June 5, 2018 -- At the start of the 2017-2018 school year, fifteen Heights Middle School sixth graders were selected to participate in a special book club named The Readers' Society. The Readers' Society members met twice monthly throughout the year to read and discuss books and the impact of reading on their English Language Arts class performance. 

 

At most sessions, students self-selected books which were then ordered, read by the students, and kept to expand their at-home libraries. In addition to the books purchased for every session, each of the students received a Kindle. Overall, the students preferred the physical copies of the books to the electronic versions. 

 

The group took a field trip to Appletree Books in Cleveland Heights that culminated the year's work with the 6th Grade Readers' Society. 

 

Students were given a budget and were very excited to choose more books to buy. Additionally, the group purchased the two 7th grade summer reading books, Ghost by Jason Reynolds and Pinned by Sharon G. Flake, for each of the Readers' Society members.

"I like the fact that it makes us want to love reading. Right now I am loving reading," said one student. "I never read a book in such a fast time. I used to read a chapter a month. Now I read five chapters a week." Another student purchased three copies of the same title from Appletree Books because she is starting her own book club with two of her friends.  

“I am so pleased to have met the students. They seemed to really enjoy their time here and were so thoughtful about making their book selections," said Lynn Quintrell, owner of Appletree Books.

The program, which was implemented by the CH-UH Media Specialists and the Title I Literacy Leads, was funded by a grant from Dollar General, won by Coordinator of School Improvement/Federal Funds Sue Pardee and District Program Specialist Karen Heinsbergen.