Cape Girardeau Public Library launches Youth Book Club to spark reading passion

Cape Girardeau Public Library has launched a new youth book club for children ages 9 to 11. The club's meetings will take place on the third Thursday of every month from 3 to 5 p.m.

The book club aims to foster a love for reading and develop critical thinking skills among young readers, said youth services coordinator Alli Boyer.

To engage children from the start, Boyer said she decided to let the kids choose the club's name — Youth Book Club. The book club format includes monthly meetings with flexible arrival times, focusing on chapter books to ensure the participants are comfortable with the reading material.

“It's open. So if they can't make it right at 3, just come later. Eventually, the goal is just to be talking about what we're reading at the time,” Boyer said.

The first meeting featured a "book tasting" event, with tables set up with different genres, allowing the children to sample various books and choose their preferred genre and book. Boyer said this approach gives the kids the freedom to pick something they will enjoy reading and want to read it.

“We wanted to focus on chapter books and we want kids to be comfortable reading the chapter books. So those kinds of the age range where you start getting into them,” Boyer said.

Popular small chapter books for this age range include "Dog Man", the "Wings of Fire" series and "Diary of a Wimpy Kid", according to Boyer.

The club aims to encourage discussions where children make personal connections with the stories they read, analyze characters, and compare and contrast different books. The discussions are to help develop critical thinking and empathy. The book recommendations will include a mix of new titles and classic favorites.

"We want them to identify with characters, compare and contrast between each person's book, and think about how they would solve problems in their own lives," Boyer said.

For more information, contact the Cape Girardeau Public Library at (573) 334-5279 and join the book club from 3 to 5 p.m. on the third Thursday of each month at 711 N. Clark Ave.