I was working out in my back yard recently when my next door neighbor's daughter called out to me and waved. I waved back and asked how she was doing, and she told me that she was great, and that she and her friends were just discussing a book they had read.
I figured that it was probably some school project that they had to complete, until I found out that the book was one in the Harry Potter series, and that her and her friends had formed a teen book club. She told me they read a book every month, and then got together to discuss it and trade perspectives.
My heart leapt when I heard this, because I had been part of a teen book club when I was growing up, and even then that whole phenomenon seemed to be going the way of the dodo. As I continued to work, I listened in on some of the comments they were making, and I was very impressed.
They were not just talking about things they thought were cool in the book, although there was a lot of that, but they were talking about actual literary devices, like themes and symbols, and discussing characters and plot twists. I really could not believe what I was hearing.
The meeting lasted for about an hour, and then they scattered. I called my neighbor's daughter over to ask what kind of books they read. I completely expected to hear things like the Twilight series or other popular modern fiction, but was once again amazed to find out that they were into the classics, as well.
She said the last book they read was Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. I thought that was surely for a classroom project, but she assured me that it was not, and said that they had all really enjoyed it and even got together one evening at her house and watched the movie version with John Malkovich and Gary Sinese.
Their teen book club certainly tackled their share of more popular fiction, but there were a lot of great and timeless novels in there as well, such as The Great Gatsby, and Huckleberry Finn.
I asked her how it all got started, and she said that she had just started hanging out with a number of people who enjoyed reading and decided to form a teen book club. She said they would all agree on five or six books to choose from each month, and then take turns picking them.
I don't know if my neighbor's daughter is indicative of the average teenager or even if the teen book club is making a resurgence, but it did absolutely thrill me to see a group of young people sitting outside, discussing a book, instead of being parked in front of the television or computer.