Crack Open a Book

Crack+Open+a+Book

Andrew Drecnik, Staff Writer

When most people think of book clubs, they don’t picture young people being involved, and if they do there’s not many of them. However, at Upper St Clair High School the USC Book Club challenges that belief.

The Book Club meets about once or twice a month, making it one of the clubs that meets the least, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to do.

In the time between the club all members are reading a book that the club has selected by the book of the month. All members read it for their enjoyment and discuss how they felt about it at the end of the month. They review the book with a fun game that varies from month to month. This includes Jeopardy, Kahoot, or the ball game.

The ball game was used last month for the discussion, in this game the group tosses around a ball with a bunch of questions on it. Whoever catches it has to answer the question under their right thumb. The winner gets a prize which is usually a gift card or candy.

The end of the month meeting includes not only a discussion about the book, but also a discussion on what book they should read for the next month.

Katherine Swiech, the president of the club, describes her role, “I’m supposed to make sure the books are school appropriate, that we can get them, and I get the activities approved.”

Katherine was elected as the leader by everyone else in the club and has been running things smoothly ever since.

The book that they are doing this month is The Giver. The Giver takes place in a dystopian world where the government controls every aspect of people’s lives. There is only one person in the society who has memories of the past (the giver) and he must find a replacement for his job.

With this setting in mind the Book Club created a google slideshow talking about it and on top of that they will have another discussion about themes present in dystopian novels.

Chloe Stanek, the vice president of the Book Club, describes why she enjoys it, “I like it because I love reading, I’ve been reading since I could first speak.”

The club is filled with people who love reading and want to talk about their experiences with books with others. Even students who don’t read admire the club for their love of reading.

Preston Jackson, a senior at Upper St Clair, had this to say about it, “I believe that it is good to have a book club at the high school because kids aren’t into books these days.”

Reading is one of the best ways to learn. It opens up one’s mind, broadens their horizons and teaches them new words they’ve never heard of. With most kids taking less of an interest in books, it’s important for schools to promote reading more, which is exactly what the USC Book Club is doing.