Research/Report
Author(s): Josie Voorhies, Director of Programs and Community Relations, READ RVA
Biblioguidance book clubs have been utilized in K-12 educational settings for many years. Used as a strategy to interject content without overtly stating the material, educators leverage texts to generate desired outcomes. With a group of 10th grade students, researchers documented that book clubs provided psychosocial benefits to participants. Participants gained insight into other perspectives and experienced catharsis citing increased feelings of hope, validation, and reduced loneliness. Engaging with text creates an interesting dynamic between reader and the text. According to the transactional reader response theory, readers, the author, and the text take part in a transaction. The readers’ personal experiences influence their interpretation of the text, and the text influences the readers. However, low level readers may not be able to connect with the story or evoke the same emotional response. To mitigate this disparity, educators can guide and lead readers to achieve the same outcome through prompting. With these benefits in mind, READ Out Loud participants work through text together, take breaks to discuss content, and leverage tutor support to ensure appreciation of the material.