What Does A Good Book Talk Look Like?

Good book discussions engage participants in the process of pulling the text apart, making connections to other things read or to larger world issues and putting it back together in a way that allows for deeper understanding of the book.

In rich book discussions, participants find themselves building on one another’s ideas, raising questions, agreeing and disagreeing respectfully, always referring back to the text and emerging from the talk with a different perspective on the characters, events, themes, the author or the book itself.

Guidelines For A Good Book Discussion Experience

The discussion leader should use wait time to allow people to speak without feeling pressure to expedite their comments. She/he gives very few directions other than group norms.

Group Dynamics

Participants should engage in active listening, that is, building on what was said before and offering responses to the previous comments before saying something new. They may ask for clarification, elaborate on the comment, agree, disagree or compliment a colleague on the contribution made.

Book discussion participants should be respectful, attentive to everyone, responsible for their behavior and for helping the conversation flow at a productive and comfortable pace.

Starting The Conversation

Here are some ideas to introduce the book discussion:

• Have each person read one passage without additional comments, then continue until each person has read what was most compelling to him/her.
• Have a facilitator use a quote from the book, or a focus question to start the conversation.
• Throw a small stuffed animal or bouncing ball and let the participant that catches it start the conversation.
• Ask participants if anyone has a burning question or comment that they can’t wait to present and use that as a starting point.

Using The Book As A Base For The Discussion

Select from the book up to three passages (one sentence to one paragraph in length) that feels really important to you, or material that refers to an idea that the group agreed to pursue. Refer to these passages when introducing or supporting your points during the discussion.

One good way to assure easy access to the passages is to use Post It papers to mark them.