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Girls introduce a new element to summer pool party ‑ books
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Published: July 28, 2008
The girls arrive wearing cover-ups over their swimsuits, towels and sunscreen in hand.
And books.
Mackenzie Hungate, a rising fourth grader at Cash Elementary School, welcomes the members of the Girlfriends Book Club to her home every other Tuesday.
The book club began with an end-of-school pool party, when Mackenzie and her mother, Kristal, introduced the club to the 11 girls.
The girls get to choose the books for the club to read. After each meeting, whoever picked the book for that meeting chooses a name out of a cup. That girl then gets to choose the next book.
"That's the part I like," Maggie Miller, 10, said about drawing names. She chose Beck Beyond the Sea from the Disney Fairies series to share with her friends.
The club formed as a way for Kristal Hungate to encourage Mackenzie to read more.
"She is a good reader, but she doesn't really like to read," Kristal said.
Mackenzie said the idea was initially hers to get friends together. The mother-daughter organizing team kept the list small so that everyone could participate. Before each meeting, Kristal Hungate reads the selected book and makes up questions to encourage discussion.
After reading Lucy Rose: Here's the Thing about Me by Katy Kelly, the girls had plenty of examples how the book related to their own lives. There were several giggles when the class pet in the story reminded 9-year-old Sarah Snider of the time she lost her friend's hamster.
Hungate asked the book-club members what lesson they took from the book.
"You should give people a chance," Alex Mock said.
"When you are scared, you should remember to be brave," Olivia Wiley said.
Book clubs have sprouted up across the area. While some are run privately such as the Girlfriends club, others can be found at the public library.
"We're seeing an overwhelming following this summer. We assume that the high price of gas has encouraged well-attended programs this summer," said Joel White, Forsyth County's youth library services coordinator.
The Page Turner Youth Book Club for ages 8-12 meets at the Clemmons Library. Book clubs are not just for girls, noted John Martin, founder of Boys Read (www.boysread.org), a national literacy program.
"A core objective of Boys Read is to establish 'Reading Tribes.' Tribes are informal reading circles for pleasure and non-deterministic learning. They're very similar to book clubs," Martin said.
At the Girlfriends Book Club in Kernersville, the girls attend for many reasons.
"I like seeing all of my friends," Aleksey Bugg said.
"I really like to read. I like getting more books and reading them," Maggie Davis said.
Hungate said she was surprised by the variety of books that the girls have chosen. Sarah, who's a rising fourth grader, said that she was surprised how much she liked all of the books her friends had chosen. Typically, she said, she prefers mysteries such as Boys Rock by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.
White said that choosing books in a juvenile series such as the Junie B. Jones books is a good way to get started with a club. Hungate enlisted Cash Elementary School media coordinator Deb Fidali to help get the book club started for her daughter and friends.
"This generation is such a TV generation that even Spongebob Squarepants books can interest 'TV readers.' Book clubs are a great way to get kids reading," White said.
After the Girlfriends club finished discussing Lucy Rose: Here's the Thing about Me, the girls walked out to the Hungates' patio and backyard pool, still discussing the book and their plan to read the first Kit Kittredge book from the American Girl series before seeing the movie together.
"I like coming together and comparing and contrasting our book," Mackenzie said.
• Monica Young can be reached at cyoung9@triad.rr.com.
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