Book Club with My Tweens

Why do we only read to toddlers?

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how my 11-year-old son has been losing interest in reading and has been reading less fiction in particular. Since then I’ve received lots of advice on how to remedy the situation, and one idea has really stuck out to me. Just as I used to read to my two kids when they were small, maybe I can continue to make reading a bonding activity between us — sort of like a Mommy and Me Book Club — even though they’re both middle schoolers now. 

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But what would this look like exactly with older kids? I briefly amused myself by imagining their tween-size bodies snuggled in my lap as I read aloud to them. Musings aside … maybe our book club “meetings” could be a designated time one evening a week to all read together in the same space. Maybe we could take turns reading aloud to one another, or listen to audiobooks together. Maybe we could simply hold each other accountable for reading on our own time and have discussions over dinner. 

I’ve sort of been doing each of these things all along, whenever it occurs to me. But maybe what I need to do is formally make it a part of our family time so we all take it more seriously. After all, the best book clubs are the ones where all the members are invested. It’s that shared commitment that helps the group thrive. 

In the past, the kids have come home from school, excited about a book they’re reading for class, and I’ve made it a point to read it, too — so I can see what they’re talking about, and talk about it with them. Some wonderful examples include Wonder, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Hatchet, and The One and Only Ivan. Sometimes I’ll introduce to them favorites from my own childhood (Watership Down, Maniac Magee, and The Golden Compass), and we’ll read and talk about those together.

As they grow older, it’s been an interesting experience to check out the books they’re reading and discover that they’re actually not reading kid books anymore. For example, The Good Girls Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson is one of my 14-year-old daughter’s current faves, and while it’s a real page-turner, it’s also a real eye-opener — murder and suicide are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the mature content; there’s also plenty of references to sex, drugs, and alcohol! (Can’t we just re-read Charlotte’s Web?)

Other books cover topics that are more complicated than they are mature. For example, Breakout by Kate Messner, which my son was recently reading for school, deals with racial bias and systemic racism. I would have no idea how to even begin to approach these topics with an 11-year-old, but the book does it really well. Reading Breakout with my son has provided me with a good excuse to say to him, “Let me know if you have any questions about the topics in this book. We can totally talk about it.” And we have.

So, yes, I think officially starting a book club with my kids may be the way to go. Let me know if you have any good suggestions for our first pick!