Kimberly Knaack, an employee at Book World got the idea to start a Young Readers Book Club from her daughter who is a 5th grader at Park Rapids Century School. The idea came when Knaack’s daughter joined a book club last summer hosted by Beagle Books that discontinued for the school year. Knaack also wanted to give the community more “non-sports related” activities for middle school aged kids.
“We need to fill a gap here, we need to get these kids out there doing something social.” Knaack expressed a concern for kids lacking athletic abilities. “Yeah, sure they’re not athletic but they’re good at other things and we need to embrace that.”
The book club wants everyone to feel included and any young reader who wants to participate can join at any time. Parents are not expected to stay for the duration of the meetings unless they so choose. Knaack wants to give kids the opportunity and the tools to socialize with like-minded peers to teach them that there is a healthy way to discover and discuss differing opinions and different insights. The first book, “Plague of Unicorns” by Jane Yolen was chosen for the book club by Knaack but moving forward the books will be selected based on the kids’ suggestions.
Knaack feels that offering a peer orientated book club will spark the interests of the kids rather than being told to read books by teachers or parents. At the request of her third grade son, Knaack will also be starting a book club for 2nd and 3rd graders at Book World on Thursday, March 3, from 4-5 p.m. It will be more of a readers club; members will be reading the book together with a discussion afterwards. “The younger you can get them reading the more they’re going to enjoy books.” Knaack said. Knaack says there is interest; she is hoping to get the word out for more people to learn about it and get more children involved. She has reached out to the teachers at Park Rapids Century School, the book club however is not sponsored by the school and is in no way limited to students attending school in Park Rapids. There is no cost to join the book club and Book World is offering a 10 percent discount to any member who wishes to purchase the book, though buying the book is not a prerequisite for joining the club.
“We don’t require that they buy the book, we’re just hoping that they want to read the book,” Knaack explained. “Not everyone can afford to buy books so we’re trying to keep it at a low price range and the libraries are great resources.” The priority is to get them reading. Knaack feels this is the age kids are learning how to read for enjoyment, “If you can get them to read as kids they’ll continue to read as adults.” “Reading is great for communication,” Knaack referred to getting kids to open up, “it gives them something they want to talk to you about.”
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Knaack will continue hosting the book club until May and then discuss with Beagle Books if they will be resuming their program this coming summer. She does not want to interfere with any plans they may have since it was Beagle Books that originally formed a book club geared toward kids. The next Young Reader’s Book Club meeting will be held Monday, March 14 from 5-5:45 p.m. at Book World; the next book discussed will be The Menagerie by Tui T. Sutherland. Kim can be reached by phone at 218-732-0770 or by email at bw5000@bookworldstores.com
