27 Sep National Teen Book Club – The story so far
National Teen Book Club delivers book clubs to young people from all over the UK, and so far, over 1,000 young people have taken part. We partner with Speakers for Schools to run the clubs, and we launched the first club together in June 2020. National Teen Book Club is a free online five-week book club available for all pupils aged 14-19. Pupils from the most disadvantaged schools are particularly encouraged to join in.
The programme runs six times throughout the year. Each week, participants are put into breakout rooms, with 6-8 other book clubbers, to discuss the part of the book they have been reading that week. Book Clubs in Schools provides the resources, including questions for the breakout session, access to a significantly discounted printed or e-book version of the book and a live question and answer session with the author in the final week.
Alongside Speakers for Schools, we also provide an inspiring speaker each week to talk about how reading affected their life and career. The speaker also advises on writing a creative writing piece relating to the genre of the book being read. Participants are invited to complete a writing exercise each week, which leads to a 1,000-word piece of fiction. We publish these pieces on the Speakers for Schools’ online library, and four applicants are awarded a mentoring session with the author of the book they read during book club.
National Teen Book Club offers a unique combination of weekly book discussions, creative writing activities and speakers who inspire young people to believe that no career is out of reach. In each book club, we’ve noticed the young people increase in confidence and develop their communication and social skills. We’ve witnessed the power of reading for pleasure. We’ve seen them learn about the diverse range of careers that are open to them and how reading, writing and discussion could offer a pathway to these careers. We aim to help many more young people recognise their potential, widen their horizons and enhance their life opportunities.
Find out more about taking part in National Teen Book Club here
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