The rules of a good book club are: identify with characters, discuss the writer’s craft, make connections and no spoilers!
The students in Michelle Masseli’s fourth grade classroom are really into their book Year of the Dog. It’s a novel about a girl, Pacy, and her adventures and struggles during the Chinese Year of the Dog. Students love the writing, the characters, the plot twists–all of it.
“It’s my favorite book this year,” said Nathaniel Nytko. “It's a mix of funny and thoughtful, it’s an emotional book. The author is Grace Lin and the book is kind of about her life.”
Book club groups meet on round pillows and on the rug in the book corner of the classroom. They have all read the book, their journals on the book are detailed and thoughtful and the students are deep in conversation.
Masseli moves from group to group to listen in on the book talk, stopping the class for feedback every once in a while.
“I love the way one group was interpreting the cover of the book. The cover meant something different after they finished reading,” she said. “Remember to support the claim Pacy did have a good and lucky year. Each group should take a deep dive into that question.”
“Book clubs are great,” explained Evangelina VItulli, “The Year of the Dog is about finding friends and we are all friends in our group.”
“In the book, the characters are passing along traditions and sharing knowledge from one generation to the next. Like a necklace and practicing medicine. And there are new traditions like the candy bowl for the new year,” said Naomi.
After a few more minutes of lively discussion and sharing writing journals filled with summaries and pictures of the characters, arrows and word bubbles, Masselli stops the groups again.
“Metaphors and similes help us to enjoy a book more. I love how one group updated their notebooks as their thinking had shifted in the course of their discussion,” said Maselli, "They had an ah-ha moment. That’s what a good book discussion can do–make the book better! That’s just book club gold”.
“Some things I had not thought about before the discussion,” said Aiden Malby, “The conversation with my group has helped me to think about the book differently.”
Just like Pacy’s journey in Year of the Dog, fourth graders had their own book club journey with connections to their own lives, an understanding of who they are and where they come from and how it is all connected to the past and future. It was “book club gold.”
