GREAT STORIES CLUB

by Artis  Hoffmann

Marion High School

     Creating a nation of readers is no easy task. In fact, it is a monumental one. “It takes a whole community to grow a reader” is the philosophy underlying the collaborative efforts among the staff at the Marion Public Library, Virginia Lake, and me.  Our work together began in the 1990s through the support of the Middle Grades Reading Network Community of Readers grant. Our goal was to help adolescents develop their full potential as readers.  At that time I was the McCulloch Middle School librarian, and Virginia Lake was a teacher at the school.

     The goal of supporting reading through community involvement has continued. The latest project shared by the public library and Marion Community Schools is a Great Stories CLUB grant. Amanda Spencer, teen librarian at the Marion Public Library, was the recipient of the grant. She invited me, now librarian at Marion High School, to support the grant with her. The project was developed by the ALA Public Programs Office (PPO) and Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). Funding was provided by Oprah’s Angel Network. Working together was rewarding for Amanda and me since we share a passion to see students become lifelong learners through reading by using school and public libraries.
          

The Great Stories CLUB (Connecting Libraries, Underserved Teens, and Books) is a book discussion program created to encourage a love of reading. Eleven students from a study hall were chosen as the control group. Black and White (Paul Volponi), Luna (Julie Anne Peters), and The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian (Alexie Sherman), were distributed at the first session. Students were told they could keep the books and would not be graded on their participation.

    The group sat around a large table, and discussion was led by Amanda Spencer. The first book discussed was The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian.  Since the students had not yet read it, several volunteered to read aloud. Others who did not feel comfortable followed along in their book. What was so rewarding was to see students so engaged in a book. Their behavior was perfect, and so were their attitudes. The study hall teacher also appreciated the results of the program. When study hall students finished with homework, they had a relevant and absorbing book to read. Before attending the next session of the program, students engaged in cooperative research about the author and learned more information about Indian reservations. 

  Because the first session was so rewarding, we extended the sessions with the Rosie books. We used the same group and asked the students to vote for their favorites. One student commented, “This was such a great time, not boring, and it opened up a new world for me.”