Published: November 20, 2009 07:38 pm      

WGS group expands reading

By KANDACE MCCOY

kandace.mccoy@register-news.com

WALTONVILLE — When the grade school’s book club members arrived for their meeting Thursday morning, they had a buffet of treasures waiting for them.

But what would a handful of candy, peanut butter sandwiches, apple pies and even a “crystal ball” have to do with reading books?

Those items represent a number of symbols in Wendy Mass’ “Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life” — the book club’s current choice of reading and topic of discussion.

Mass’ book is about a boy named Jeremy on the verge of turning 13 — he collects “mutant” candy, doesn’t go anywhere more than four blocks from his apartment and doesn’t like surprises, information from the book states. But Jeremy soon finds himself on a quest to find the meaning of life.

Book club members, reading teacher and sponsor Niki Wisniewski noted, are discovering that Jeremy is finding out what matters most to him.

“It’s perfect for the book club because these kids do search for why they’re here and what they’re supposed to do,” explained Wisniewski.

This is the fourth year for the book club, an endeavor that was started to help students funnel their interests.

“It seemed to us in a small school like this the only clubs students could be members of were athletic,” Wisniewski said. “We wanted to provide another outlet for their passion.”

Through the past few years, the club has held meetings at various times during the day or week to get a feel for what times worked best for the students. Currently the club meets on every Thursday morning at 8 a.m. and has 14 members.

For their discussions throughout the year, members chose three books from a list of 20 that are nominated for the Rebecca Caudill Award — named after the Urbana author. The nominated books are chosen by grade school students throughout the state of Illinois.

“The club sets the reading goal,” Wisniewski said, adding that in conjunction with the readings, she and co-sponsor Lori Frank try to arrange field trips that have a correlation to the books.

At the beginning of the school year, students read two books of suspense, “Missing” by Catherine and McPhail and “Deep, Dark and Dangerous” by Mary Downing Hahn.

Fifth-grader Olivia Massie said she liked “Missing” because the phone calls from the main character’s supposedly dead brother “made me want to keep reading to find out if it was really him.”

After reading the two pieces, the club took a trip to the Mt. Vernon Jaycees Haunted House in October.

But it’s not just the treats and field trips that keep members active in the club. Members are learning how to broaden their reading choices as well as their education.

“It introduces us to a lot of books I would never have picked up in the first place,” explained seventh-grader Alec Coombs. “It also gives you something to do and gives you a lot of enjoyment. I’ve learned about authors I’ve never heard of and they turn out to be great.”

“When I joined the book club in the fifth grade, it helped me with my reading homework,” remarked Rachel Spotanski, now an eighth-grader. “I didn’t understand the comprehension very well. So the club helped me raise my grades and also gave me some good books to read.”

And with reading “Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life,” now the club has a quest of their own: Find staff members’ meaning of life to collect four keys. The first one to collect the keys will be rewarded with the opportunity to open an even larger mystery.

“I hope that by reading a variety of genres, they will broaden their horizons in reading for pleasure,” Wisniewski said. “Or just find they like to read for pleasure because most students in school are told they have to read.”