Do you enjoy diving into a new book? Finding yourself in a completely new and different world every time you open a new book. Imagining yourself meeting new fanciful characters or dancing in the great ballroom of a castle. If so, you should join Mrs. Griffin’s book club. The club holds every Friday morning at 7:45 at HVHS in room 208.

This new club is a great addition to our school’s variety of amazing clubs. Celeana Smith, a 9^th grade member of the club states, “I joined the book club to meet likeminded readers.” The book club introduces its members to a new genre every month. This inspires them to read a different types of literature every month to see what they enjoy and what they don’t. Celeana says October’s genre is horror. As the book club grows it will gain and attract new ideas and members. Here is what Celeana says she is most looking forward to, “I’m looking forward to being able to find new books I’d be interested in reading. I’m also excited for when we focus on fantasy.” The book club is open to all! “I think anyone can join this club not just readers. Everyone will find some kind of book they like.”

Mrs. Griffin, an English teacher here at Hidden Valley (HV), is a reader herself. She talks about the reasons she thinks that having a book club here at HV is important. She says, “I think a book club is important because students that love books need an outlet to talk about the books they love. I’ve realized that most kids love a great story, but hate being told what to read all the time. We need to encourage more individual choice in reading. Through the book club, I hope we can encourage each other to read books we are interested in and therefore encourage a broader base of reading in our school.”

As the book club grows, we see how many passionate readers there are at our school. That gives this club a ton of potential and hope for new ideas. Here’s what Mrs. Griffin has planned, “I am not sure right now where the book club will go, but in the few meeting we have had, I have walked away learning about new books and authors to add to my list. That is one of the goals founding members, Lily Yeager and Seeya Patel, had in mind when they wanted to start the book club.”

Being involved in clubs helps to improve social skills, communication skills, and helps you to work well with other as well. Mrs. Griffin agrees that the book club is a great place to learn all these skills and more. “I am hoping that students will gain more confidence in talking in groups while also sharing their personal viewpoints. I hope they also gain the confidence to share important themes and perspectives from the books they read. Mostly, I want kids to know that once we start letting go of thinking about reading as a chore and dig into finding genres and authors we love, then reading becomes an absolute gift to treasure.”