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| G. Le Carret / FOKAL |
In Mai of 2009, when we wanted to set up a reading club at the Monique Calixte Library, the question was asked in another way. We wondered how long members would keep attending a book discussion. We thought that, if a book ceased being an instrument of torture as it is at school, and became instead an instrument of pleasure the book club could survive. We could have given up after the first meeting, since only three teens participated. But we remained convinced that those three teens had the necessary energy to constitute the foundation of the club and motivate others to join.
Two years later, some twenty teens, boys and girls alike, show an incredible loyalty to this activity around a book. What touches us most is that this small group of three has never left us. What could have kept them coming back? Here are their answers.
Sachernka Anacassis arrived first at the very first meeting. She explains her loyalty to the club in this way: « The club is my very own space. I take pleasure in talking about books that I read as do those who talk of a sports match they saw on television. I also discover very interesting books and authors ». Yvrose Jules finds in the book club her escape. « I have fun while I educate myself. For the last two years I have had ups and downs but the club remains my way of escape». Jaly Steeve Joseph, who can’t come on a regular basis because of his school schedule, still shows up from time to time. He says that it is because of the club that he discovered The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and this book he says, « created his thirst for reading ».
To each is own reason, but those teens’ loyalty to this club convinces us to keep this club, so dear to them, alive.
The third year challenge
Read books as much as we talk of them! That is the new challenge of the club this year. To be successful at school or college, we have to talk of books. In this way many students have the capacity to talk about books they have never read. We can discuss Madame Bovary by Flaubert, the Persian Letters by Montesquieu, Das Capital by Karl Marx etc… But have we read them? From that our new campaign slogan: Read the books as much as we talk of them!
Jean Billy Mondesir
BMC Library
Two years later, some twenty teens, boys and girls alike, show an incredible loyalty to this activity around a book. What touches us most is that this small group of three has never left us. What could have kept them coming back? Here are their answers.
Sachernka Anacassis arrived first at the very first meeting. She explains her loyalty to the club in this way: « The club is my very own space. I take pleasure in talking about books that I read as do those who talk of a sports match they saw on television. I also discover very interesting books and authors ». Yvrose Jules finds in the book club her escape. « I have fun while I educate myself. For the last two years I have had ups and downs but the club remains my way of escape». Jaly Steeve Joseph, who can’t come on a regular basis because of his school schedule, still shows up from time to time. He says that it is because of the club that he discovered The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and this book he says, « created his thirst for reading ».
To each is own reason, but those teens’ loyalty to this club convinces us to keep this club, so dear to them, alive.
The third year challenge
Read books as much as we talk of them! That is the new challenge of the club this year. To be successful at school or college, we have to talk of books. In this way many students have the capacity to talk about books they have never read. We can discuss Madame Bovary by Flaubert, the Persian Letters by Montesquieu, Das Capital by Karl Marx etc… But have we read them? From that our new campaign slogan: Read the books as much as we talk of them!
Jean Billy Mondesir
BMC Library
