Top 10 kids' book clubs, and how they run
The ten, in order
- John C. Hart Memorial Library (Yorktown, New York): Hart Kids Bookclub. Grades 3 to 5, monthly in 2026 (18 November and 16 December left), a different genre each time; one sign-up for every session with a library card, the book collected at the desk. Full, with a waitlist.
- Mokena Public Library (Illinois): Bluestem Book Club. A monthly discussion for grades 3 to 5 with snacks, reading nominees for the Illinois Bluestem Award; registration required, fifteen children at most, copies waiting at the desk.
- Rodman Public Library (Alliance, Ohio): Kids Book Club. Ages 8 to 12, the third Wednesday of each month: an icebreaker, a book talk over snacks, then a game or a craft; kids choose the books, often with audio versions. The page shows no year.
- America's Battle of the Books. Grades 3 to 12: teams read from grade-level lists, then answer questions in quiz-show rounds; schools, libraries and homeschools join as members (about $50–60 a question set, nothing per student).
- Junior Great Books (Great Books Foundation). Anthologies for K–5, 6–8 and 9–12, discussed by 'Shared Inquiry' with a teacher leading; a nonprofit selling to schools and districts, with no family programme listed.
- The Global Read Aloud. Since 2010: a teacher reads one book aloud to the class over six weeks from early October, and classes connect with each other; teachers join through the site; families are not mentioned.
- Book Club for Kids (podcast). A free podcast of about twenty minutes for middle-grade readers: three students talk about a book, the author answers questions, a guest reads from it; students can volunteer by email.
- Scholastic Book Clubs. Not a discussion club: teachers send home monthly flyers, families order with the class code, books ship to the classroom; preschool to middle school; orders earn teachers rewards.
- Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. Not a discussion club: a free book a month mailed to children from birth to five where a local programme runs; in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and Ireland.
- Bookroo (a book subscription box). Monthly boxes for ages 0 to 12 (board books, picture books, chapter books, middle grade), from $19.95 a box plus shipping on 30 Oct 2026.
How this list is made
Grouped by how a child joins: library clubs that meet in person first, then programmes run through a school, then ones a family joins from home, then the 'clubs' that send books rather than talk about them. Each row but ours was read on its own page on 30 Oct 2026 and is linked; a page that showed only last season's dates says so.