Book Clubs for the Chattering Classes(1-12, That Is)

Twelve-year-old Joanna Krupp loves her monthly book-club meetings. She and her fellow bookworms tackle titles like Gloria Whelan's National Book Award winner “Homeless Bird,” about a 13-year-old girl in India whose parents arrange a marriage to a boy who is gravely ill. To go with the stories, they eat matching snacks, such as Indian food. Joanna's brother, Ben, 13, likes his father-son group, too. “It's just good to talk about the books, and I really understand them better,” he says.

A generation ago, there were few, if any, organized reading groups for kids. Today, hundreds of thousands of kids belong to them, says Vicki Levy Krupp, coauthor of “The Kids' Book Club Book” (and Joanna and Ben's mom). Popular authors like Lisa Yee and Tamora Pierce include book-club information on their Web sites and even solicit e-mail exchanges with kids. And publishers like Scholastic are offering online discussion groups such as Flashlight Readers (www.scholastic.com/flashlightreaders). Last month, Al Roker started Al's Book Club for Kids on the “Today” show, with Brian Selznick's “The Invention of Hugo Cabret.” And authors are churning out how-to books such as “The Kids' Book Club Book: Reading Ideas, Recipes, Activities, and Smart Tips for Organizing Terrific Kids' Book Clubs” and “Book Crush: For Kids and Teens—Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment and Interest.” “It's been the best-kept secret in publishing for so long—that children's books are good literature,” says Laura Tillotson, editor of the American Library Association's Book Links.

The growing number of book groups is helping authors and librarians get out that message. “The more cool reading is, the better,” says Gail Carson Levine, author of “Ella Enchanted.” “Reading starts to fall off in middle school and in high school. If you can find a means to keep those kids reading, to rope them back in, to make reading part of their social world, then a book club has really done something fabulous.”

It helps that chosen titles tend to be fun. “We do have to read it, but it's not like any school work,” says Henry McGrath, 9, who belongs to a New York City book club. He enthusiastically recalls a Lou Gehrig biography discussion with hot dogs and popcorn.

The groups help kids keep reading in their free time. That's especially important after age 8, when kids' pleasure reading drops dramatically. In a Yankelovich survey for Scholastic last year, kids said their main reason for not reading more was “trouble finding books I like.” (The other reasons, in order: “would rather do other things,” “too much schoolwork/homework,” “don't have time to read” and “too tired to spend time reading.”)

“A book is not an exam. It's an experience. You should enjoy it,” says Avi, author of the Newbery-winning “True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle.” He also notes that book clubs are ideal for kids, who are “so intensely social.” Indeed, many book club organizers create a partylike atmosphere. Author Lisa Yee recently attended a boys' club discussing “Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time,” about a basketball-obsessed kid. Book-club members wore L.A. Lakers jerseys, ate basketball-decorated cupcakes and listened to a basketball coach talk at the end of their meeting. They even presented Yee with a signed basketball as a thank you.