Claire Little, a junior at Edina High School, didn’t like to read. That is, until she joined the Breakfast Book Club at school this year. “The Breakfast Book Club got me more pumped about reading. I really like reading now,” Little says. In fact, she read the second assigned book, The Art Forger, in one day.
The book club has changed the way Edina High School senior Abas Farah reads books for classes. “I feel like I can now read books and enjoy them for what they are, as opposed to reading them because I have to,” says Farah.
This year, the Breakfast Book Club boasts 100 student members. Martha Cosgrove, one of the club’s advisors, started the book club 13 years ago with the notion “Can’t we just read a book and enjoy it?” “If you can give kids well-selected books, they will want to read them and talk about them,” she says.
Students’ book club experiences stick with them after graduation and many become avid readers. Cosgrove recalls a student calling from college to ask about how to start a book club in his dorm. And Farah plans to continue reading for fun after he graduates from high school this year. “It’s something I need to do to keep my stress levels low,” Farah says. “And it’s a good hobby for anyone.”
