Reading Groups and Analysis

I love reading groups. I've professed that love before. Kids enjoy getting together with their peers to talk about virtually anything, books included. At the tail end of last week I had a few great experiences with my kids participating in their novel study groups.

The first instance involved a kid changing his mind about a book. I asked the group, "So what do you think of the book so far?" The reviews were largely mixed, and very tepid. That was until one of the kids said "I really like it now. It is like a mystery where your brain needs to solve the puzzle." This brought on a conversation where he was helping kids clarify some of the puzzle in the book "Chasing Vermeer." Everyone got into it, and was really invested in moving the conversation forward.

Later in the day I had some kids discussing the Phantom Tollbooth. They ran their group, which is difficult for a book where you are attempting to follow the myriad of plays on words. They were going over how Milo was going to get rhyme and reason back together, and escape many of the conundrums he found himself in. "Why didn't the 'Which' push the button to leave the dungeon?" bringing out a larger discussion about the meaning of "which" and the choices in the story.

The most difficult part of groups is trusting peers. You can talk about ideas, but trusting to put them on paper is tough. I had kids working on a problem solving and character analysis sheet, which they were to bring to their groups. It was interesting seeing kids reluctant to really discuss the rationale for why characters acted a particular way, or what actions said about a character. Some really took to it- "Holling standing up to the bullies show that he is maturing. Earlier in the story he would have complained about them, but now he is doing something. I bet it will help him stand up to his father.." Others really struggled in the discussion. It signals a need to keep building trust, as well as ways to converse with each other. It might also signal a need to really peel apart the layers of how characters act. How do character actions speak to who they are (or aren't)? That is what I want us to get at, and it is the hardest work done while reading.