‘lil Smarty Bookclub

By Smarty Guest Blogger, Melissa S

As moms, we are always trying to find educational things to do with our children that are fun as well! That’s why I was so excited about the idea of starting a children’s bookclub.

It’s the same idea as what many moms do except with kids! My daughter was thrilled to be able to do something with her friends just like mom does. Our group is ten 2nd grade children, mostly girls. We have monthly “meetings”, spread out more during the school year. We take turns picking chapter books or advanced picture books, always with the mothers’ approval. It can, however, be difficult to find books that both boys and girls want to read.

One thing that came up early on is that many of the girls read at different levels. But we figured out a way to accommodate this. Kids who might have difficulty reading a particular book don’t have to read it themselves; moms, dads or older siblings can read it to them and no one needs to know!

At the “meetings” we’ve done many different things. We’ve used discussion questions, completed crossword puzzles or artwork that related to the book topic. But, a favorite was the Magic Tree House book, “Vacation Under the Volcano”. We then went on a “field trip” to the Discovery Place Pompeii exhibit. Another fun treat was at Christmas, each child brought a favorite wrapped book to exchange and during the summer we met at the pool!

Happy reading, ‘lil Smarties!