Page Turners Book Club creates welcoming space to share passion for reading

December 14, 2023

Juniors and Page Turners Book Club leaders Claire Wikander (left), Laney Halsey (middle) and Sophie Kopstein (right) hold books they have recently read.

For all of the bookworms of Algonquin, the Page Turners Book Club is a fun place for people to socialize and bond over their love of reading.

The Page Turners Book Club is run by juniors Laney Halsey, Sophie Kopstein and Claire Wikander. The club meets the last Monday of every month after school in the Library. However, this upcoming meeting will be held on Thursday, Dec. 21, due to winter break.

“Especially in high school, I feel like [a book club can be] kind of nerdy, but it doesn’t have to be that way,” Wikander said. “It’s just a fun safe space to just talk about books. You don’t have to feel awkward.”

Additionally, the book club offers a comfortable environment for all students to enjoy.

“It’s good that the school has [a book club] because I think it is a great way for people to interact, and people who love to read can bond over that,” Halsey said. “I’m glad that we’re kind of fostering a space in the school for that.”

Originally called the Literary Hearts Club, the club changed its name to Page Turners at the beginning of the school year.

“In fourth grade we had a play about a library, and one of the characters was named Paige Turner,” Kopstein said.

The play was called “As The Pages Turned,” and it was a huge inspiration towards the renaming of the club.

“I played a character in our [school] play called Paige Turner,” Halsey said. “And so [Kopstein] kind of thought of the name from that.”

Finding a relatively fun, balanced and manageable book for club members to read and discuss can be a challenging task. The club has found a new way that helps involve everyone in the decision making process.

“This year people brought in their suggestions and we voted on them,” Wikander said. “That was fun, doing it together instead of picking it… Everyone had a little paper they filled out quickly, we calculated the votes and the book that won [for the month of December] was [‘One Day in December’ by Josie Silver].”

The Page Turners Book Club is very open and accepting towards book recommendations.

“We don’t necessarily steer in a direction of genres; it’s more the length of the books,” Kopstein said. “We want them to be short books … and we try to make it a club-wide decision.”

In the past, the club has read books including “The Love Hypothesis,” “Love and Gelato,” “The Summer I Turned Pretty,” “The Flatshare,” “The Guest List,” “Survive the Night” and more. In the Page Turners Book Club, there’s no pressure on members to finish a book.

“I feel like [the books we chose] were pretty accepted because we all make an effort to read and appreciate the book,” Halsey said. “Sometimes people don’t finish the book, and that’s ok too. Everyone’s busy so if you don’t want to force yourself through something you don’t like, that’s fine. I just feel like giving it a shot; everyone should try it.”

Among the many books that the club has read together, one in particular stood out in popularity.

“Last year we read the ‘Inheritance Games’ [by Jennifer Lynne Barnes],” Kopstein said. “That one had a lot of romance, but it was also fantasy and mystery, and it was an easy book to distract myself from homework.”

This club inspires readers to branch out on different book genres and authors that they might not typically read. For example, many of the club members enjoyed reading the novel and some went on to read others by the same author.

“Some of the books I had already read before, but that one I hadn’t, and I really liked it,” Halsey said. “I ended up reading the next two books in the series.”

The Page Turners Book Club is excited to help club members connect and have fun with reading.

“At our first meeting this month we’re going to have a [Kahoot] or something centered around the book to get people out of their comfort zone,” Kopstein said.

The club leaders are looking forward to the future of their club and the books they will engage in.

“We have snacks, we get to talk, so I’m looking forward to the next meeting,” Halsey said. “They are always on Mondays, which I feel like makes Mondays a bit better.”