Books to Get Your Book Club Started

When you are trying to get new members to build your book club you want to choose books that appeal to a wide variety of people.  You might also choose books that are about to become movies.  These high profile books are already popular and will attract a larger group. Here are a few of the books that I used when I was just starting my teen book club at the library where I work:

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld 

Maximum Ride by James Patterson

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer 

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan 

Coraline by Neil Gaiman
The Warriors Series by Erin Hunter

This is just a short list and there are a lot of other titles to choose from.  Just make sure you are choosing good books with a wide appeal.  

Start You Own Teen Book Club

Do you love to read and wish you had someone to talk to about what you’ve read?  Book clubs are great because you might read something that you never would have picked for yourself.  Book clubs are also great because you have someone to talk about all of the details.  Maybe you can work out what the book was trying to say or just trash a book that you all hated.  If you want to start a book club with just your friends it’s easy.  If you want to start a book club at your school or your library it might take a little more work, but it’s worth it. 

To Start Your Own Book Club:

1. Call your friends and ask them if they want to do it. 
2. Gather 5-15 people and figure out when you can all meet.  (Less than five is not really a club and more than 15 makes it hard for everyone to get a chance to talk.)

To Start a Book Club At Your School:

1. Find out if your school has a policy or procedure to start a club.
2. Find a teacher or librarian willing to be the club advisor.
3. Figure our when the group will meet.
4. Advertise with posters and by word of mouth to get members.
5. Choose the first couple of books that you think will attract a lot of members.

Choosing Books:

1. If you have a group of friends then you might all want to bring a book that you would like the group to read and discuss.  The group can vote and choose the book that you are all interested in doing first.

2.  If you are trying to attract new members to your group you will want to choose high 

profile books that lots of people have read.  If many people have already read the book and really want to talk about it, then you will have a good turnout for your first meeting.  If you get a lot of people to the first few meetings there is a good chance they will stay for other books.  

3. Once your book club is established and you have members your group can decide how it wants to run.  Your faculty advisor or a librarian can help you to choose books.

Running A Book Club:  Running a book club takes work and you must be prepared.  Some things to consider are:

1. Where will you get the discussion questions?  (Many books have guides online.)
2. Where will your club meet?
3. Who will provide the snacks?
4. What kind of games will you play?  (Teen groups work best if you have a icebreaker or other fun game to get everyone comfortable in the group.  Not everyone is outgoing and they need to feel safe in the group before they will talk.)
5. Work out before the first meeting starts how the group will run and who will start the discussion / keep it going with discussion questions. (Be ready to change your plan and be flexible if the group goes in a different direction than you planned for.)

Here is a link to a great website called Teens Read.  They have a lot more information about starting a book club.  

Teen Reads

Mostly Good Girls by Leila Sales

Click here to find this book at your library. 

Violet and Kate are best friends and this is the story of their junior year at an exclusive all-girls school. Violet comes from a family of academics who work hard to pay for her to go to private school. Kate comes from a wealthy family who don’t work hard for much. When Kate starts acting out, Violet is not really sure how to help or if she can be a part of Kate’s new life.


This is a very realistic look at high school. The voice of the teens reads true and the story is filled with humor. It’s a book for anyone who has had a best friend grow apart from them. It’s well written and humorous. All of that said this book was not for me. It was a little too realistic for my taste, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t like it. If you like real stories that could be about someone you know this book might be right up your alley.

Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry

Click here to find this book at your library.

Years after the plague...years after all of the dead stood up and started eating humans, there are a few small towns rebuilding.  Benny and his brother Tom made it out of their house on First Night.  They ran from their parents and the zombies.  Now, years later, they live in Mountainside.  Benny has turned fifteen and that means he must apprentice to learn a trade or lose his food rations.  Soon he learns the truth about the town, about his brother, and his so called heroes.  When Benny is forced to enter the Rot and Ruin of the zombie infested world outside the Mountainside fences, he must do things he never thought possible to survive and save the ones he loves.

Fans of Hunger Games will like this story of teen survival in the face of the adult agenda.  It is well written in the true voice of a teen guy.  There are amazingly resilient female characters and a world that is frightening real.  As with all zombie stories this book reflects back the worst and the best in humans.  Sadly the zombies are not the worst monsters in the story.  I recommend this to fans of Hunger Games, zombie stories, and survival stories.

Click here to watch an interview with the author.

iDrakula by Bekka Black

Click here to find this book at your library.

The original Dracula story gets a facelift in this modern retelling. The original was told in letters, journal entries, and telegraphs. This retelling uses up to date technology to tell the story. As an added bonus you can download an app that gives you the story in real time as it happens.




This updated version of the story is interesting and fast paced. (I read it in about an hour). I like the re-imagining, with its strong female characters and innovative use of technology. The app is kind of cool, and if you have the technology to make it work you might like to be fed the story in real time. It offers the bonus feature of voice mails from the various characters that you can listen to.



I liked the book, but that said; DON'T read this if you have an assignment to read the real Dracula by Bram Stoker. This story leaves out many characters and events. It is not a Cliffs notes retelling of the story. You will fail the test if the only thing you know about Dracula is iDrakula. I liked the technology, but other novels that use voicemail features allow people to listen to the features online. Making it an app leaves many people out of the tech loop for the bonus features. (Take a look at Kathy's Book for a good example of a book / tech combo.) As a stand-alone title I enjoyed the book. It is not a substitute for the original, but it is fun!

Crave by Laura J. Burns & Melinda Metz

Click here to find this book at your library.

Shay is the Sick Girl. She can’t do anything that her friends can do. She can barely make it through a whole week of school before she needs another blood transfusion. She was born sick and it continues to get worse. When her stepfather adds something to her transfusion, she starts feeling stronger and more willful. She loves the new transfusions because she is stronger, but also because she starts having visions of Gabriel. She sees his life and she wants more. What is in the new blood transfusions and who is Gabriel? When Shay starts looking for answers she never expects what she finds.


This was a fun read. I knocked it out in one day and I liked it. There is a little romance, some teen angst, and a very interesting take on an old story. Twilight fans will like this book. (It’s better written than Twilight but just as readable.) This first book has set up a squeal that I’m sure we will be seeing soon. I recommend this to anyone who liked Twilight and to anyone who likes supernatural romances. There is some drug use, drinking, and sex so it’s not for everyone, but it’s a good and compelling read that kept me up past my bedtime to get to the end of the story.

Blank Confession by Pete Hautman

Click here to find this book at your library.

Shayne goes to the police station to confess to a murder. He sits with the officer and tells about the bully drug dealer, his wimpy but sarcastic friend, and the girl. Shayne sees the story one way, the cop sees it another way, and Mikey (the sarcastic friend) sees it his way.


Told in alternating chapters from the different characters point of view this is a rough, gritty, heartfelt story about real life. These characters are in every high school, and we all know or know of these guys. The book is a fast and short read, full of interesting characters, none of them stock teen characters. There are a lot of drug references, and some domestic violence. The topics covered are tough, but the language used is accessible to every reader. I recommend this to guys and girls who like realistic fiction.

SIlverFin by Charlie Higson

Click here to find this at your library.

It’s the 1930’s and James Bond is an English school boy arriving at Eaton for the first time. While at school he meets and quickly becomes the enemy of a popular and wealthy boy. Nothing sinister happens, but there is a tension on campus. Imagine James’s surprise to learn that the boy’s father owns a castle in Scotland very near where James will be staying for vacation with his family. When a village boy and a Pinkerton investigator go missing, James gets sucked into action, adventure and a little spying.


I thought this book would be a little bit of fluff; an easy action read. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The story is well written and incredibly readable. The pacing is dead on and it keeps the reader interested. The descriptions and imagery put you in the place and time of the story. Overall I was impressed with how well the book was written, the historical accuracy, and the route the author took to get the reader to the end. I recommend this book to guys 12-18. It’s a clean read without cursing or sex. (You might think “How can there be Bond without sex?” I can assure you there is a Jr. Bond girl in the story, but James is only 13 so the book keeps it G rated.)