Hi everyone! My 8 yr old is reading on a college level, according to her recent WIAT testing. I want to start a summer book club with a few other girls who are 9 and 10 and also in the gifted program at school. My problem is that two of the girls are shy/quiet, so I'm looking for ideas to get them talking, answering questions about their books, etc. We're looking at doing Millicent Min, Girl Genius; Under the Egg; The Lions of Little Rock; and Operation Redwood. I can do some WWII history/craft for Egg, Ecology stuff for Redwood, Civil Rights for Lions, but how do I get them talking? Thanks!!!

I think geofizz did this. Maybe PM her?

Is it just your DD and these other two girls, or are they a few more kids? Will this be a group for just the girls, or a mother-daughter thing?

The best thing to do is let them get used to the group and not expect them to say much the first few meetings. Putting them on the spot will make them unhappy and more unwilling to come, they need to feel this group is a safe and comfortable place.

What I find helps with my DS15 who is shy/quite introverted particularly at first is games. But not ones that put him on the spot asking him to talk about himself. Perhaps something to do with each book? When I ran a girl scout group, I found group games did a good job of getting everyone to open up and relax. You may be able to come up with a word/circle game that will work as an opener for each meeting. I'm trying to think of a good game for a book group, maybe it will come to me later in the day, or others have good ideas.

Other suggestions include having the first club meeting a mother/daughter meeting even if that isn't the overall intention. It will give those girls a chance to warm up without feeling overwhelmed, on the other hand those girls might say even less with mom around. These girls might be more comfortable writing things down, and maybe having them write questions they want to discuss on paper rather than out loud. And if this isn't a mother/daughter group, make sure you are a supervisor rather than running this like a teacher. Perhaps assigning each girl to be in charge of running the discussion each time, just don't assign the shy girls before they are ready.

You've already received great advice above, but I'd add one more thing, based on my experience as a book club member (as an adult) - feed them dessert! Maybe have something like ice cream + toppings they can add, or decorate a cupcake or something. I know that has *nothing* to do with book content or high level book discussion, but it goes a long way to breaking the social ice

My other bit of advice - also based on my book club experience, so take it for what it's worth - let the girls wander off topic if their conversation goes there. I'd look at this as more of a social adventure than actual academics, so it's going to be ok if they talk about things other than the book.

Have fun with it!

polarbear

ps - another thing you might do is let the girls choose the next book they read (you'll probably choose the first?). You can have a selection for them, but let them choose.