Schools

New Book Club Inspires Parents to Reach Farther

Boys and Girls High School Starts a Parents Book Club

Last year, in an effort to bring together the parents of Boys and Girls High School and involve them more in their child's student life, Elmer Anderson, the school’s parent coordinator, got a capital idea: Why not form a book club for parents?

Anderson, an assistant coach for the BGHS all-star basketball team, stands a looming 6’ 3”. His broad shoulders could block the sun; his speaking voice could intimidate a bear; and if anyone ever decided to make a movie called “The Sports Coach,” there’s no doubt he’d win the leading role.

But today, as he talks about the BGHS Parents Book Blub he founded last year, he looks less like an athletic trainer, and more like a giant-sized teddy bear. He beams widely for what he regards as one of his most successful and winning-est efforts to date.

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“I just felt it was time to do more for parents,” said Anderson. “Because often, parents really do want to read more, but they think they don’t have the time. But it was a huge success. It built camaraderie. It allowed the parents to express themselves in a small setting of other parents. And the parents looked forward to it.”

The book club was paid for by a 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant and facilitated by Elaine Porcher, a community volunteer.

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The parents met every other month to receive a new book assignment, and they would discuss the books at the various parents workshops -- on single parenting, empowerment, how to talk to your kids, etc. – during the weeks in between the bi-monthly book meetings.

“It’s just been wonderful, the experience of bonding with other parents,” said Lavonne Gaston, 42, whose son, Bryce Jones, is a senior at BGHS. “At first, I had to push myself to read. The only book I was an avid reader of was the Bible, but I’ve never been a person you'd call a reader.

“But just to hear the other parents and how engaged they were, it made me want to read, because I was like, “Okay, I don’t want to come around looking dumb, so let me read too.’ This book club has encouraged me to read so much, I mean everything from crossword puzzles to newspapers to everything I can get my hands on. It’s taught me how to read on another level, with better comprehension and how to apply things to my life.”

Throughout the year, the members of the Parents Book Club read The Alchemist, Little Bee, Song Yet Sung and Water for Elephants. It was inspiring for BGHS students to see their parents engaged in a book and committed to something at their school.

“I knew that if they could see that their parents are digging into a good book, maybe they’d be interested in reading more,” Anderson said.

At the end of the school year, the book club members held a formal dinner event at the Skylight Gallery in Restoration Plaza, facilitated by Dr. Linda Michelle Barron, president and founder of Harlin Jacque Publications, a publishing and educational consulting firm.

“It was phenomenal,” Gaston said. “My favorite book was The Alchemist, because it helped all of us figure out our personal legends—not just for our professions but for our lives. Just from reading, everybody was surprised to know they could still fulfill dreams."

The BGHS Parents Book Blub held its first meeting of the new school year this past Saturday. Their first assignment: “The Long Fall,” by Walter Mosley.


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