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Home › Articles › Recreation/Entertainment › Between the Lines

Between the Lines

Reading with Preteens

By Teri Brown

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  • Pick books that your group will want to read. Ask local librarians and independent bookstore owners what tweens are picking for themselves. Pick a book by subject. – if your group is interested in learning more about sports figures or historical characters, then find a book that will feed that interest, or pick a book that has a strong character that your tweens can relate to.
  • Look on the Web under the author's name or the publisher to find questions, games, activities that have been devised to be used with the book. Many books have teacher guides on their Web sites.
  • Make the book club meeting like a party. Serve a book-related snack. What does a main character like to eat? Imagine what she/he would eat? Serve a snack that correlates with the geography of the story. If it takes place in England, serve tea and butter cookies. If it takes places in New York City, serve pizza or bagels.
  • You can also do an activity that relates to the book. You can ask children to do character sketches, you can write a dialogue between yourself and the main character of the book or you can plan a craft/activity from the book. One book group that reads the Little House series made bread and churned butter for their book club meeting.
  • Remember to ask instead of tell and only facilitate the discussion when it lulls or when it strays too far off topic.

Happy reading!

Books Your Tween Will Love!

While reading is a year-round activity, there's no better time than summer vacation to kickoff a book club. Now if you only knew what books were "hot" in the middle grades. Fear not, we have it on good authority that these books will knock your tween's socks off!

Wandering Warrior by acclaimed author Da Chen has been described as Harry Potter meets Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. 12-year-old Brian H. of Erie, Pa., loved the action. "It wasn't boring, that's for sure," he says. "The main character, Luka, uses martial arts like crazy, and there are even monsters!"

*Parent note: This book is not for the faint-of-heart or overly emotional preteen; hardships and horrors abound.

How Angel Peterson Got His Name: And Other Outrageous Tales of Extreme Sports by Gary Paulsen is good, clean fun. 11-year-old Adam K. of Mentor, Ohio, couldn't stop laughing. "I thought it was great," he says. "After I read the book, I asked my dad if he'd ever tried some of those things."

Daredevil escapades done by Paulsen and friends back in 1954 are great for laughs and a quick read.

*Parent note: Of course this is a great read for boys, but don't rule it out for girls. The humor is universal, and the stories give young girls the unique opportunity to get into the head of young boys!

Sparks by Graham McNamee takes readers on a unique ride through the fifth grade year of Todd Foster, a special needs student recently promoted to the "regular" classroom. "I liked this book," says 10-year-old Becca P. from Fairview, Pa. "It made me sad sometimes, but it made me think about being nicer to people, too."

*Parent note: This book lends itself to some great, life-affirming book club discussions.

Vicky Angel by Jacqueline Wilson tackles a difficult subject like the death of a best friend with warmth and wit. "I loved it!" says Kellianna B., a 9-year-old from Pittsburgh, Pa. "Just because Vicky dies doesn't mean Jude never sees her again."

*Parenting note: Another book that will lead to thought-provoking discussion.


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