Family Matters: Mother-Son Bookclubs

It can be challenging, convincing boys to spend time with books. A few friends and I started a Mother-Son Bookclub about a year ago as a way to challenge our boys to read more, teach them to articulate their thoughts, and encourage them to discuss books in a fun atmosphere outside the classroom. We hope this Bookclub inspires our boys to become lifelong readers and continues to be a positive way for us to connect with our sons as they get older.

The first rule of Mother-Son bookclub…

We came up with a few loose rules, to get started.

1. Mothers and sons read the books.
2. Each boy takes a turn selecting the book. (We drew number order at the first meeting.)
3. Meet monthly, rotating houses from 5:30-7:30 PM. Each meeting includes dinner, activity, book discussion.
4. Host parent buys the pizza, host child (with help from parent) plans the project / activity / discussion.
5. Host boy selects the next book.

The boys were heading into 4th grade when we started the club. Here’s a list below of our Mother-Son bookclub reads and the activity that we did to accompany each book .

• Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin
  Activity: Make a Shrinky Dink dragon.
• The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald
  Activity: Play marbles and other simple games.
• Warriors: Into the Wild by Erin Hunter
  Activity: Make a book club book journal.
• War Horse by Michael Murporgo
  Activity: Watch Youtube video of WW1 treatment of horses. Play the game Stratego.
• My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
  Activity: Make your own granola.
• The Phantom Tollbooth written by Norton Juster and illustrated by Jules Feiffer.
  Activity: Math and word games.
• By the Great Horn Spoon! by Sid Fleischman
  Activity: Sift for gold. (Gold rocks hidden sand.)
• When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
  Activity: Scavenger Hunt. Watch “The 20,000 Pyramid” on Youtube and play our own version of the game.
• Amulet series by Kazu Kibuishi
  Activity: Cartoon drawing. Hunt for your own amulet.
• Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea
  Activity: Make up dollar words. Count grass. Role playing – bullying, conflict situations.

Upcoming reads:

• Dave at Night by Gail Carson Levine
• The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: Fourteen Amazing Authors Tell the Tales / With an Introduction by Lemony Snicket

Are your children in a bookclub? Let us know what you’re reading, what works, what doesn’t. We would love to hear from you.