Book Club › For club leaders › Any-book club kit
A book club kit for kids that works with any book
Book club questions for kids, for any book
Twelve for each age, printed as cards twelve to a sheet: shuffle them, and each reader draws one.
Ages 5 to 7
- Who was your favourite in the story? Why?
- What was the funniest part?
- Was there a part that felt a bit scary or sad?
- Where did the story happen? Would you like to go there?
- What do you think happens after the last page?
- If you were in the story, what would you do?
- Which picture would you like to have on your wall?
- Was anyone in the story kind? What did they do?
- What was the problem in the story? How did it get fixed?
- What sound would this book make if it could make one?
- Who would you give this book to?
- Show us with your face how the story made you feel.
Ages 8 to 10
- Which character would you most like to meet, and what would you ask them?
- When did you most want to keep reading? What made you turn the page?
- Did anyone in the book change from the start to the end? How?
- What was the hardest choice a character had to make?
- Was there a moment you guessed what would happen? Were you right?
- If you could change one thing in the book, what would it be?
- Which part could you see most clearly in your head?
- What does the title mean, now that you've read the whole thing?
- Who is telling the story? How would it be different told by someone else?
- Was there a word or a line you want to remember?
- Does this book remind you of another book, a film or something that happened to you?
- Would you give it a star rating out of five? Explain your stars.
Ages 11 and up
- What do you think the writer most wanted you to feel or notice?
- Which character's choices did you disagree with? What would you have done?
- Where did the story's mood change, and what changed it?
- Was the ending earned? What would a different ending have changed?
- Which detail seemed small at first but mattered later?
- Whose side of the story don't we hear? What might they say?
- Is there a question the book leaves open? What's your answer?
- How does the setting shape what happens?
- Pick one sentence that sums up the book for you. Why that one?
- What did you learn about people, or about the world, from this book?
- Would this book be better or worse as a film? Why?
- Who should read this next, and what would you tell them first?
Six discussion roles for a kids' book club
Give each reader a job for the meeting, and swap next time. Each prints as a page with boxes to fill in by hand.
- Question Asker. Brings three questions the group can talk about, ones with more than one right answer.
- Word Collector. Finds three words that are new, strange or just good, and what they mean in the story.
- Picture Maker. Draws one moment from the reading and asks the group to guess which part it is.
- Connection Finder. Links the story to something else: another book, a film, the news or their own life.
- Best Bit Reader. Picks a short passage to read aloud to the group and says why it's the best bit.
- Story Shrinker. Tells what happened in the reading in five sentences or fewer, no spoilers past this week's stop.
Book club ideas for kids: more from the Book Club
- Club kits for a meeting on one of Peabody's free stories: six questions with notes for the leader, facts and a reading plan.
- The meeting plans for 30, 45 and 60 minutes, and the six steps to start a club.
- What should I read next? for a reader who can't choose.