Yesterday, Book Club met for the first time in the Media Center, led by sponsors Ashley Cousino and Jen Dellinger.

“We started Book Club because we had a great response from our students that were joining our Book Bingo Challenge,” Cousino said. “They requested that we form a club that would meet more frequently than just doing the bingo challenge on their own.” 

The Book Bingo Challenge was a Media Center initiative last year where students and teachers read multiple books and could win prizes for participating. Cousino said she knows a lot of students read more than people might think.

“BookTok is a huge influence on a lot of students, so having the outlet to be able to talk about the book they are seeing and reading with their fellow students and classmates is just a really great outlet,” Cousino said. “Online and on social media, you don’t ever get to meet those people, so it’s nice to do that in person.”

While meeting in person is a traditional book club feature, the Book Club will not be meeting to all discuss the same text.

“We are not going to read one book as a group,” Cousino said. “We are actually going to select genres, which makes it a lot more open for people to get more recommendations as opposed to a more class-like style where you read the same book and you discuss questions about it.” 

Cousino hopes that format will allow students to read books they are interested in.

“We want students to feel comfortable with picking books they are interested in and just zero in on a certain genre each month,” Cousino said. “That way people get curious about different genres and maybe expand what they normally read.”

In September, the Book Club has students reading whatever genre they choose. Students can still join Book Club by scanning the QR Code in the Media Center.