To Read or Not to Read
Story & Photo by Kay Haas – Staff Reporter
Chatting with friends, breakfast, and good books. A perfect morning for members of Book Club.
Book Club meets on a monthly basis on Fridays before school. At these meetings, members talk about their favorite books, the book of the month, and new books they have read. Elle Zinn, senior, is a member of the Book Club and an avid reader.
“My favorite thing about Book Club is all the different opportunities they give us like lettering, field trips, and the activities we do during meetings,” Zinn said.
Each month there are a couple of designated book club books. Each month has its own theme; October’s theme is Mystery, with titles including The Honeys by Ryan La Sala and Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas.
Another member of Book Club is Khanya Nkomo, sophomore. Nkomo has been a member since her freshman year. One opportunity for people in book club is to earn the Gateway Award Patch. To earn the Gateway Award patch, a student has to read the 15 nominated books. Once the student has read all 15 and completed a short questionnaire about each book, then that student is able to receive a letter in Book Club. Last year, Nkomo read all of the gateways and earned the letter.
“The Gateways gave me a good list of different and new books to read,” Nkomo said.
The Gateway Book nominations are chosen because each book is in the appropriate age level with varying stories and plots to suit all different types of high school readers. Once students have read at least three of the nominated books, they can vote on which book deserves the Gateway Award.
“My favorite book out of all of the Gateways was Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson,” Nkomo said.
Book Club also has an annual field trip they take with the other two Lee’s Summit high schools. Every year, the book club has a selection of books that the leaders of the club choose. Out of those books, one is chosen to base the field trip around. Last year, the book club book that was chosen was Fire Keeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley. In the book, the main character loves to play hockey. So on the field trip, the book club went to Crown Center to ice skate. This year, they are going to Kauffman Stadium and Arcade Alley. The field trip is based off of Don’t Hate the Player by Alexis Nedo.