First started in 2006 by Mrs. Desmond, Book Club has since grown to be one of the largest student organizations. They fundraise for non-profits, do community service, see plays, visit the art museum, and most importantly, eat pizza. Book Club is October’s featured club as it is celebrating 20 years!
When asked how Mrs. Desmond would describe Book Club to someone who doesn’t know about it, she said, “The club brings together people who love to read. [We] share books, make connections, show the love of reading, and spread it across the community.”
Just because reading can be a solitary activity does not mean it has to be; the love of reading is amazing when shared! Often, a shared interest in reading or the same book can be a catalyst for long-term friendships, as it generally reveals that people have the capacity to understand and reason.
On the literary side, discussing books increases one’s understanding of that book and of literature as a whole. Every person approaches a book differently, resulting in a variety of opinions on the overall book’s quality as well as individual literary elements. Thoughtful discussion opens up the door to the wealth of interpretations of a novel.
Reading is a major way to develop emotional intelligence, analytical thinking, and empathy. It exposes people to an array of worldviews and thought processes, typically without them realizing. Ever solved the case in a mystery book before the characters did? Your analytical reasoning was sharpened! While this may seem insignificant, over time it adds up.
The Beginning
Book Club was originally founded on the idea that reading isn’t a solitary hobby, but something to be enjoyed with people! Ms. Desmond started it after several 10th graders asked her for a club for people who love to read and go on trips.
At first, Book Club was fairly small and therefore limited in what they could do. While people wanted to go on trips, there wasn’t the money for it, as book club was, and still is, completely self-funded. So in order to go on a trip, they have to fundraise all the money for it, and after factoring in buses and tickets, trips are quite expensive. Initially, this limited Book Club took one trip a year, but wanting to expand, they needed to solve the fundraising problem.
They tried many ideas, including selling tote bags, t-shirts, candy, and chocolate bars. Ultimately, the chocolate bars stuck and became a staple fundraiser for Book Club. Now, it’s normal to see Book Club members selling chocolate, and Book Club can go on several trips every year!
Generally Book Club goes on trips to two plays and the art museum in Philadelphia every year. While it can be difficult to see how those trips, especially the art museum, are connected to books, Mrs. Desmond explained it by saying, “People wanted to go to museums because of the interesting connection between what they were reading and things in art.”
Reading books and looking at art are both fun ways to explore culture and learn more. As for the plays, Mrs. Desmond watched a lot of plays and wanted to bring them back to students at Gateway. Plays are a fairly accessible and enjoyable form of literature, while still being incredibly culturally significant.
While these trips and fundraising are all fun at this point, you might be wondering, where are the books? Book Club, rather infamously, doesn’t actually read books as a group. Ms. Desmond said that they had tried before by picking out a couple of books to read and discuss, but it was always too difficult. In Book Club, there are people with many reading levels and speeds, and everyone likes different books. Ultimately, they stopped because Mrs. Desmond did not want Book Club to feel like another class with assigned reading; people have enough classes already!
In fact, there’s not much required to be in Book Club. If you want a Book Club T-shirt, you have to pay ten dollars in dues, and if you don’t, it’s five dollars. But if someone can’t afford that, it’s fine; Mrs. Desmond would never kick someone out over money. Other than that, all members have to sell the chocolate bars and dress up for Read Around America Day.
Book Club Recently
Now Book Club has grown to become one of the largest, if not the largest, student organizations at Gateway! They do a lot of fundraising for community service and trips!
Last year they were able to see Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare and The 39th Step, a play based on a film by Alfred Hitchcock. Book Club also went on a guided tour of the Philly Art Museums’ exhibition, The Time Is Always Now, which focuses on Black and African artists. It was themed around the lack of Black voices in mainstream narratives, joy during Black gatherings, and artists’ responses to this. They were able to learn the background, artist, and fun facts about several of the pieces. Then they had the chance to spend time exploring the exhibit.
This year, they have already collected 1,233 dollars for the Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society for the annual Mutt Strut. It was enough money to sponsor 3 animals for an entire year! As a reward for raising the money, they went to the Mutt Strut and got to walk with the dogs. Mutt Strut is an event many people in Book Club look forward to each year!
One of the Book Club members Ariana Bradley who went on the trip said, “I had a lot of fun, all the dogs were super cute, and it was a beautiful day. 10/10 would recommend. And it is free, which is always good!”
On the horizon, Book Club already had three trips planned. They are to see Macbeth, a guided tour of the art museum, and another play in the spring. In between those, Book Club will also have several potlucks, the first of which is coming up on 10/29!
Since many people in Book Club want to read, they are also bringing one book, one book club to Gateway. Each year in Philly, they have a one book, one Philly, where everyone can read one book and participate in events surrounding that book. Book Club is going to choose one book for people to read and then have a themed potluck about it sometime in the spring. The hope is to start a culture of reading, which can be expanded on in later years if this is a success! This is optional for those who want to participate.
The book has yet to be picked, but if you are a member of Book Club, you can still go nominate a book. So check out the Google Classroom and enter a book that you think everyone should read!
Additionally, Book Club has amazing T-shirts and lots of pizza!
Book Club’s Community
While Book Club does some amazing stuff, none of it would be possible without Ms. Desmond, the dedicated leader, and the many members. When asked how to build a strong community, she said, “It’s very student-run. You have to let students make decisions but be honest about what is possible. Let them create enthusiasm, don’t force things on students, otherwise it’s just another class.”
For example, it was several of the Book Club officers who wanted to bring more reading to Book Club. When they told that to Mrs. Desmond, she worked to figure out a way to go about it that would be interesting and not exclude anyone. Additionally, Book Club officer Alora Robbins thought it would be fun to make bookmarks with book recommendations for the library. And so at the October meetings, that’s what Book Club did!
The last time Mrs. Desmond had to say about building community was to be patient; it takes time for interest and ability to grow.
Book Club member Angel O’Leary had a positive experience with the Book Club community. She said, “I like book club because it’s such a welcoming community and Mrs. Desmond is very welcoming. Even though I only joined the club this year, everyone’s really welcoming. And the fact that we are planning to read a book is great because who doesn’t love to talk about a book they like?”
Book Recommendations
To finish off the interview with Mrs. Desmond, we asked what books she would recommend for students to read. Her two main recommendations were Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo.
She said she just started reading A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, one of the prequels to The Hunger Games, and it reminded her just how good the first book was. The themes it deals with are just as relevant now as they were when they were written in 2008.
For Six of Crows, she said it was one of those books everyone loved for about six months and then forgot about, but it’s still an excellent book. There are also a lot of other books in the same universe, so if you like it, there’s a lot more you can explore.
Book Club has been an amazing presence at Gateway for twenty years and hopefully many more! If Book Club sounds interesting, email Ms. Desmond for more details. People are always welcome to join.
