, have a different theme every week, or a new author each week. Whatever you choose, don’t be afraid to change and follow what catches the interest of the kids.

Keep it informal
These kids were giving up their lunch break to come and talk books with me. I tried to keep it as informal and fun as possible. We sat on the tables or on beanbags, we chatted, we shared, we took turns and we laughed. Sometimes I brought sweets. That went down well! I made mistakes in front of them and let them make mistakes too. We trusted each other and we became friends.

What do they like? What do they want?
I found it really helpful to find out why they’d signed up for the book group – what they hoped to get out of it. Mostly they wanted to find new books and authors, improve their reading or their creative or critical writing, and to meet authors. As I didn’t know the children I also asked them what they liked reading and for some of their favourite books. All this information really helped me tailor the book group sessions to suit the kids and helped me find new books for them to read. I read their favourite books and then gave them new suggestions. I forwarded their reviews to authors and publishers and set them up with their own website where they could show off their writing. Some of the best moments came from having that initial info – their faces when Matt Haig tweeted their work, their excitement about having a tweet-chat with Anne Booth after reading Girl With A White Dog, their joy at reading a book I’d recommended that was just the kind of story they wanted. The more you know the children and what they want, the more you can give them.

Know what’s out there
Last year I read A LOT of books for their age group so that I could recommend the best ones. It really helps to know what’s out there and what’s good. Ask around, do your research, READ!

Mix it up a bit
Because of the shortlisted books we were focusing on, we read mainly fiction for the 8-12 market. But we mixed it up a bit too. I brought in a few picture books that made them think and reassess what – and who – picture books are for. I used The Yes by Sarah Bee, but Shaun Tan books are great for this too. One girl dreamed of becoming a journalist so I brought in some non-fiction books. What about comics or graphic novels? I’d have loved to use them if we’d had more time.

Kids love Free Stuff
I found that bringing in a few new books each week for the children to pounce on really kept up their enthusiasm. I would raid the school library shelves in advance and bring in my copies from home. They started doing the same and through their recommendations I ended up finding new books and authors too! I also brought them a load of bookmarks (picked up at my local Indy bookshop) and I always had post its and pens out so they could write down mini reviews and ideas. It’s amazing what a glitter gel pen can inspire! This worked out really well for the shortlisted books and we ended up making a display of all our post-it’s around a photocopy of the book cover.

And lastly…
Don’t run your book group at the same time as football
I lost 2 of my group when football club started in the new term. Learn from my mistake.”

Photo: Enokson

Case study 3: Liz

“I taught English at Secondary level for 25 years and after giving up full time work ran a kids reading group held at our very small local library. The library is really more like someone’s sitting room with sofas, bean bags, etc. so its ot at all intimidating. We meet once a month between 5 and 6p.m. It has been going for about 5 years but obviously the members change over time. We advertised in local schools, libraries and youth clubs.

The group isn’t running at the moment as winter nights are a bit tricky in a rural ill lit village! The group is for 8-12 year olds but in reality tended to be mainly 8-10 year olds. I very much let the group lead, as far as activities were concerned and we mainly started with” My Favourite Book” and how to persuade others to read it. They brought along their own copy. I didn’t want to make it too much like school but I did try to steer them away from just re telling the story and to talk about character and setting a bit. Inevitably this got others talking about what they liked about books too. We always have a drink and nibble break when the books are put in the middle for everyone to look at.

We have looked at different genres and ordered books from the library that we thought might be good. I found that hearing about other’s choice of books often meant they would try something new. It is a good idea to use the library facility because a) It encourages the use of libraries (Use it or lose it) and b) they can try a book without shelling out money. Most libraries let kids take out 20 books. They can order on line from the whole county stock for free and have it delivered to their local library and return it there too.

I often took along a selection of books and we would look at beginnings and endings and talk about what makes a good story. One group wrote some beginnings and endings and we all shared them…..some demand for them to finish the story was quite amusing! There are fun things relating to characters you could do too.

I would suggest limiting the age range and the size of the group. Ours tends to be a maximum of about 8. You need to change tack quite often…your instincts should tell you when its time to move on to something else!

We gave our book group a name based on where our group is located and designed a badge which we had printed.

Our sessions were an hour with a break for squash and biscuits half way. This is quite a long time for some and we often had some sort of activity for example, designing book covers, looking up authors on the internet, producing a comic style book about their favourite books and seasonal activities like Spooky Stories, Christmas Stories or Holiday Stories. Once or twice I read to them for part of the session which has been surprisingly successful on occasions! Be prepared for activities not to get finished to any satisfactory conclusion but it isn’t school and as long as they have fun it doesn’t matter! I’d advise avoiding too many writing activities as that seems too much like school to them!

There are organisations which produce magazines for book groups and you could band together with some other local groups and approach locally based authors who will sometimes come along for free as long as you promote their book!

I found looking at one set book as a group wasn’t very successful as they are often unwilling to move out of their comfort zone and so won’t read it beforehand.

I did find that the kids who wanted to join were already keen readers; it is an ongoing problem to attract in the unwilling readers. About equal numbers of boys and girls take part thought the girls are generally much more likely to read the boy’s choices of books than the other way round. They tend to meet in the Fantasy genre!”

Photo: Sweet Jessie

Case Study 4: Katie at Storytellers, Inc, @storytellersinc

“We have three book groups for children at the moment here at Storytellers, Inc., separated by age group. The 8-9 group, 10-12 group and 13+. Each group meets once a month to discuss a single book they have all read in advance of the meetings. The sessions are usually fuelled by an abundance of biscuits, crisps and hot chocolate (although my sophisticated teens love the Mocha in our coffee machine!).

I lead the discussions to try and keep us on topic but we invariably end up talking about One Direction and Doctor Who – which is fine if that’s where the conversation goes. Book club isn’t a school lesson, the children are there in their own free time and I think it’s important that it’s run in a way that means they want to attend. I always select the books myself and in most cases I’ve read the whole book myself before I’ve selected it; what I’m looking for is great, standalone stories that the children might not have come across on their own. I won’t ever pick Wimpy Kid or the latest David Walliams, I’m trying to nudge them outside of their comfort zone to read as widely as possible. Vocabulary, spelling, grammar and grasp of English in their own writing is all vastly improved by reading for pleasure so I avoid putting anyone on the spot with test-like questions or insisting anyone writes up a formal review -so long as they give the book a go, I’m happy. If they didn’t like the book, I expect the discussion to be about what exactly they didn’t like, how it could be improved, what they would have preferred etc., and if we’re really stuck I like to hear about what else they’ve been reading since I saw them last.

The children in the group become friends quite quickly, most of them attend on their own and because of the range of schools nearby they rarely know each other before joining book club, so they have the added bonus of making new friends outside of their school circles. It’s confidence building. Some members drop in and out but you can usually tell which ones are just here for the sweets, the true book lovers stick with it and are willing to try anything in order to discover a new potential favourite read- some of my members have been coming since the groups were created – nearly three years ago now. I know they love it because they keep coming back and I’m delighted when parents tell me that they’ve had a sneaky read of their children’s book too – great stories know no boundaries!

My top tips for starting a children’s book group would be:

Photo: Salem (MA) Public Library

Case Study 5: Centre for Literacy in Primary Education

In 2013 CLPE was funded by the Siobhan Dowd Trust to set up book groups in Southwark schools. This free downladable guide sets out what was learnt during the project and gives guidance to schools hoping to set up their own book groups. Full details can be found at https://www.clpe.org.uk/page/68

Photo: San Jose Library

Case Study 6: Laura Sheldon

“I’ve been running a school book club for 3 years now. I’m a teacher at the school and also the literacy coordinator and I also have responsibility for provision for more able pupils. The book club initially started as an opportunity for more able pupils to read and discuss more challenging books. It has evolved slightly and although this is still partly the aim, all pupils are encouraged to join and we have a mix of reading abilities in the group now. (The group was always open to anyone who wished to join of course!). Two members of staff are in the group and it’s entirely voluntary. We meet every week for half an hour at a lunchtime and either discuss an aspect of the book we are reading (theme, character development etc) or respond to the book in some way. For example, our last book was Rooftoppers by Kathryn Rundell and I asked the pupils to write an early memory on a piece of paper. We collected them in a scrapbook and shared with each other.

We all read the same book (which the pupils have to source for themselves – they usually share copies, visit the library, download onto kindles etc) and we close a different book at least once a half term. We choose books in a bit of a haphazard way. I ask the children for their ideas but also suggest one or two myself. The children vote for their choice and we usually end up reading something that stretches them a little. Past favourites have included Holes by Louis Sachar, Framed by Frank Cottrell Boyce and Varjak Paw by SF Said.

I used to have cake at every meeting (sometimes provided by me, sometimes the children but that stopped when we increased the frequency of the meetings). We now have cake on special occasions and celebrate the end of the year with a poetry picnic in which every member has to come prepared with some food and a poem to recite/read.

I would say to someone looking to start a school based club that regular meetings are key. I used to hold them once a half term and found that only half the pupils had read the book. For this age group you need to keep on top of them and encourage book sharing etc.

Last year the book club entered the book slam run by the Wales Book Council which was an excellent motivator. They had to read two books from a list, discuss one and do a presentation on the other. They made it to the final in Brecon and we had a brilliant day out. This year we will be entering again and have just started reading the first book on our list.

I was asked by a local exhibition space to create a storytelling shed for their interactive children’s exhibition (in my role as children’s author) and so I’ve asked the book club to respond artistically to their favourite stories and decorate the shed. We’ll see how that turns out…

There’s so much I’d love to do with no money or time restraints… Visits to book shops, libraries, exhibitions, authors workshops etc, more detailed analysis of each book, time for high quality feedback/artistic responses, blogging, vlogging, the list is endless.”

Photo: Christchurch City Libraries

Case Study 7: Zoe from Playing by the book

“The book group I run meets once a month in the local public library. We don’t have a set text each month, but rather we have themes. Past thenese have included comics and graphic novels, poetry, war stories, children’s magazines, diaries. Each month, with the help of the paid librarians, I order up a trolley load of books on the given theme (an advantage of being based in a public library) and we “speed taste” them (like speed dating, but the children don’t like the term ‘dating’). Speed tasting goes down incredibly well. It’s quite physical and frantic, but I’ve found it a really successful way of getting members to choose new books which they might not have discovered otherwise to take home with them.

We’re not able to do activities which make mess (so no crafting, for example) and can’t bring food into the library (so no biscuits!). However, one activity which has worked well is using Twitter to interview authors during our book group meetings. We’ve done this a few times now and it’s been very successful. We start such sessions by brain storming questions we’d like to ask, and then spend 10-15 minutes on Twitter (we have our own account as a book group, which we also use for publicity) in a quick fire conversation with the author or illustrator. If you’d like to do this with your group, you’ll need to think about your policy on e-safety (for example we get parents’ permission, we only use first names, and if a child doesn’t want to be named they can still ask questions), and also how you’ll recompense the author for their time (don’t assume they’ll do the interview for free).

When a new child joins the group I give them a quick questionnaire to fill out about their interests. I do this because each meeting I come up with a personalised book recommendation for each child (not necessarily to do with the theme of that month). If the library has the book in stock, I order it up, so it is ready for them to take away, otherwise I give the the title and author and a brief description on a piece of paper so that they can take it home or look for it in the bookshop. At the end of each session I also ask the children to find me at least one book in the library that they would recommend to me, and I commit to reading that book by the time of the next meeting. This reciprocity has created a really great atmosphere in the group. The children are always really excited to choose a book for me and then to find out what I thought of it.

Photo: Pratham Books

Huge thanks to everyone who contributed to this post. I hope it’s given you a flavour of different ways children’s book groups can be run by people just like you! If you’re tempted to set up a children’s book group I’m of course happy to share more ideas or be a sounding board – just get in touch!