Reading Program

Jun 28 2025

How to Run a Book Club with Middle School Students

By Heeru Bhojwani Book Clubs, Reading Program No Comments

by Harper Collins under CC BY-NC-ND

How to Start and Run a Book Club for Middle School Students

Engaging Readers Through Meaning, Discussion, and Voice

Book clubs in middle school is to provide a platform to discuss identity formation, deeper analysis, social connection, and academic growth. Teenagers at this point in life are ready to go beyond the surface and engage with literature through inference, theme exploration, and multiple perspectives. With guided facilitation, a book club becomes a safe and stimulating place where every student has a voice. Here is a blog post on How to run a book club for primary school students.

Step 1: Define Purpose, Scope, and Tone

Begin by deciding the intent of your book club:

Are you building reading stamina and joy?
Exploring diversity and identity?
Practicing their communication, language, and thinking skills.

Clarify the time: Will you meet weekly or bi-weekly? Will students read at home or during club sessions? Consider a flexible tone—while fostering serious literary conversations, allow room for humor, empathy, and personal connections.

Step 2: Select Books That Invite Inquiry and Interpretation

Middle school readers crave relevance and relevant. Choose books that are developmentally appropriate but layered enough to provoke questions. Empower students to co-create norms and choose themes (e.g., survival, justice, environment, identity, belonging). You make the initial selection, give them a little hook, trailer, mini-highlight of the book and let the students select the book they want to read.

Librarians can focus on:

Strong character development
Complex moral dilemmas
Multiple perspectives
Social justice themes
Literary devices (symbolism, foreshadowing, irony)

Middle School Books (Some recommendations)

Title	Author			Themes
Ghost	Jason Reynolds			Identity, resilience, sports, trauma
The Giver	Lois Lowry			Utopia, memory, choice, conformity
Starfish	Lisa Fipps			Body image, bullying, voice
Brown Girl Dreaming	Jacqueline Woodson			Verse, identity, civil rights
Wonder	R.J. Palacio			Kindness, disability, courage
Ahmed Aziz’s Epic Year	Nina Hamza			Self-discovery, humor, cultural identity
Queen of Fire		Devika Rangachari	Feminism, historical fiction, leadership, bravery
Savi and the Memory Keeper		Bijal Vachharajani	Climate fiction, memory, environmental grief, healing
The Grand Chapati Contest		Asha Nehemiah	Humor, problem-solving, cultural quirks, civic life
Year of the Weeds		Siddhartha Sarma	Resistance, indigenous rights, activism, justice
The Night Diary (Indian-American)		Veera Hiranandani	Partition, identity, resilience, dual belonging
No Guns at My Son’s Funeral		Paro Anand	Conflict, extremism, identity crisis, Kashmir
Nabh Goes Missing		Richa Jha	Sibling bonds, family mystery, inner strength

Student-Led Book Clubs

Students can run the book clubs while the Librarian uses this time to check with each group. To ensure a smooth student-led book clubs, clear instructions must be set up on how students in the group might thoughtfully and responsibly participate.

Setting up Groups: Each group of students can be divided according to the choice of book or reading level based on the needs of your program. It is best to work in collaboration with the English/ Language arts teachers in the class.
Schedule Timings: Depending on your availability, you can conduct this once a week, for a month, during your library class or in partnership with your English/Language arts teachers. You may also schedule a special book club after school for those students interested in reading or developing a love for reading.
Assigning roles and responsibilities: To have students run the book club, each of the students can be assigned a role: Discussion Director, Literary Lens leader, Connector, Vocabulary Detective, and Summarizer. (See document)Middle School Book Club Roles Template

Beyond Summary: Deepen Discussion with Literary Analysis Prompts

Yes, librarians must learn and become equipped to run this book club, start small and with only one class.

Character Analysis

How does the main character grow or change over time? (Cite with page numbers, examples, and description)
What motivates their decisions? Are their choices justified? (Explain with page numbers and examples)

Theme Exploration

What message or big idea is the author trying to communicate? (Explain how you concluded with evidence from the text in the book)
How do events, characters, and setting reinforce this theme? (Explain by describing events, characters change and how the theme was enforced)

Author’s Craft

Why did the author choose to tell the story this way (e.g., structure: How the story is organized – chronological, flashbacks, alternating points of view, short chapters, etc.) (Voice: Describe the the tone and style of the narrator (funny, serious, innocent, sarcastic, etc.)
What symbols or recurring images stand out? What might they represent?

Interpretation and Reflection

How did this story make you think differently about a real-world issue?
Which part of the book challenged your thinking or surprised you?

10 Visible Thinking Routines for Book Clubs: These routines are from Harvard Project Zero and are powerful for helping students externalize and visualize their thinking, especially when engaging with complex texts.

Routine Name	Purpose in Book Club Context	Sample Use
1. See – Think – Wonder	Explore descriptive passages, images, or symbolic scenes	Use with book covers, illustrations, or turning points: “What do you see? What do you think is happening? What do you wonder about this scene?”
2. What Makes You Say That?	Encourage evidence-based discussion	Use when making inferences or analyzing characters: “What’s your interpretation? What in the text supports that?”
3. Connect – Extend – Challenge	Link book content to personal/world knowledge and push thinking further	After reading a chapter: “How does this connect to something you know? What new ideas extend your thinking? What still challenges you?”
4. Circle of Viewpoints	Examine events through multiple characters’ perspectives	Role-play or journal: “I am ___, and I think ___ because…”
5. Claim – Support – Question	Practice forming arguments with text evidence and critical questions	Useful in debates or theme analysis: “I believe that ___, because ___. A question I have is…”
6. Headlines	Summarize big ideas or themes in a few powerful words	After finishing a chapter or book: “What headline would capture the main idea or message?”
7. Step Inside	Develop empathy by imagining thoughts/feelings of a character	Use in journals or circle time: “What does this character think, feel, care about?”
8. Color – Symbol – Image	Represent abstract ideas creatively	Great for thematic exploration: choose a color, symbol, and image that reflects the book’s main theme or character’s journey
9. I Used to Think… Now I Think…	Reflect on changed thinking after discussion or deeper reading	Use during or after book club: “I used to think ___. Now I think ___.”
10. Tug of War	Explore dilemmas or conflicting viewpoints	For moral choices or ethical issues: “Should the character have done this? What are the pulls on each side?”

Final Display of Student Learning after Book Discussion

Creative responses make literature come alive:

Literary One-Pagers: Combine art, quotes, and symbols to represent the book
Perspective Rewrite: Retell a chapter from another character’s point of view
Book Playlist: Curate songs that reflect characters, setting, or emotion
Debate: Hold a structured debate around a moral question in the story.

Jun 28 2025

How to Start and Run a Book Club for Primary School Students

By Heeru Bhojwani Book Clubs, Book Talk, Reading Program No Comments

Jenn photos BY-NC-ND 2.0.

A book club for primary school students is about building community and a lifelong love of stories. Start small, let student voices guide the journey. Nurturing a love for reading in children is more important than ever today in a digital world. A well-run book club can be a powerful way to inspire young readers. Here is a blog post on how to run a book club with middle school students.

Step 1: Define Your Purpose and Age Group

Before launching, clarify your goals. Questions to ask yourself: Is it to promote reading for pleasure? Explore specific genres or themes? Support curriculum links or social-emotional learning?

Next, choose your age range carefully—reading levels and developmental needs vary widely between a Grade 2 to 5. A focus group will help tailor book choices and discussions more effectively.

Step 2: Select a Format That Works

Decide how often the group will meet—weekly, biweekly, or monthly. For younger students, shorter, more frequent meetings work better. Consider the format: will it be in person, virtual, or hybrid? During or after school? Will students read the book beforehand or read together?

Create a consistent structure for the book club. A typical session might include:

A brief recap of the story so far (if it is a long book)
Open-ended questions or discussion prompts
A creative response (e.g., drawing, acting out scenes, making a new book cover)

Library Classes & Book club

Book Clubs are hard to run during the Library Class without any help. Therefore, reaching out to people to help out with group clubs would help a successful book club. Often, tying up with classroom teachers would help the discussion and nurture a love for reading.

Step 3: Choose the Right Books

Book selection is everything. Aim for diverse, age-appropriate titles that offer strong characters, rich themes, and room for discussion. Rotate genres—mystery, fantasy, realistic fiction, graphic novels—to appeal to different interests. Involve students in choosing books to build ownership and motivation.

Step 4: Make It Interactive and Include Children’s Choice

Young readers thrive on engagement. Use Harvard – Project Zero: visible thinking routines like I See, I Think, I Wonder, Connect – Extend – Challenge, or Circle of Viewpoints to spark thoughtful conversations. Add hands-on activities such as:

Book-inspired art or crafts
Journals with reflections or reviews
Character interviews or role-play
Connections to SDGs, learner profile attributes, or classroom units of inquiry

Encourage all voices by using talking sticks, turn-and-talk partners, or small group sharing before full group discussion. Celebrate varied contributions—reading aloud, illustrating ideas, or even making predictions.

Step 5: Keep It Simple

Start small. A pilot club with 6–10 students is ideal. Once the model works, consider expanding or creating multiple groups. Involve parents and colleagues for support—some may be keen to co-host or sponsor snacks and materials.

End each term or unit with a “Book Celebration”—where students present their favorite book moments, display their work, or recommend future titles. These moments help build a reading culture that lasts beyond the club.

Open-Ended Questions for Primary Book Clubs

Understanding Characters and Choices

Why do you think the character made that choice? Would you have done the same?
How did the character change from the beginning to the end of the story?
What would you say to the main character if you could meet them?

Exploring Themes and Emotions

What message do you think the author is trying to share?
Which part of the story made you feel something strongly? Why?
What did this story make you think about in your own life?

Making Connections

Does this story remind you of something you’ve seen, read, or experienced?
How is the world in the book similar to or different from where you live?
Have you ever felt like one of the characters? What happened?

Imagination and Creativity

If you could add a new character or chapter, what would happen?
What would the story be like from another character’s point of view?
Can you think of a different ending? What would change?

Personal Reflection

– What did you learn from this story?

– Did this book change your mind about anything?

– Would you recommend this book to someone else? Why or why not?

An Example: Bonkers by Natasha Sharma

Short Summary: Bonkers! is a laugh-out-loud story about Armaan, whose life turns upside down when his family adopts a big, goofy dog named Bonkers. Chaos follows wherever Bonkers goes—whether it’s at home, school, or a fancy hotel! Through all the misadventures, the story explores friendship, responsibility, and how love sometimes looks a little… bonk

Discussion Questions

Understanding Characters & Choices

What kind of boy is Armaan? How do we know?
How did Bonkers change the way Armaan’s family behaved?
What would you do if Bonkers were your dog?

Reflecting on Themes

What do you think this book says about families?
How do you know when a pet becomes part of a family?
What does “being responsible” look like in the story? Do you think Armaan is responsible?

Humour & Imagination

What was the funniest moment in the book for you? Why?
If you had to give Bonkers another name, what would it be and why?
Imagine this story as a movie. Who would play Bonkers? What scenes would you include?

Personal Connections

Have you ever had a moment when everything felt “bonkers”? What happened?
What would you tell Armaan if you met him after the story ended?

Creative Activities

Bonkers’ Point of View

Write a diary entry from Bonkers’ perspective about one of his wild adventures. How does he feel? What does he think humans are doing?

Design a “Bonkers-Proof” House

In teams, draw a floor plan or 3D model of a house that could survive Bonkers. Label “safe zones” and “disaster areas.” Explain your design to the group.

Character Interview Skit

In pairs, one person pretends to be a news reporter, and the other is Armaan (or Bonkers!). Role-play a short interview after the hotel incident.

Story Extension Comic Strip

Create a comic showing what happens next. What new mischief could Bonkers get into?

Book_Club_Reading_List_and_Resources

Dec 20 2019

What should I be Reading to Children in January 2020

By Heeru Bhojwani Indian Literature, Librarian's Role, Literacy, Readaloud, Reading Program 3 Comments

Reading Stories & Information

How can you build a growth mindset with Reading? How can you help build knowledge, perspective and develop the habit of good reading for children? it is when adults model and read the right text, at the right time through open discussions. So what do we do?

India is blessed with a variety of religion, culture and language. It is a celebration all year round. You and I can take this opportunity to invite our students to learn about the festivals and purpose behind the holidays.

Most importantly look for a common thread, a theme that overlaps one another. A common theme will bring unity, understanding and respect that we owe to all human beings. It will lift us from a basic description of festivals to thinking about the cause, impact and importance of the festival.

What should I read to my students/children in January or the Winter months in India? What can librarians and teachers read to students?

Reading For Young Children:

New Year Celebrations is often recognized by students as the beginning year with promises and resolutions. This book The Hundred and Thirty-Seventh Leg by Pratham will help invite students to think about kindness, care and make decisions to begin a year with empathy. Children can either discuss, share or write on index cards -about their resolution and stick it on the resolution tree on the bulletin board.
This Book Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi, Sindhi & Other F…by Vyanst, Gurivi G shares why and how different festivals are celebrated. And this one can be used to think of the similarities, and the differences among the festivals Lohri, Pongal and Makar Sankranti – each of them related to harvest time. The compare and contrast reflection sheets help in teaching students to evaluate works about similar topics offer positions of differences within the subject – while developing a theme.

Reading about Important dates in January 2020

Reading & Question

Time and Date tells us the events in India

Jan 1Wednesday New Year’s Day Restricted Holiday

Jan 2Thursday Guru Govind Singh Jayanti Restricted Holiday

Jan 14Tuesday Lohri Restricted Holiday

Jan 15Wednesday Pongal Restricted Holiday

Jan 15Wednesday Makar Sankranti Restricted Holiday

Jan 25Saturday Chinese New Year Observance

Jan 26Sunday Republic Day Gazetted HolidayJan 29Wednesday

Jan 29 Wednesday Vasant Panchami Restricted Holiday

Reading and Discussions with Older Students in January 2020

Reading, Thinking & Analyzing

Republic Day

Instead of colouring the flag, asking students, what happens on Republic Day, who was the first president, as educators we need to ask open-ended and higher-order thinking questions that can promote thinking and analyses. It is a challenging process for teachers to deal with controversial topics, if we do not do take the responsibility, then who will?

Researching on what it means for India to be a Republic?
How is India’s Republic Status different from other countries Republic Status?
Does it mean the same for all the countries – Explain?
How is the CAB bill (Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019) an extension of the Republic? Why is it a pressing bill?
How can we ensure that CAB and National Register of Citizens bills are well understood?

Media Literacy with Reading

Teaching when done at the right time, becomes the Aha Moment! that we look for – Relevant and Timely. This is the time to introduce Media Literacy and look into biases and perspectives of different people by asking these questions?

Who wrote or created the video, app, meme?
Does the author have credible credentials to back the information?
Why was it created?
Does the information match with other websites?
Are these different points of view?

If the article or media creates a strong emotive (positive or negative) reaction, we must remember to hold off and not jump to conclusions. Unless we read extensively about different perspectives and then draw informed decisions based on personal knowledge. We need to remember to hold off before spreading and passing on the information, especially if it is biased and/or has only one point of view.

Responsible Digital Citizen & Reading

The internet has allowed everyone to share their voice and opinions. But, that doesn’t mean, everyone who shares on the internet is well informed when making opinions. It is crucial to learn how to be a responsible digital citizen. While discussing controversial topics, it is important for the teacher, to provide newspaper cuttings, articles from different sources to build on information, analyze, think and clarify.

New Year Reading Topic for Older Students

Older students can also look up the history of ‘New Year Celebrations’ – What it means to different people in different religions and countries.

How can we be respectful and celebratory of all religions? The Bahaii, Islam, Hindu, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, Christians all have different days for their New Year.
Read & Discuss with a Heart!
What can we do as a nation to build solidarity, empathy and dignity of all?

What is a Discussion?

A good rule for analysis or discussion needs to be based on hard facts and a soft voice. A discussion should be an attempt to explore and understand the subject from all points of view and not a clash of who is right or wrong.

Discussion is not a debate – no one is right or wrong. It is an attempt to emphatically listen to each other. The teachers’ job here is that of a facilitator, not taking sides, recognize and encourage fact-based discussion with an emphasis on the origin of the information. (Where did the information come from and what makes you stand by that information – is it based on facts or opinions) Ensure that we build a community of learners with a heart.

Teachers as Reading Facilitators

Open discussions and respect of varied opinions are a part of a matured mind and elevated intellect.

Having robust discussions about politics, religion are challenging but not impossible. An excellent reminder to the teachers and students would be to remember, we all are humans, we all have rights and responsibility, and it is necessary to adopt and include all members of the human society while each one performing their responsibilities.

Feb 12 2019

Should Librarians Ban Books or Stand Up for Freedom?

By Heeru Bhojwani Collection Development, General, Reading Program No Comments

Should librarians ban books that are controversial or stand up for freedom of expression?

The primary role of a library is to promote the progress of knowledge, promote love for reading and through this give people a better quality of life. Libraries are centers of all forms of learning. Scientists, artists, and philosophers have discussed, learned and grown in their fields of knowledge only because of libraries. Libraries have always witnessed controversial debate only to bring out the best of knowledge.

Looking back into history there has been many classics and other novels that have been banned at schools and in many countries. More often than not, books with sexual content, profanity, offensive language, stories based on chemical abuse (drugs), satanic themes, religious preferences have been subject to complaints and have pressured librarians not to include such content in the schools. Sometimes, it is the plot or the characters’ viewpoint that impacts morality making it the contention for books to be banned.

Robert A. Heinlein said about censorship: “The whole principle is wrong; it’s like demanding that grown men live on skim milk because the baby can’t eat steak.” A library is a venue to provide the users with all forms of information and not control it in any way, even if librarians do not like or agree with some of the content.

You may argue, that the librarians have a moral duty to their students and therefore needs to carefully curate books and help them have a balanced approach to all forms of knowledge. And, on the other hand, we do want our students to think, make informed decisions and choices, have an opportunity to discuss, learn, and find solutions to the problems that may have cropped up in the story.

In Rodney A. Smolla research paper, “Freedom of Speech for Libraries and Librarians” she says, “Like art museums, libraries will be among the repositories of knowledge and culture in a modern society that can expect to find themselves under increasing pressure to serve as society’s censors.” And as librarians, we must have the courage to fight against censorship. Here are some examples of books that were banned at one time or the other.

To kill a Mockingbird, The Color Purple was banned for a while because it was said to promote racial discrimination and racial hatred. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain was considered immoral and for having sacrilegious content. Harry Potter series was deemed to be anti-family, violent, and satanic. Another classic, Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck, was banned because of profanity. Looking For Alaska by John Green as taken away from libraries for “offensive language” and “sexually explicit content.”

Recently, a group of parents and teachers talked about banning fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, and other such tales which had wicked plots and made step parents and abandoning of children, unnerving plots and they believed that these stories created a negative impact on little children. So, where do we stop and what do librarians do?

Do we become strong and stand up for freedom of knowledge by supporting challenging options, when adding books to our collection? Do we introduce students to LGBTQ books? Do we create an open society of communication and individual rights or do we shun them under hypocrisy and fear? Do we provide an opportunity for healthy discussion and openmindedness, where students can learn and discuss? Or close their minds under the garb of protecting them. What do we do? Do we begin to have an open discussion with parents and share our rationale with them? Do we trust our children to be intelligent enough to have a rational discussion or think of them to be dumb witted? Do we stand up for a reason or given in to being the nurturing and protective agents? Here is a list of books that were banned in India. And here is a list of LGBTQ Books and here is a list of controversial books you might want to have in your library.

Jan 18 2019

Reading Logs and DEAR

By Heeru Bhojwani Book Talk, General, Literacy, Readaloud, Reading and Writing, Reading Program, School Libraries No Comments

What is a Reading Log?

Are they useful? Do you think reading logs can help readers be accountable for what they are reading and how much they are reading?

Adding time and page numbers to the reading log – Will that accurately tell how much students are reading, why they are reading and what they have accomplished from their reading? Do we as adults follow it?

Reading logs are now being replaced by reading responses, that is nudging students to be analytical thinkers by carefully analyzing the structure and word choice of text while reading. An interesting article Goodbye Reading logs from Scholastic shows you how you can help build readers during your library classes with your students.

Reading Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

What is Dear?

DEAR – Drop everything and read is another opportunity provided for students to stop and read. Language class teachers often use this strategy to support learning in class. Librarians can also use DEAR for 10 minutes of their class and have students read with meaning, you may use graphic organizers to compare settings, characters or even the genre of the books or magazine that they are reading.

Guided Reading Program- Raz Plus

By Heeru Bhojwani Digital Resources, General, Internation Schools, Literacy, Reading and Writing, Reading Program, Writing Program No Comments

Recently, I read in the local newspaper in Mumbai, that the latest key education trends to watch out for in 2019 are:

The growth of integrated learning solutions: that is integrating technology with teaching content
Adoption of formative assessment solutions: we know that the assessment of rote learning is not going to help our present generation of students
Learning through regional languages: using bilingual mode of teaching and learning
Increased demand for professional development for all educators: having a growth mindset and learning the craft of teaching and learning with new and updated teaching-learning strategies the and pedagogy.
Learning A-Z

Recently, I learned that many International schools are looking at adopting reading and writing programs and are moving away from the textbook. Some are adopting a dual program – text book + a reading program. This in my perspective, is a great opportunity for teachers to build on their craft of teaching English.

Learning A-Z is a great resource, well known in the International circuit and is used in over 140 countries, thus validating and supporting accreditation in schools. The research and awards received by the program, shows that the content is vetted both qualitatively and quantitatively leveraging good reading and writing practices, thus moving away from ROTE LEARNING to develop DEEP LITERACY SKILLS for critical thinking.

In my opinion, Learning A-Z supports all of the above. It teaches teachers how to teach reading and writing involving skills and strategies of the 21st century like analyzing character, analyzing plots, analyzing settings, understanding author’s purpose of entertainment, information, and persuasion, cause & effect, identifying points of view, making inferences and drawing conferences, problem solution, understanding different genres, sequence of events and more. All resources books are available in a blended format – both print and digital.

This program offers students direct and explicit instruction on key comprehension skills with the Comprehension Skill Packs. Each lesson plan follows the teaching, practice, and apply an instructional approach to support students as they build meaning from texts. It includes guided reading books (leveled), worksheets, professional development lesson plans, visual devices, graphic organizers and all the necessary documents for teaching – thus saving lots of google search time.

A blended program that offers the students an opportunity to read at their reading level, complete a quiz on their device. The results of the quiz can help teachers identify areas of teaching and support student learning.

The Writing A-Z delivers online writing lessons, resources, and tools to meet the needs of every student, at every learning level for Elementary and Middle School Years.

Lessons and resources to teach writing
Interactive online writing tools for students
Online reporting to track progress and growth

You can get your free trial here for 14 days and also download their samples and check them out. I am sure this program will benefit your students and enhance your teaching practice.