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Each year the Royal Society (a fellowship of many of the world’s most eminent scientists and the oldest scientific academy in continuous existence) celebrates the best books that communicate science to young people through their Young People’s Book Prize.

The Prize aims to inspire young people to read about science and promotes the writing of excellent, accessible books for under-14s. This year – to my utter delight and great excitement – I’m part of the panel of adult judges who will be choosing a shortlist of six books, to be announced in May, before the winner is chosen by groups of young people in judging panels across the UK.

Past winners of this award include Utterly Amazing Science by Robert Winston, Eye Benders: the Science of Seeing and Believing by Clive Gifford and Look Inside Space by Rob Jones.

It’s a huge honour to be joining Professor Dame Julia Higgins DBE FREng FRS, Emeritus Professor and Senior Research Investigator, Department Of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London, Dr Robert Pal, Royal Society University Research Fellow in the Department of Chemistry, Durham University, author and Blue Peter Book Awards Winner 2015 Andy Seed and Head of Science at the Harris Academy Coleraine Park primary school Shirin Sheikh Bahai on the shortlisting panel.

Being invited to join the judging panel for this prestigious national award for science-themed books for children is really like a dream come true. Not only will it keep me out of trouble for the next few weeks as I read through all the eligible books which have been submitted, I’m sure what I’ll read will delight and inspire me.

The whole experience will be a treat for me, but what I really want is for lots of children to be amazed and excited by brilliant writing about science and so it’s truly wonderful that once the panel has chosen six books for the shortlist, we hand over the judging to kids up and down the UK. 125 school and youth groups will receive a free set of shortlisted books and then they vote for the winning book – it’s really a great opportunity to enthuse and excite children about science and books at the same time.

Perhaps your class would like to help choose the winning book? Maybe you facilitate a children’s book group that would like to try something different? Or perhaps you help run a club for young people (eg Scouts) and would like to spark their curiosity about science? If so, why not register now to become one of the judging panels for the Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize?

Judging panels can be in schools, libraries, science centres or youth groups: participation is open to any group able to read and discuss the shortlist and vote for what they think is the best book. Each judging panel (overseen by an adult) mirrors the short-listing panel, electing their own Chair, holding judging meetings, discussing the merits of each book and submitting their vote and comments. All participating groups have an equal say in deciding the winner. Each group receives a judging pack with all the information they need to take part. The results from all the groups are then collated by the Royal Society to determine the winner.

To become a judging panel for the Royal Society Young People’s Book Prize you’ll need to complete this online registration form. Registration to become a judging panel will close on Monday 25 April 2016.

I wholeheartedly encourage you to get involved! Last year, over 70% of the children who voted said the process changed their attitude towards both reading and science in a positive way and 100% said the experience was ‘enjoyable’ or ‘very enjoyable’. Here’s to great books and getting children and young people excited about science!

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

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

On Saturday I held my monthly bookgroup meeting for 8-12 year olds at the local public library. These sessions are designed to encourage kids to discover new(-to-them) books and to become ever increasingly familiar with the library and the whole range of resources and services it offers (we don’t just sit and discuss a set book). This month, inspired by National Non-Fiction November, I took “maps” as my overarching theme and below you’ll find all the activities we had fun with, and which you might be able to adapt for use at home or school or your own bookgroup.

Activity 1
We started by talking about places in the UK we’ve visited outside of our home city, and then everyone found their (approximate) location of choice on this fabulous map (available from the Literary Gift Company, with other versions covering adult writers in the UK, Ireland and US)

We had a couple of “regular” atlases on hand too in case people weren’t sure where to find the place they are thinking of.

Once the kids had found the author associated with their location, their task was to find a book by that author in the library. If they couldn’t find a book by their author, we looked them up using:

Whilst this fabulous book is targeted at an adult readership, its short articles are easy for keen readers to manage.

We spent 5 minutes “tasting” the book(s) we found (looking at blurbs, covers, interior illustrations, reading the opening paragraph) and then we each shared our initial thoughts about whether our newly discovered books appealed to each of us, or if not, who we thought the books might appeal to instead.

Activity 2
This involved browsing a selection of map-themed/linked non-fiction books including:

The Big Book of Animals of the World by Ole Konnecke
Atlas of Britain Picture Book by Fiona Patchett, Stephanie Turnbull and Colin King
The Children’s Animal Atlas: An interactive and fun way to explore the animal world written by Barbara Taylor, illustrated by Katrin Wiehle
To the Edge of the Universe written by Raman Prinja, illustrated by John Hersey
City Atlas written by Georgia Cherry, illustrated by Martin Haake
The 50 States written by Gabrielle Balkan, illustrated by Sol Linero
Atlas of Adventures Activity Fun Pack by Rachel Williams and Lucy Letherland

Each reading group member had a set of questions to answer about the books, to encourage them to think about format, illustrations, factual content and to explore what they personally find appealing or interesting, especially when it comes to non-fiction books.

City Atlas was the overwhelming favourite amongst the kids on Saturday; “The cover is so cool”, “I like the colours”, “It’s easy to dip in and out of”, although one child was very cross with the book; she is a Catalan speaker, and under the entry for Barcelona (where native inhabitants are more likely to be mother-tongue Catalan speakers, rather than Spanish speakers, though all Catalan speakers will also have Spanish), only Spanish is listed as the language spoken.

This led to a fruitful discussion about what a fact is, how we check them and whether “simplified” facts ever have a place in books; not a bad discussion to have, though the child was still angry!

Another book which got special attention was To the Edge of the Universe. At the start of the day’s session we discussed how we might define what a map is. We ended up agreeing on this: “a picture representing a landscape or location, showing where things are in relationship to each other.” To the Edge of the Universe caught their imagination as it is a sort of map of the night sky, showing the orbits of planets around the sun, before moving further and further into deep space; the book unfolds to form a 4.3 metre long spread, allowing readers to physically walk through space and back in time. The unusual and outsized format of this book really caught the imagination of the kids, and it was taken to show the librarians and also reopened for each parent at pick-up time.

Activity 3
I had prepared a floor plan of the library with lots of Xs marking different locations where we would find map-related material in the library – OS maps, atlases (both in the adults and children’s section) and local historical maps. In teams the children explored the library, finding out what was at each different location, bringing back one item from each section which they thought was especially interesting. The atlases in the adult reference section of the library caused most discussion; again it was sheer size that got them excited, with one atlas being so big that two kids were needed to carry it! Whilst of course, it’s content which really matters, Saturday’s session reminded me on several occasions how important appearance is when it comes to getting kids curious about books they choose for themselves.

Activity 4

With the help of this pinterest board all about maps in children’s literature (created by Jake Hayes who writes Tygertale, an excellent blog about children’s books), I had pulled a variety of novels which include maps in their endpages from the library shelves, and we ended our session by looking at the maps they contained, and each choosing a book to take home, simply on the basis of their maps. (Just for fun, here’s a quiz about maps in books!)

Activity 5
Had we but world enough, and time (to borrow someone else’s words), we would have also marked up on a world map all the books we’ve read as a group set in different parts of the world. This could have made for a great display, but we ran out of time! If it’s an activity you would like to try, and are having difficulties finding literature from / set in various countries, here are some of my favourite resources that could help:

Do you have any other resources you’d recommend? Please do share any other map-related activities you’ve tried as a way to get children looking at new books and excited to read outside of their comfort zone.

Last weekend saw the first birthday of the book group I run for 8-12 year olds at the local public library. On Saturday we celebrated with lots of games – book spine poetry and book charades (where titles had to be those of books we had read or discussed during the past year in book group) causing the most laughter. There were also lots of bookish treats:

On Monday we had an amazing trip to a local arts festival where we saw Michael Morpurgo retell his book The Mozart Question, accompanied by a fabulous set of musicians who played music matching the storyline. The show was wonderful, powerful and moving and Michael very generously made time for the children in my book group to interview him over a slice or two of birthday cake – what better first birthday present could there be?

Members of the book group presented Michael with a copy of the anthology they’ve written this year, and which they have been selling to family and friends to raise money for Michael’s charity Farms For City Children. They had each practised their “author signature” and signed the anthology. It was a proud moment to see it in Michael’s hands!

Before the fun and games on Saturday we spend some time preparing for our interview with Michael by reading lots of past interviews with him, highlighting things we found interesting and making a note of questions that we couldn’t find answers for. I found this a really effective way of encouraging the group to think of questions more unusual than the ones that so often arise when authors do a Q&A with children, such as “Why did you become a writer?” or “What tips do you have for aspiring authors?”.

Looking back over the year, it’s a delight to see how the book group as grown. Initially it was a determined, constructive response to my eldest being bullied at school for being a bookworm, and out of that stressful situation something lovely has blossomed. I’ve been supported along the way by many people and I’m really grateful to them all, especially the authors and illustrators with whom the book group has tweeted and the library staff who have helped with book reservations.

Playing by the book is all about bringing books to life off the page and into our every day lives and so when I discovered that there was a board game call Play by the Book, my eyes opened wide and I went off to find out more. Billed as an “action-packed game that gets children talking and learning about literature!” it sounded like it might be right up my street – not just for home use, but also with my kids’ book group at the local public library.

It’s designed so that players can discuss any fiction book (or simply a given chapter if you want to keep things simpler), and it can also be used for films. Players travel around the game board (by rolling a die) with the simple aim of reaching “The End” first. Before each roll of the die, the player in question must answer a question about the chosen book. Questions are set at two levels; their content is basically the same, but written in a different way making it easier or more challenging to give an answer.

If a player lands on an illustrated square after having rolled a die and answered a question, they are given an additional task; they have to perform an action based on the book. This might involve singing, acting out a scene, drawing a character or speaking like someone from the book. It gets players up and active, and provides plenty of opportunity for laughter in my experience!

In addition to questions about the set book, there are “wild cards”, shuffled in amongst the pack. These are broader questions, with a focus more on different types of genre, linked to the illustrations to be found on the board game itself.

There are a few finer details you can add to the game to make it more complex, but this gives you the basic idea: it’s a game of luck when it comes to rolling the die, but along the way there are lots of opportunities for discussion, arguing, debating and (in various ways) playing out the book.

Having played it quite a few times now what I really like about this board game is that it works for different ages / different abilities, even when playing at the same time, thanks to the different question levels. It is also more active than some traditional board games because players at some point are likely to have to get out of the seats and sing/act or draw. I think this extra level of physical activity is great, though some players who are a little more reserved may take a bit more encouragement to take part in these activities; I’ve found it has worked quite well if the game is played in teams, with two people for each counter.

The instructions say that players should all be discussing the same book / chapter / film, and this certainly works well. I have, however, used the game where players have each chosen their own book to discuss and this too has worked well. It’s been an interesting way for players to try to persuade other children to try the book they are talking about. The game has also been a good way of pooling knowledge when we’ve played it where each player has had a different book by the same author.

Play by the book would be a great addition to any classroom, especially for the 8-12 year old crowd. It also offers something a little bit different for book groups to do, as well as working well as a family game (the dramatic elements have worked best for me at home, where everyone is more relaxed about being a bit silly and less concerned about ‘making a fool’ of themselves).

Play by the book retails at £21.54 and is available online here: http://www.learningresources.co.uk/product/play-by-the-book.do

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this board game from its distributors. Just to be clear: Despite its name I’m in no way affiliated to it.

If you enjoyed this post, you might also find this post of mine about book-themed board games interesting. I also recently made my own literature based board game – to explore science fiction with kid. If you want to know more about board games inspired by literature, this research article by Britta Stockmann and Jens Janke has lots of good leads.

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Once a month I lead a book group for 8-12 year olds at our local public library and our most recent session was about science fiction books. It was one of the most enjoyable sessions we’ve had, so I thought I’d share what we did.

My first challenge was to come up with a list of science fiction which 8-12 year olds might enjoy. This wasn’t such an easy task, but in the end my book list read like this:

Several people helped me come up with this list (thank you!), but I’d like to give a special shout out to author SF Said who was tremendously helpful in making suggestions about books I might like to consider.

I knew that most of the kids in my group hadn’t read any science fiction at all (though most had seen either some Dr Who episodes or the Star Wars films), and so first we had a discussion about what we mean when we talk about science fiction in relation to books. The definition we came up with was:

Fiction which typically focuses on:

As the aim of the session was to get the kids exposed to a wide variety of SF, and to choose at find at least one SF book which they thought looked interesting enough to read, I wanted to expose them to lots of different books in the short time we had. And so I came up with a board game which the group played in teams.

All the books on my list above, plus some space-themed poetry and space non-fiction books were placed in the centre of our table, and each team was give a game template, a dice and a lego spaceman or alien as their counter.

The aim of the game was for each team to get to the end of the board game (set out a little like snakes and ladders ie with the possibility of having to move forward and backwards on the board), collecting as many (glow in the dark) stars as possible along the way. Teams won stars by correctly answering questions associated with the numbered star they landed on each time they rolled the dice.

All the questions were about the books in the centre of the table, and so to find the answers, the kids had to do a lot of browsing. Some questions were very simple (“Who is the author of X”), some involved a value judgment (“Choose three words to describe the illustrations in Y”) and some required more in-depth browsing inside books (eg “Which book opens with the lines XYX” or “Which book is set in X”). When each team had found the answer to a given question they came and gave me the answer, and if it was correct (or simply reasonably thoughtful in the case of value judgments), the team got a star and returned to roll the dice for their next question.

The game was over when every team had reached the end point on the board, and the winning team was that which had collected the most stars. The victors each won a Mars bar (you get the space connection?) and the book of their choice from a small selection I brought with me from my past review pile.

Once winnings had been distributed we went round the group and everyone had to pick up one book which had caught their eye, and comment on what it was about the book that they liked the look of.

The session went with a blast (no pun intended, but I’m happy to keep it in ). I think it worked so well because:

If you’d like to try the game out you can download a copy of this board game here (pdf) but you’ll need to create your own set of questions to go with whichever books you’re using in your session. You’ll see on the board that there are time warps (they look like tornadoes), a teleporter, and two tardises (tardi?) – if kids landed on these they had the choice to go forwards or backwards along the board, and pretty soon they realised that it was actually beneficial to move back wherever possible as this gave the team the chance to win more stars.

Next month’s bookgroup meeting is actually all about celebrating our first birthday, so if you’ve any suggestions for great book-themed party games to play, I’d really love to hear about them!

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If you liked this post you might enjoy two past posts of mine: 7 ways to set up and run a children’s book group or Book Bingo!.

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!

Some children’s bookstores are legendary–and one of them is Saint Paul, Minnesota’s Red Balloon Book Shop which recently began an instore book group (called Chapter and Verse) that would be worth moving to Minnesota for!

Perhaps the only thing more fun than reading a good book is reading a good book that transcends all age categories–and then talking about it. It has always seemed peculiar that more book groups have not been formed for adults who love children’s literature–we at PaperTigers hosted an online bookgroup, The Tiger’s Choice, during 2008 for just that purpose, but the intimacy of a book group does not translate quite so effectively to cyberspace.

On the other hand, bookstores are the perfect venue for book groups. You know, when you go to a book group at your favorite bookstore, that you will have something in common with the other participants–you all love to read and you all love the same bookstore!

When I was pregnant with my first son in Fairbanks, Alaska, I began to rediscover the delights of a well-written children’s book, and was sure that I was the only adult who still frequented the young readers’ bookshelves of my local library. One evening a friend and I were chatting about what we’d read when Georgianna lowered her voice and confessed, “I read children’s books.” Suddenly we were a two-person book group, happily discussing A Wrinkle in Time and Harriet the Spy.

It’s so wonderful to know that children’s literature readers no longer feel clandestine and have places as congenial as the Red Balloon Bookshop to host their discussions! If you’ve been lucky enough to be a member of this group, please tell us about it–if you have another favorite bookshop that provides this opportunity, do let us know. And to Chapter and Verse at the Red Balloon–we’re on our way!

We don’t often think of picture books when we think of book group titles, but this month the Tiger’s Choice offers a picture book. It’s one that is an ideal selection for adults and children to read and discuss together–created by two men, Ken Mochizuki and Dom Lee,  who have provided a new defintion of what picture books can be.

Heroes follows their stunning debut, Baseball Saved Us, with a story as powerful and as provocative as that examination of the Japanese internment in the United States during World War Two. This time the story looks at peacetime America, and the difficulty of overcoming the vicious stereotyping that is the collateral damage of war.

One of the most moving and heroic stories from World War Two is the history of the Japanese American men who enlisted in the U.S. Army and formed the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, fighting in Europe and becoming  “one of the most highly decorated units in U.S. Army history”–even though many of them had family members confined behind barbed wire fences in desolate internment camps. The strength of these soldiers’ patriotism and the bravery of their military exploits makes my hair stand on end when I read about them–and so does this book.

When Donnie plays war with the other kids, he’s always the enemy because, he’s told, “there wasn’t anybody looking like you on our side.” He knows that isn’t true. He’s heard his father and uncle talk about their time  in the Army ; he’s seen their war medals. Yet he’s told, “Real heroes don’t brag” and “You kids should be playing something else besides war.”

But the war games don’t stop–they become more real and more frightening–and Donnie needs help.

Please read this book and add your comments to our final Tiger’s Choice discussion.

The October Carnival of Children’s Literature is in full swing with the theme of Snuggle Up with a Children’s Book (great advice for any month of the year!) at The Well-Read Child, where Amy from Kids Love Learning tells How to Create a “Book Addict”, Heather at Age 30+…A Lifetime of Books reports on her Mom and Son Book Club, and Megan reviews Hip Hop Speaks to Children by Nikki Giovanni at Read, Read, Read. Our PaperTigers blog has joined in the fun with Marjorie’s Books at Bedtime discussion of Fiesta Femenina.

Be sure to go to the Carnival, which next month will feature The Gift of Reading and will be hosted by Mommy’s Favorite Children’s Books.

Within the opening chapters of Finding Miracles, readers soon realize that within a conventional high school setting, a young girl who does her best to appear conventional is under tremendous pressure to maintain that appearance. Milly is pretty, smart, popular, and plagued by a skin allergy that breaks out when “her real self” threatens to emerge.

Milly was born Milagros, adopted by her parents in an (undisclosed) country of Latin America where they served as Peace Corps volunteers. All that she has from her birth parents is kept in a handcrafted mahogany box, which was found with her when she was left at an orphanage as a newborn infant. Millie ignores these remnants from her origins, living her North American life with the only family she has ever known, until a handsome political refugee from her birth country, Pablo, comes to her high school as a new student.

At first this book seems as though it will be a typical high school “girl meets boy” story, but Julia Alvarez is far too skillful a novelist to stick to this well-worn territory. Swiftly the reader is drawn into Milly’s expanding world, as she reveals her adoption to her friends, begins to explore her origins through her friendship with Pablo and his parents, and learns that her most distinctive feature, her beautiful eyes, are inherited from the women of Los Luceros, a village in her home country.

As Milly returns to visit the country of her birth, Finding Miracles takes on a tone rarely found in young adult fiction, illuminating political repression, struggle, and rebellion through the stories of the women of Los Luceros, one of whom was Millie’s mother–but which one?  And does it really matter?

In her journey to learn how to be Milagros as well as Milly, this extraordinary young woman learns that her home can be in two countries and that family is an expandable concept, encompassing the parents she knows and loves as well as the parents who loved her and whom she will never know. The issues that she comes to terms with are presented in this novel as threads in a compelling story, examined thoughtfully while never overwhelming the plot, providing springboards for discussion between students and teachers, children and parents, or girls who read and enjoy the book together with their friends.

Since we are already in the middle of National Reading Group Month, our thoughts have turned to reading suggestions for book groups for young readers. At PaperTigers, we are deeply committed to books on multicultural subjects that bring differing cultures closer together. So of course the books on our little list are novels that we think will accomplish that, while they keep their readers enthralled and provide the nourishment for spirited book group discussions. Almost all of the suggested titles are in paperback editions and all should be available in libraries. Most of them have been reviewed by PaperTigers and one has been chosen by our own online bookclub, The Tiger’s Choice.

1. Beacon Hill Boys by Ken Mochizuki (Written for older readers, this novel explores teenage rebellion, parental expectations, and racial stereotypes with humor and perception. This is a perfect book for boys who are reluctant readers–by the end of the first page they’ll be hooked.)

2. On Thin Ice by Jamie Bastedo (Through entries in Ashley’s diary that she keeps while visiting family in an Inuit village, this book addresses the issue of climate change in Arctic Canada, where the polar bears are coming far too close for comfort.)

3. Woolvs in the Sitee by Margaret Wild (Who are the “woolvs” who terrify Ben and keep him sequestered in a place where he is safe from them? This is a title for older readers that falls into the realm of picture book/graphic novel, and one that will keep them reading.)

4. Kira Kira by Cynthia Kadohata (Winner of the  2005 Newbery Medal, this is a novel that takes a serious look at serious issues, through the lives of an extended Japanese-American family who are struggling in tough times.)

5. Cinnamon Girl: Letters Found Inside a Cereal Box by Juan Felipe Herrera (The tragedy of 9/11 as seen through the eyes and voice of thirteen-year-old Yolanda, whose uncle had “inhaled Twin Towers of dust,” while delivering flowers at the moment that the planes struck.)

6. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne (This is a book group selection for all ages, and when we chose it for our own book group, the discussion was thoughtful and lively–much to think about in this slender little volume.)

And there is our baker’s half-dozen–what suggested titles would you add to this little list? Let us know!

This month marks the second annual celebration of book groups as the Women’s National Book Association launches National Reading Group Month. Across the United States, publishers, bookstores, libraries, authors, and readers are all coming together to show their appreciation of the act of shared and thoughtful reading.

At PaperTigers, we are excited and happy that book groups are receiving the attention that they deserve, and that blogs all over the country are providing helpful tips for successful meetings and lists of suggested titles. We hope, as we all pay attention to book groups, that we pay particular attention to book groups for young readers.

It’s easy for reading to take a back seat to all of the other activities and preoccupations that usurp our free time, and for no one is that more true than for children. By making reading a sociable and scheduled activity, we give it a special priority that assures that it won’t get lost in the shuffle of daily life, and by coming together to discuss what we have read in a group of friends, we find ourselves reading more slowly, more thoughtfully, and with great pleasure. What better way is there for our children to spend their time than to share what they have read with friends who have read it too?

We at PaperTigers have our own book group, The Tiger’s Choice, where adults and children come together online to read and discuss a book that all ages can read with equal pleasure. Over the past ten months, we have explored different cultures and different countries from Cambodia to Germany during World War Two. We read with the desire to bring the world closer, and to make multicultural literacy a global undertaking, not merely a national one. We believe that children who learn to appreciate and understand the cultures of other countries will grow to be people who will live harmoniously and respectfully in the world.

As we celebrate National Reading Group Month, we invite you to join our own reading group, and ask you to let us know what reading groups you offer for children. What are you reading? What has worked for your reading group and what has not? Let’s talk!

Finding Miracles

Milly Kaufman is the typical American high school girl, pretty, popular, part of a happy family in a small town. So why, when asked to write two truthful details about herself, does she say, “I have this allergy where my hands get red and itchy when my real self’s trying to tell me something,”  “My parents have a box in their bedroom we’ve only opened once. I think of it as The Box,” and why does the appearance of Pablo, a new student from Latin America make her feel so uncomfortable? What is Milly’s secret–the one she has divulged only to her best friend?

Julia Alvarez, long acclaimed as an outstanding novelist for adult readers, turns her focus upon a young adult audience in Finding Miracles with the same skill that has made both In the Time of the Butterflies and How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents modern classics. While exploring Milly’s odyssey from the security of the family and community that she knows and loves to the unknown territory of a whole new world, Julia Alvarez creates a character and a novel that extends beyond age categories into the realm of fiction unlimited, while sensitively examining issues of identity and culture.

Please join us this month as we read and discuss Finding Miracles.

For me, The Clay Marble has always seemed a book for all ages, and an important introduction to modern Cambodian history, to Cambodian culture, and to the nightmare years of the Khmer Rouge ascendancy. As Minfong Ho explains in her introduction, she worked with the people she depicts in this novel, she had grown up in Southeast Asia, and she writes about Dara, Jantu, and their families with first-hand knowledge and with love.

The more I read this book, the more struck I am with the way that traditional Cambodian values are described, as well as the destruction to those values that was attempted by the Khmer Rouge. The importance of family, of community, of sharing, of rice planting and harvests are all made stunningly clear in this deceptively simple and powerful story.

Although I’ve read this book often, I’ve never approached it with Marjorie’s fearlessness. She read it aloud over the past month to her two sons, as she explains here.

” Well, we finished reading The Clay Marble about 10 days ago. At the time we were all shocked and upset by the ending and I thought I would leave it a few days before asking the boys what they wanted to say about it. It does mean that their immediate reactions are lost but both of them highlighted Friendship as something that stood out for them. The setting in terms of the war has had more of an impact on Older Brother. Little Brother was much more caught up in the narrative in terms of what was happening to Dara and the other characters. Anyway, here, verbatim, is what they said about it:

Older Brother (nearly 10): “I thought the Clay Marble was very interesting because it was based on things that really happened; and quite horrible at the same time because some people had lost their legs and got infections - things like that. When Jantu died I felt very sad, especially because I thought it was disgusting that she was shot by one of the soldiers that was supposed to be protecting her. She’d been a very good friend in the story.

When Sarun was coming to the Border and for quite a while at the Border, he was always talking about planting crops and building a home for the family but then after a few weeks he was going to join the army at their camp. Then he didn’t want to go home; he didn’t want to plant crops - he wanted to stay there and be a soldier. He wanted to shoot. He thought it made him be a man. He felt like a man, not just a young lad. Why does a rifle, some bullets, some clothing, some fighting - what’s it got to do with being a man? You might die.

Everyone was scared and had to keep moving around. I felt scared for the children who lost their parents.

I thought it was quite funny that Dara believed that the clay marble was really magic, but the extraordinary thing is that when she closed her hand around it, it gave her courage.”

Little Brother (7 and a 1/2): “The Clay Marble makes me think about friendship. Some of the grown-ups were very mean because they were bombing the Border and the refugees and not just the enemy’s soldiers. The fighting made Sarun stop thinking about growing his crops and they had to have more bombings.

It made me very sad when Jantu died. She was gifted and she helped Dara believe in herself. Dara was very brave.”

I think that although Little Brother especially was quite young to be taking in all of the inferences of the story, I don’t think they were too young and they were both completely caught up in it. They were horrified to hear about how close to reality it was. The small map at the beginning was brilliant and we referred back to it many times. We read the introduction afterwards and again, they were struck that there really had been a clay marble.

Yes, I found it emotionally draining. Fortunately I had read ahead so was not having to deal with my own reactions at the same time as the boys’! We read the last few chapters in one sitting the morning after we’d read about Dara finding Jantu and the Baby in the hospital. The boys were both stunned when Jantu was shot. They were indignant and upset, and furious with the way Sarun behaved afterwards - as was I! I think the ending was managed beautifully because, after all, this is a story written with a young audience in mind. Sarun did not lose face but was able to take up his role as head of the family and the story ends with a message of hope - emphasised by the epilogue of Dara “now”, a few years later and a mother herself. A novel for an adult audience wouldn’t get away with being so tidy at the end - but Minfong Ho delivers a riveting story and instills in her young audience the idea of the futility and randomness of war at a level they can absorb, without ever having to state it explicitely: and that is why I think it’s a fine book.”

If you haven’t explored The Clay Marble, please do pick it up–and then share it with others. It, like the best of novels, illuminates the present while explaining the past–and could possibly change the future.

Eleven years ago I made my first visit to Cambodia and fell in love. I was in Phnom Penh, which in 1997 was a city of hope, and the mood of joyous optimism that pervaded its streets was irresistible. The man who was my motorcycle taxi driver during my visit was a man whose smile touched his eyes but did not erase the omnipresent sadness that lived in them. His parents had been killed during the years of Pol Pot when he was just entering his teens, and he refused to accompany me when I entered the grounds of Tuol Sleng, the school that had been turned into a torture chamber , because that is the place that had made him an orphan. He took care of his younger brother as best as he could and they both survived.

He took me to his house in the rural outskirts of the city so I could meet his wife, his two small sons, and his baby daughter. His children all gleamed with the love that he gave them, healthy and happy. At one point during my time with them, my host tapped the side of a large and bulging burlap bag. “Rice,” he said proudly, “We eat it every day.”

When I read and reread The Clay Marble, it brings this memory so strongly to mind that I often find that I am in tears. Minfong Ho evokes the hunger of that dreadful time–for food, for family, for community, for the ability to know that a harvest of rice will soon be reaped, for the safety to sleep in one’s own house with safe and happy children close by.

Obviously I have emotional baggage that I bring with me to this book–would it have the same impact if I had not fallen in love with Cambodia? What about you? Does this book move you or is does it feel contrived? Is it an issue in search of a story or does it bring the refugee experience to life? Please let us all know what you think…

Fleeing the horror that has turned her home in Cambodia into a battleground filled with death and starvation, twelve-year-old Dara and what is left of her family cross the border into neighboring Thailand and the safety of Nong Chan, a camp for Cambodian refugees. Quickly they become absorbed into the life of “a vast barren field teeming with refugees” which “had the feel of our village during the years of peace before the fighting started.”
This is a place with enough food for all, where Dara’s family joins forces with the family of Jantu, a girl who becomes Dara’s friend. Jantu has the gift of magic hands; she is able to turn clay and leftover scraps into toys and she makes Dara a clay marble that contains the magic and power that are badly needed in these troubled times. Even more magical and powerful are the bags of rice seeds that are given to the refugees and carry the promise of future crops in their abandoned fields in Cambodia. Dara and Jantu’s families dream of feeding themselves once again in Cambodia, but even in the safety of the refugee camp, war interferes brutally with their plans.
Written by Minfong Ho, who worked as a volunteer in refugee camps along the Thai-Cambodian border in 1980, this book has become a classic since it appeared in 1991. Dara and Jantu, with their determination and courage, are characters who reach beyond borders and age barriers to show readers what it means to become refugees and how hope can bring people back to their homes. Please join us in reading and discussing The Clay Marble in July.

Bruno, in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, is one of the more problematic fictional characters whom I’ve found within the pages of a book. While Corinne said in her comments that she thinks his character is realistic, since he is a nine-year-old boy who has led a sheltered life, has an overbearing older sister, and lives in a time when there was no television or internet, I found his inability to understand his own language, as shown by his persistent usage of The Fury for the Fuhrer and Outwith for Auschwitz, to be unconvincing, contrived, and essentially unnecessary. However, it’s certainly true that without television and other mass media we could all be as uninformed and as naive as Bruno and that sometimes a character is more an instrument to advance a story’s plot than a breathing, convincing entity.

And Bruno certainly does advance the plot of this story. It’s a page-turner. As Corinne says, ” Once I started it, there was no way I could put it down until I had finished it.” I gulped it down as well and was relieved to know that this is the way the author intends for the book to be read.

Bruno’s simplified way of looking at the world around him makes this a good introduction to the Holocaust for children who know little about this time in history, and could work well in a classroom setting where there would be immediate answers to the questions that arise.

As an adult, I was annoyed by “red herring” portions of the book that were brought up and then never fully explored. Lieutenant Kotler is grilled by Bruno’s father over dinner one evening about the reason for Kotler’s father leaving Germany in 1938. Is Kotler’s father a Jew? A dissident? Who knows? It is never explained and left me wondering why the scene took place. It doesn’t seem to play a part in Kotler’s subsequent disappearance, which Corinne attributes to Kotler’s closeness to Bruno’s mother.

The shocking ending of this book comes so closely after Bruno’s betrayal of Shmuel and Shmuel’s subsequent punishment for stealing food that it could be wondered if Shmuel had intended for Bruno to stay behind the fence forever. Although Bruno is sheltered and naive, Shmuel understands the differences between the two boys, especially after living in the camp for a year. Corinne, on the other hand, says “Yes - I think Shmuel intended for Bruno to return home. I don’t think either boy had any idea what would happen or the risks they were taking when Bruno crawled under the fence.”

This is a book that bears discussion and I hope that it will be chosen for book groups, classrooms, and family read-alouds for years to come.
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If sunlight and warmth have hit the almost-polar regions of the Pacific Northwest, then it must be summer everywhere in this hemisphere–time for lemonade, picnics, beaches, long days spent outdoors, and lots and lots of books!

Summer reading is its own special category of literature–it’s the time of year when we remember that books are instruments of delight and amusement. It’s also the time of year when so many other things compete for our time and attention that reading sometimes is put aside until autumn and the required reading lists roll around.

When The Papertigers blog first began, Corinne had a wonderful post that discussed summer reading programs presented by libraries (which, Marjorie told us, also takes place in England under the wonderful name of “reading schemes.” Wouldn’t you rather scheme than take part in a program?) and said that she and her children celebrated the end of school by going to their library, signing up for the reading program, and going home laden with books. What a splendid way to mark the beginning of summer!

Of course not everyone lives near a library that offers such a program–I certainly didn’t when I was a child–or perhaps a crowded schedule of sports, summer camp, and family vacations prevent participation in a library program. For these people, we invite you to make The Tiger’s Choice your summer reading program. It fits into any schedule since you can comment when you are ready, on your computer, at any time of the day or night. It welcomes readers of all ages who love children’s literature, so you can discuss books with your friends, your parents, or even your teacher! It’s also a great way for youth group leaders to supplement their own summer activities with discussions about books, or for educators to stay in touch with their students.

If the monthly selections don’t appeal to you, tell us what you are reading on your own and why you like it–you may help someone else to find a new favorite author. (This is what happened to kids who responded to our Asking the Kids questionnaire–Geronimo Stilton and Young James Bond now have new readers.)

We’ll keep track of your suggestions and comments–when the end of August comes around we hope all of us will have found new books to love and new ways at looking at old favorites. Please join us!

And please add your comments to our discussion of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which will end as June draws to a close.

My friend Holly who is an ardent and gifted bookseller of children’s literature put The Boy in the Striped Pajamas into my hands when I asked her which recently-read children’s book resonated and lingered with her long after she had put it down. She is a woman whose taste is beyond impeccable so I took her recommendation home with me, read it, and months later am still haunted by it.

Because it is a book that falls outside of the usual geographical boundaries that mark books recommended and reviewed by Papertigers, and because it is a disturbing work of fiction, I didn’t immediately feature it as a Tiger’s Choice for children and adults to read together. Then I talked to my friend and colleague Corinne about it. She immediately read it and gave it to her eleven-year-old son, so they could discuss it, and I begged to be part of their conversation when it took place.

And that clinched it–if this book had this effect on Holly, Corinne and me, all women of different ages and backgrounds, and if Corinne instantly passed it on to her son, it is a book that merits discussion by a wider audience–and here we are.

I think the author would be happy to know that it has been chosen as a book for both adults and children to talk about in a forum where everyone has equal footing. John Boyne remarked in the interview at the end of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, “I’m not entirely sure I know what the difference is between a children’s book and an adults’ book,” and then quotes a friend’s question, “What is Treasure Island?”

There will be no questions posed about this book until we begin to discuss it after June 15th because it is crucial that we all come to our own conclusions in our very own ways. In explaining why it is a book that has world-wide importance, John Boyne says, “Fences such as the one in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas still exist; it is unlikely that they will ever fully disappear.” Perhaps if enough people talk about this book, and other novels that address the same issue, we may someday live in a world without fences.

When we began to think about creating an online book group that would appeal to readers of all ages, there were classic titles that came quickly to mind. Finding books that corresponded to the PaperTigers’ goal of understanding different cultures through children’s literature was a challenge and an opportunity for exploring new reading adventures.

I was lucky. The first book I found on my initial foray into this new world of books that would appeal to both adults and children was one that immediately captured my heart and mind—Naming Maya by Uma Krishnaswami.

I’ve worked in bookstores for decades but this novel was one that I hadn’t encountered before. I was eager to hear other people’s opinions of it and to have the chance to talk about it, the way we readers always feel when we find a book that we love.

The comments for Naming Maya have been as rich and as thoughtful as I had hoped they would be. Readers have agreed that this is a book for mothers and daughters to read together, that it evokes India in a way that could describe Hyderabad as well as it does Chennai, and that the theme of dualism is expressed quite beautifully in the idea of the “Two-Gift.” As Maya herself concludes about trust, in an observation that applies to many things in this novel–and in life–”You keep some, you give some away.”

What makes this book one that I can return to with pleasure for reading over and over is, above all, the way that three very strong women of different generations are portrayed, Maya, Kamala Mami, and Maya’s mother. Together they make a household that is both temporary and enduring, and Uma Krishnaswami makes each of them enduring figures in the reader’s imagination. It is no small feat to be able to give life to characters of varying background and chronological age, but it is accomplished so well in Naming Maya.

Not only is Chennai vividly evoked in this book, but so is its culture and values. Uma Krishnaswami delicately and without editorializing shows through Maya’s eyes different ways of accepting marriage, of being a teenager, of growing old. And she so wonderfully shows how food can be a common language when living in a place where three different languages are routinely used and in all of them words sometimes fail.

“I hear you need a cook,” Kamala Mami announces to Maya and her mother, the day after their arrival in India. They do indeed, more than they know. Kamala Mami’s food brings them slowly together–right up until a dish made from her recipe crashes to the floor and releases Maya’s torrent of hitherto unspoken emotion.

The one complaint I have about this novel is that it hasn’t yet been released in a paperback edition, which would make it accessible to many more readers than it already is. When I recently told a fellow-bookseller about Naming Maya, his response was that far too few books address the subject of bi-cultural children, a point that both Aline and Katia touched upon in our discussion. Uma Krishnaswami has found a universality in belonging to two different worlds.  Through her art Maya’s duality becomes a new way for readers of all ages to look at their own lives, and that is an act accomplished by literature that is truly great.

If you haven’t yet read this book, I envy you the joy of experiencing it for the first time. If you know a young girl with whom you can share it, I envy you even more. If you’ve read it already, discover the joy of reading it again–and add your opinion to mine in the comments field if you agree that it should be reissued in a paperback edition, please!

We’re still receiving comments on this month’s Tiger’s Choice, Naming Maya. Please add your thoughts about this wonderful novel before the discussion ends at the end of May. And if you are eager to read additional fiction that will complement Uma Krishnaswami’s work, Sherry York has just published Ethnic Book Awards: A Dictionary of Multicultural Literature for Young Readers, which includes a reader’s guide to Naming Maya.

Next month we will go to historical fiction that will awaken a whole new arena of conversation, we hope. For those who would like to find the book in advance of the discussion, the book will be The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne. Originally published in Great Britain, this novel is available in paperback and is a Young Reader’s Choice Award nominee in my corner of the world. It’s also showing up on quite a few adult book group displays, and will be our focus in June.

I’d never before read anything by Nancy Farmer (although as a former children’s bookseller, of course I knew about her) until I picked up A Girl Named Disaster to read as the first Tiger’s Choice. I was lucky to have found it–this book is an outstanding piece of fiction that can be read and enjoyed by a doddering fifty-nine-year-old like me or by people who are substantially younger.

In an earlier posting by Corinne on PaperTigers, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators in the Philippines pointed out that children’s literature from different cultures is shaped by differing values. This is made intriguingly clear by the story of Nhamo, the girl who leaves her tribe in search of her one living parent and a family that will be truly hers. Her quest is an adventure, and a solitary one, that takes her into a world populated only by animals. Unlike similar stories written with a differing cultural perspective (Julie of the Wolves, My Side of the Mountain, Island of the Blue Dolphins), this book does not show an anthropomorphic relationship between Nhamo and the baboons who are her neighbors. A lonely and frightened child, Nhamo forges a relationship with a world of the spirits rather than with the animal kingdom. She sustains herself through stories that she knows and loves about beings of an unseen realm, and in her dreams and in her waking imagination, these are the figures that guide her, and who allow her to bring out menacing, and hitherto unexplored, parts of herself by cloaking them under different names and the persona of spirits.

Her three-part story begins with elements of Cinderella, sweeps into a Robinson Crusoe-like world, and ends with a modern-day transformation and the fulfillment of a quest. At almost 300 pages, it is longer than many pieces of fiction for children, and it contains an impressive body of information within its compelling story. Anyone who reads it will be given a sense of place that only someone who has lived in that part of Africa could provide.

It could be a problematic choice to read aloud to a classroom of boys and girls. Although Nhamo’s adventures, and her adventuresome spirit, will appeal to both genders, the author’s frankness when writing about menstruation and other physical functions could be difficult in a mixed-gender classroom if read aloud. It is, however, a dazzling choice for a parent-child book group, or to give to a reluctant reader, or to enjoy as a solitary pleasure when in need of something absorbing and magical to read.

Before we move on to our discussion of A Girl Named Disaster and the introduction of the next Tiger’s Choice, we want to talk about the latest comments in the discussion of how to turn children into passionate readers.

Parents who read to their children are an essential element in creating readers, and Jeannine and Marjorie both bring up new ways for parents to ensure that this happens. Marjorie, whose sons’ book reviews light up the PaperTigers blog this week, suggests a virtual book group as being a way for children with irrepressible physical energy to come together in a space that doesn’t lend itself to exuberant (and distracting) physical activity. “After all,” she points out, “they are growing up with an affinity for virtuality which we can only wonder at!” Providing a way to link the world of books with the virtual world seems to be a brilliant way to keep reading alive in the brave new world of the internet. If anybody else has ideas on blending these two disparate pastimes, please let us know.

Jeannine, who read three to four books a night with her son when he was small, says that talking about the books was as much fun as reading them. She observes that parents can encourage their children to be engaged readers who can eventually take part in intelligent book discussions by through questions (”Why do you think he did that?”) and through connecting real-life activities with books shared with children. “If you’re reading about a garden, go outside and dig in the dirt,” she urges. And she adds, in the same spirit as Corinne, “As for the TV–just say no!”

Suggestions that add to this conversation, previously posted to the CCBC-net listserv, (the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education), are reprinted here with permission. Megan Schliesman, CCBC Librarian, says, “When my husband, daughter and I gather together for a shared story (we are currently on book 3 of Suzanne Collin’s “Gregor the Overlander series), I am aware–as several have already mentioned–that we are not only experiencing a terrific story, we are also making shared memories.”

Lee Bennett Hopkins, a well-known poet and anthologist, echoes another poet, Sherman Alexie, in advocating The Snowy Day. “Read aloud The Snowy Day by [Ezra Jack] Keats; follow it up with “Cynthia in the Snow” where snow is “Still white as milk or shirts/So beautiful it hurts.” in Gwendolyn Brooks’ Bronzeville Boys and Girls….With every book you read aloud, find a poem to go with it. I believe we spend too much time TEACHING children to READ–and NOT enough time TEACHING them to LOVE to read. GET the difference.”

Let’s celebrate that difference and continue the discussion on how to make it become a vital part of the lives of children.