When Janet Lee Carey, Justina Chen, and Dia Calhoun and I first sat in a coffee shop in Seattle and discussed the idea of rgz in 2006, we had a vision. Part of that vision was helping librarians across the country begin pods, or clubs, of readergirlz. We would provide everything we could to make those meetings fun.
"Since beginning my career as a youth services librarian I have been attempting to start a successful book group. I tried everything: traditional book groups, book swaps, genre meetings, etc. Nothing worked. Then a few months ago I had a mini-epiphany--I should start a readergirlz group!
For over a year I had been reading along with each month's selection and following all the blog posts. I realized that all of those posted discussion questions would be the perfect way to keep teens engaged between meetings. We would have our fun monthly get-together (using play lists
and party ideas from the website) but the participants could also join the discussion online. The promise of author chats provided the icing on an already delicious cake.
And, guess what? It's working! We have a small, dedicated group (that I'm hoping will grow in size over the summer months) of amazing young women who are now proud readergirlz.
Let us know if you've begun a rgz group. You deserve a shout out!
