Book Clubs

Why book clubs?
SCS has a tradition of asking students to maintain a reading habit outside of class, and this will be our format. I've chosen the club format because it's fun and realistic. Book clubbing is popular and worthwhile.

Guidelines for forming your club:
On a scale of 1-5, how serious a reader are you? As you form your club, I recommend that you team up with friends whose "serious reader rating" is near your own. Your club selections will be permanent! Also, consider where your friends live and what kinds of schedules they keep, because you will have to schedule one meeting per quarter outside of school. You are also welcome and encouraged to include your parents.

What your meeting will look like:
Plan your meeting at a member's home, a coffee shop, the library, or even a restaurant. It's a social occasion that doubles as study time! You might opt to match your event to your book, like having English tea and scones with your Shakespeare. Be creative! Your meeting must be at least one hour long, with most of that hour devoted to discussing the book. You will elect a secretary to take notes on the discussion questions as assigned (you can trade off on secretarial duties). You must use a book club reporting sheet and submit by the due date.

Grading:
Book club credit will be 30 points based on club reports. Excellent answers reflecting a lengthy, eager discussion of assigned questions will earn an A for all team members present. Accurate but short or sloppy responses will earn a C for all team members. I will not assign B's for book club -- acceptable effort will be deemed either average or superb. Furthermore, only members present at the meeting will earn credit; absentees may earn a D for having read the book but not attended the meeting. Also note that a school lunch period or study hall are not sufficient to meet the time requirement (one hour) nor is the venue sufficient to meet the requirement (outside of school).

First Quarter -- Christian fiction / Due date T.B.A.
OPTIONS: Stephen Lawhead sci-fi/fantasy novel, G.K. Chesterton Father Brown mystery or other, any 2 C.S. Lewis Narnia books, Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time or sequel, The Shack, any George MacDonald novel intended for adults, or Blue Like Jazz by Don Miller (not fiction, but largely narrative).

Second Quarter -- Western classics / Due Jan. 16
OPTIONS: The Count of Monte Cristo (French), Les Miserables (French), Don Quixote (Spanish), Crime and Punishment (Russian), The Lord of the Flies (English), The Once and Future King (English), A Midsummer Night's Dream (English), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (American)

Third Quarter -- Club choice / Due March 30
OPTIONS: no adolescent lit, minimum 150 pages, fiction or nonfiction

Fourth Quarter -- Non-Western fiction / Due date June 5
OPTIONS: The 1001 Nights (Arabian), The Good Earth (Chinese/American), Iron and Silk (Chinese/American), any Amy Tan novel (Chinese/American), Pagoda, Skull and Samurai (Japanese), Siddhartha (Hindu), A Tiger for Malgudi (Indian), The Kite Runner (Muslim), A Thousand Splendid Suns (Muslim), The Alchemist (Brazilian)