Friday is one of my favorite days of the week because it’s the day we have our Book to Movie Club! Last August, I started hosting a weekly meet-up for my kids’ online homeschool group (ages 10-16). Each month, we read a book, watch the movie, and discuss it all via Zoom.
This month, we are reading Nim’s Island, a fairly short (125 pages, with illustrations) adventure story about a girl named Nim who gets left alone on the island she shares with her dad when he is stranded in a storm. There was a movie — also called Nim’s Island — made back in 2008, starring Abigail Breslin, Gerard Butler, and Jodie Foster.
If you’re interested in starting a Book to Movie Club for your kids, it’s pretty simple!
We do three 40-minute sessions each month, and here’s the format:
- At our first meeting of the month, we start the book together. I read, and they follow along. For homework, they finish the book — they can listen to the audiobook, read it with their family, or complete it on their own.
- Our second meeting is all about the book. We talk about our favorite characters, our favorite scenes, the setting, and what we would have done differently if we were the author. If there’s time, we might discuss themes or make comparisons to other books we’ve read together. Since we meet over Zoom, the kids watch the movie on their own time. I’m sure some parents do a themed meal or snack for the movie, but I’m not that ambitious. 😉
- For the third meeting, our discussions get really fun. We get to talk about the changes the screenwriters and directors made — and why. Some adaptations are really faithful to their source material. (Holes is a good example, since the author also wrote the script.) Other movies add in new characters and new plots — usually for slapstick humor. There’s usually lots of interesting trivia available online to share and lots of giggles.
Books and older kids get usually a bad rap, but I have over 20 regulars who attend weekly. So awesome! In fact, next school year I’m going to offer a second Book to Movie Club just for the teenagers!
Anything I can do to make reading more fun for my kids (and their friends) — I’m going to do it!
Kid-approved titles for Book to Movie Club:
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