Julia Seaman

English 1101

Professor Monroe

September 13, 2019

Book Club and New Friends

I was walking the halls of my small high school when my friend Sophia stopped me. I

grew up going to church with her and her family, and I was unsure of the reason she stopped me.

We chatted for a few minutes before she told me that a group of her and her fellow juniors were

trying to form a book club. Little did I know that this short conversation would create a place for

my friends and I to share our love of books and to allow our love of English to grow. She told me

that her English teacher would help put the club together. While I loved to read, I was slightly

concerned that the teacher would turn the club into an English lesson. I kept these thoughts to

myself and immediately accepted her offer to join the club and help out.

I had never formed a club of any sort before and I did not know the plan of how to set a

club into motion. I let Sophia and the other older girls take charge while I stood idly by just

observing the process. I learned many things that day, such as how to form a functioning club

and what book clubs truly do. After informing some of my closer sophomore friends that a book

club was being formed, we decided to go to their first meeting. We were thrown into a small

classroom that we used for the club during our lunch period. We ate our lunch on the slimy desks

with a teacher I had never met, and some friends from the grade above me. As we talked about

the running of a book club, I learned how much reading means to all the girls forming the book

club for the school. We discussed when we would have our meetings and what we would talk

about.
 The day of our first meeting the teacher introduced herself as Ms. Owens, an English

teacher for the Honor freshman and the AP Language and Composition juniors. It was her first

year teaching at Bethel, and she loved the idea of a book club because she was a big reader

herself. At the book club meeting, we voted on a book to read and chose the book "The Raven

Boys" by Maggie Stiefvater. We spent a couple months reading that single book because not

everyone could get it at the same time from the library. It was a struggle to set up who had the

book when and how much of it they read before we discussed the book. Creating a properly

running book club was more challenging than any of us had realized. Our little book club of

around ten members struggled from week to week because of our shortage of books. However,

we pushed through our struggles and kept the book club running.

The following year, my junior year, I became a more prominent member of the book club

as I grew to know Ms. Owens. This was my hardest year of English classes I had ever

experienced. At the very beginning of the year, she had us fill out a few questions about

ourselves to learn who we are and what we enjoy. The questionnaire asked questions such as our

least favorite school subject. When I answered that specific question I made the mistake of

writing “English” on my paper and not capitalizing the word. I got playfully scolded by Ms.

Owens for writing down English as my least favorite subject during an English class and for

making a grammar mistake. However, I feel as though that was the first time we truly bonded. I

would like to believe that she then made it her personal mission to force me into enjoying

English. While I still don't thoroughly enjoy English, she taught me to find the positives in

English class such as reading interesting books, using my imagination in all my work, or

encouraging me to try things I never would have dared to do in past English classes. She became

a new friend who I trusted and always asked for her help with what I was going through at the
time. Ms. Owens is very caring and made sure that everyone in the English class that year

understood everything we covered. She assisted many students and helped them pass the class

that year by allowing after school study sessions, and Saturday morning essay help sessions. She

helped me learn more about myself, not only with my attitude towards English, but also with

helping me decide what I would succeed in as an adult. She encouraged me to open up to others

who I would have normally shied away from, which guided me in many aspects. As I grew to

know the members of book club more closely I was able to open up to everyone and put myself

out there.

That year in book club I enjoyed it so much more with the newfound liking of English.

Ms. Owens helped us come up with ideas to include in the club and to enhance it. We discovered

a feature at the library called "book bags" which were designed for book clubs. Each bag came

with around fifteen books to share between the members. We also incorporated free writing into

our club, choosing writing prompts that we would continue and discuss the next week. Our small

club grew with the help of Ms. Owens. She encouraged me to help with the book club and

encouraged me to step up into a leadership position where I lead activities and motivate others to

be more active readers and learners.