Last Tuesday was the 4th grade Bagels n’ Books group, today was the 5th grade book group.  Our book was Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins, a book which I thoroughly enjoyed, despite the giant cockroaches and rats and bats.  This is the last time that the two groups will have read the same book, so the last time that I can compare them head-to-head, and it’s really fascinating to note the differences.

The 4th grade group has dwindled a bit in size from its overwhelming high of eleven participants, one of the unfortunate effects of being a library program, but we still have a good core group.  All great kids, all kids who I’ve gotten to know from their visits to the library on non-book group days, but somehow the group still isn’t quite gelling.  We try, but I have to constantly remind them about “book group etiquette,” such as not interrupting each other, valuing each other’s comments, and staying on topic.

In contrast, the fifth grade group, which has grown a bit in size over the months, has gelled quite nicely.  Like the fourth graders, the fifth graders are all great kids as individuals, but they’ve also reached the next level in their development and in their group dynamic.  At the start of today’s discussion, one of the kids said, “Can we be sure we raise our hands, and not interrupt each other?  I think it would be nice if we made sure we stayed on topic, too, so that we can really discuss the book and not be rude.”  And they were fabulous.  I was the adult in the room, but I didn’t need to prompt book discussion: these kids had really thought about the book and had excellent comments about it.  They had a great dialogue, without much help from me, and I enjoyed hearing their insights.  What a pleasure!

And do read the book, if you haven’t.  Good, original fantasy is hard to come by!