Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Top Five Books for Book Clubs


Thank you Two Writing Teachers for creating this space for me to share my corner of the world.

Book clubs are something I did as an elementary teacher, but had not tried it as a middle school teacher until last month.

I knew middle school students loved to talk, so I thought book clubs would be a great outlet in which to do this.  I began applying for grants, creating Donor's Choose projects, and purchasing books to establish a book club library.  When I started book clubs, I had over 20 different titles and six copies of each one to distribute to my five classes.

Here are our top five titles for this round:


The War with Grandpa is an older title, but such a fun one.  It is an excellent text for teaching basic story elements for those readers who are not ready for a difficult text.  Wonderful themes of war, peace, making choices, and relationships with the elderly.



Crossover was a hit with both girls and boys...and even another teacher.


Circus Mirandus is just a magically beautiful book.  Most of the students who read this commented on how they normally would not have a chosen a book like this, but really enjoyed it.  That is the power of book clubs.


I Am Number Four is a series that has taken off with my higher readers.  I have not read this, and I normally do not include books that I have not read.  But this has been such a hit, that I knew it would draw some interest.


Absolutely Truly is another book I have not read.  Here is the comment I received from a student:  "It was a mystery that turned out to be a love story!"  

I learned many lessons from our first round of book clubs which will be a future post, but overall, it was a success!

9 comments:

  1. I don't teach this age so I can't use this professionally, but your post makes me want to read them for myself! I am sure this will be a great help to other teachers, too. They all look like wonderful books.

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  2. I love that you include an older title too. There are some great books out there! Lucky you to continue to be able to purchase more and more.

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  3. I love that you include an older title too. There are some great books out there! Lucky you to continue to be able to purchase more and more.

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  4. Glad to see the latest popular books, Leigh Anne! Thanks.

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  5. I am always interested to see what others are doing in book clubs, especially at the next level than what I teach. Thanks for sharing! I have to do some catching up, as I haven't read any of these...but now I am excited to put something new on the list!

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  6. Great titles to share and wishing you the best in building your book club collection!

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  7. Great titles to share and wishing you the best in building your book club collection!

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  8. I've only read two of these - Circus Mirandus and Crossover. I always had avid readers enjoy I Am Number Four, but like you I haven't read it. I know about The War with Grandpa and remember reading book reports on it years ago. Finally, the student's comment on Absolutely Truly makes me want to read it. Do you have The War that Saved My Life in your collection? It was the top choice of my book club last fall.

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  9. Thanks for sharing these titles. I hadn't thought about reading Circus Mirandus aloud to my son, but reading your post makes me rethink that. I will have to look for The War with Grandpa and I Am Number Four as well. How I love book recommendations!

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