St. Andrew's has a book club!
It all started rather organically when two students who discovered they share the love of reading (Spencer McKenzie '20 and Madeline Birknes '21), would meet to have in-depth discussions about books they both enjoyed. They decided to take this engagement one step further and expand on their group by inviting other classmates to join in their conversations. Their goal was to have a SAS-like English class albeit a bit more relaxed around the usual classroom Harkness table. They wanted the atmosphere to be small and welcoming. And, so far it has. Spencer and Madeline say the group's average size is six students, but the actual number of students who read the club's selections is much more significant. Madeline and Spencer said that other students have come up to them and expressed gratitude for the re-introduction to pleasure reading. "This is the ultimate goal of our club; to inspire more people of our generation to fall in love with the life-long devotion to reading. Reading ignites a certain passion and analytical thinking that our generation deeply lacks."
The group's first book selection was Celeste Ng's Little Fires Everywhere with a meeting taking place after winter break (2018) followed up with Madeline Miller's Circe, which students read during the long Christmas break. Their third selection was The Power by Naomi Alderman, and they will meet to discuss upon their return from spring break.
The library staff is so excited to see this kind of energy among the students and encourages them to take the time to read and discuss books other than what they are assigned.