For a family with older kids, you may choose a longer book and meet once a month. If their summer reading titles overlap, then it would be perfect to pick some of those. If there are books that are similar (i.e. 1984 and Animal Farm) then maybe you could have them read separate books and then compare and contrast throughout the discussion. You want to make this night different and fun. Therefore, you could:
- Discuss the book around the fire-pit and make smores
- Allow the kids to set the menu (complete with some of their favorites that you never make)
- Eat something that the characters would eat
- set-up a Jeopardy-like trivia game about the book
- Allow everyone to come up with one question to ask the group
- Allow the kids to pick the next book
For a family with younger kids, you may want to choose a shorter book and meet once a week. Allow your child to read that book (or you read that book to your child/children) every night so that they really have something to contribute. You could also do the following throughout the week to bring to the book club meeting:
- Type up the words from the book and have your child illustrate the book himself/herself
- Have your child pick his/her favorite part and then illustrate it
- Have your child change the ending (or any part of the book) and illustrate it
Get creative and have fun has a family!