Resources
The Book Club Hub is here to support leaders and members of book clubs by sharing digital resources for the latest releases. Filter the resources for adults, children’s or young people’s books.
Lily's Monster - Reading Group Notes
Get your YA readers talking (and reading) ghosts and monsters Lily’s Monster by award-winning ghost story writer Cliff McNish and these handy reading group notes. “McNish’s master-storytelling skills are at their peak. Disturbing, extraordinary.” Philip Ardagh From the multiple award-winning ghost story writer of Breathe and The Hunting Ground comes his first novel in ten years – a burning nightmare of psychological horror with the pulse of a thriller. Consumed with guilt following her elder...
Flipped - Reading Group Notes
Get your middle grade readers talking Dickens and what they’d do if they were (literally!) stuck in a book with Flipped! by Philip Caveney and these handy reading group notes. From acclaimed children’s author, Philip Caveney, comes this exciting middle grade title, taking you back to Dickensian times. Set against the backdrop of Covid, this adventure story is equal-parts sensitive and captivating, undercut with good humour. During a long, lonely summer, Flip explores the mysteries of the...
Dyslexia-friendly Publisher Picks
To help book clubs, librarians and teachers engage with the Book Club Hub throughout the year, our publisher partners are picking some of their latest titles for a brand new booklist themes. They have selected a book, given a three word description and shared any content warnings. To help support activity for Dyslexia Awareness Week (#DAW25) on 6-10 October, publishers have recommended books they outline as being dyslexia-friendly (designed with a host of unique accessibility features to help...
Radio 2 Book Club Extract of A Splintering by Dur e Aziz Amna
In a village in rural Pakistan, Tara is waiting and watching. The smell of dung and dust hangs over her world. She is desperate to leave the petty life of the village and escape the iron grip of her violent, unpredictable brother. Marrying a middle-class accountant allows her to escape to the capital, but she soon finds that life as a respectable housewife is not sufficient either. She wants what the rich mothers at her children’s school have. She wants what their husbands have. Her desire...
The Academy Book Club Kit
Bespoke Book Club Kit for The Academy by Elin Hilderband, featuring a reading list, food recipes, and cocktail recipes inspired by the book, to create the perfect book club meeting!
The History of We - KS2 Teaching Resources and Activities
The History of We LEVEL: KS2 THEMES: Human History, Black History Month, Global Learning SUBJECTS: History, Geography, Literacy, Art, PHSE The History of We celebrates our shared ancestors’ ingenuity and achievements and imagines what these firsts would have looked and felt like. What was it like for the first person to paint, to make music, to dance, to discover medicine, to travel to unknown lands? It required courage, curiosity and skill. The History of We takes what we know about modern...
Werelock and Scratch Activity Pack
A fun activity pack inspired by Werelock and Scratch: Mystery Most Puzzling, the hilarious, highly illustrated, interactive adventure series by K.R. Thompson, where the reader must solve the clues alongside the protagonists to crack the case. Perfect for 7+ fans of mystery adventures. This resource pack is full of activity sheets, creative writing prompts and other ideas for use in lessons
Historic Royal Palaces: Ghosts in the Walls activity pack
A fun-filled, spooky activity pack featuring games and creative writing exercises. The perfect Halloween accompaniment!
Laurie Gilmore - The Gingerbread Bakery digital assets
Downloadable assets include: - Poster for The Gingerbread Bakery - Reading group questions for all 5 books in Laurie Gilmore’s Dream Harbor series - Colouring pages from The Pumpkin Spice Café Coloring Book
Laurie Gilmore Dream Harbor book club resources
A pack of questions to help facilitate your book group discussions. There are book group questions for: The Pumpkin Spice Café The Cinnamon Bun Bookshop The Christmas Tree Farm The Strawberry Patch Pancake House The Gingerbread Bakery
Seven Deadly Thorns Book Club Notes
Download these free book club notes for Seven Deadly Thorns – perfect for guiding a conversation around this dark academia, enemies-to-lovers romantasy by Amber Hamilton. These book club notes can be used as part of school discussion classes or in book clubs. In the cursed Kingdom of Aragoa, the punishment for magic is death. Even the students at Vandenberghe Academy aren’t spared. When Viola Sinclair’s deadly shadow magic is discovered, the queen gives her assassin a new assignment and a new...
The Fate of Finnegan Quick activity pack
The perfect activity pack for Halloween fun! This companion activity pack for The Fate of Finnegan Quick by Larry Hayes is full of fun games and activities, because ghouls just wanna have fun!
Emily Brown and the Not-Very-Spooky Halloween Event Kit
Halloween is an exciting time of year, but it can also be a scary one for very young children. In the latest picture book, Emily and Stanley meet a sweet little ghostie who seems more frightened than frightening. The ghostie thinks he needs to find his ‘spook’, but with the help of his new friends soon learns that there are other ways to have fun at Halloween! In this kit, you’ll find a range of resources for running a Not-Very-Spooky Halloween event, including activity sheets, a craft...
Book Club Day UK - History Rewritten Publisher Picks
To help book clubs, librarians and teachers to celebrate Book Club Day UK (11 September), our publisher partners have picked some of their latest titles for a brand new booklist with the theme History Rewritten. Book Club Day UK is a time to share the joy of being part of a book club, to encourage new clubs to form and to help support existing book clubs with their next meeting so that even more people will discover how book clubs build stronger, more connected communities so these books a...
Baxter's View - Activity Pack
A brand-new picture book from Murphy’s Sketches. This heartwarming story champions slowing the pace of life and noticing all of the wonderful things around us. Reassuring and bursting with colour, this beautifully illustrated picture book will capture your heart. This resource pack for younger children is perfect for a mindful experience outdoors, with a simple nature hunt to complete, a drawing and scribbling page so they can record what the see, hear, smell and feel, and a scene from the...
This Wasn't Meant to Happen - Book Club Questions
Questions to facilitate discussion of Ali Harris’s heartbreaking story about love and grief, This Wasn’t Meant to Happen.
Alan, King of the Universe by Tom McLaughlin Digital Pack
Join power-hungry cat, Alan and his loveable dog sidekick Fido as they take over the universe. Or at least try to . . . as long as they’re home in time for tea! This activity pack includes activity sheets and a sneak peek extract.
Radio 2 Book Club Extract of The Two Roberts by Damian Barr
He will stay like this forever, Robert’s arm draped round him. They will be forever twenty. Scotland, 1933. Bobby MacBryde is on his way. After years grafting at Lees Boot Factory, he’s off to the Glasgow School of Art, to his future. On his first day he will meet another Robert, a quiet man with loose dark curls – and never leave his side. Together they will spend every penny and every minute devouring Glasgow – its botanical gardens, the Barras market, a whole hidden city – all the while...
The Benefits of Book Club Reading
As we gear up for the upcoming Book Club Day UK, we wanted to share data collected by The Reading Agency across its programmes and through its flagship nationally representative adult reading research reveals that there are numerous benefits to being part of a book club. This supports and expands on the findings of existing research which has established the positive effects book clubs can have on attitude to reading. Join us in celebrating the power of shared reading on Book Club Day UK on...
Radio 2 Book Club Extract of Katabasis by R. F. Kuang
Katabasis, noun, Ancient Greek. The story of a hero’s descent to the underworld. Grad student Alice Law has only ever had one goal: to become the brightest mind in the field of analytic magick. But the only person who can make her dream come true is dead and – inconveniently – in Hell. And Alice, along with her biggest rival Peter Murdoch, is going after him. But Hell is not as the philosophers claim, its rules are upside-down, and if she’s going to get out of there alive, she and Peter will...
Transcendent Series Activity Pack
A fun and engaging activity pack based on the middle-grade series Transcendent by Patrick Gallagher. Transcendent is an edge-of-your-seat, high-octane adventure series for readers 9+ that explores themes of climate change and STEM. This series is perfect for fans of Doctor Who and the Alex Rider books
How to Get Magically Popular by Radhika Sanghani - Activities
A fresh, relatable story with a sprinkling of magic, about a girl who just wants to fit in but her magic powers make her stand out, from award-winning journalist and author Radhika Sanghani. Perfect for fans of Lottie Brooks and Dork Diaries. Sabina Patel has never been popular. And in her new school, in a new town where she doesn’t know anyone, Sabina feels more out of place than ever. When she accidentally unlocks magic powers and starts to see visions of the future, Sabina worries that...
Girls of Dark Divine by E.V. Woods - Discussion Notes
Girls of Dark Divine is an enthralling debut Gothic fantasy, laced with dark magic, electrifying romance and burning rage, perfect for fans of Adalyn Grace and Stephanie Garber. A puppet master wielding a dark curse. A boy made of shadows. And a girl who must sever the strings and set her sisters free… Emberlyn is a Marionette – one of a troupe of hauntingly beautiful girls who have been cursed to perform until they turn to dust… When another one of her sisters falls, Emberlyn decides she...
Radio 2 Book Club Extract of Dead Lucky by Connor Hutchinson
Jamie Fletcher loves his job as an embalmer at a busy funeral home in working-class Manchester. Taking responsibility for how mourners remember their loved ones is not something he takes lightly, but Jamie has big enough problems in his own life to dwell too much on the gruesome realities he encounters daily. His adoring yet impatient girlfriend, Rebecca, is pushing to save up for a house, but she hasn’t a clue that Jamie has been living with a gambling addiction since his early teens....
Uncle Zeedie by Colm Field - Book Club Resources
Get your reluctant readers talking all things horror and Uncle Zeedie by Colm Field with these reading group resources. Dare you brave THE BLOOD TEXTS? Uncle Zeedie is the second in this spine-tingling YA short horror fiction anthology series. Thrillingly spooky, full of creeping suspense and chilling twists, this is the perfect accessible short fiction for those who may have fallen out of love with reading for pleasure. Just a friend of the family . . . isn’t he? Uncle Zeedie is weird, but...
Running My Own Race - Book Club Resources
About the book Kofi’s mum is determined he’s going to be ‘somebody’. But when Kofi is given a place at a prestigious private school because of his athletic ability, everything changes. Kofi dreams of being a professional athlete – but he soon finds following your heart isn’t an easy road… About this resource pack 1. Book group discussion questions 2. Suggested classroom activities to accompany the book, focusing on themes of bullying and discrimination, resolving conflict,...
Book Club Day UK - Save the date toolkit
Please note, an updated toolkit will be shared in August, with more image assets being provided. Earlier this year, Reading Groups for Everyone became the Book Club Hub. As well as a more inclusive and welcoming site, we will be expanding news and offers to include opportunities for leaders of children’s and young people’s book clubs. This is to support The Reading Agency’s mission of getting more people fired up about reading because everything changes when you read. To make the former...
The Week Junior Ultimate Puzzles and Quizzes Event Pack
If you’re planning a quiz or looking for a ready-made activity to support KS2 learners, this resource pack from Bloomsbury Education is for you! Created to accompany The Week Junior Ultimate Book of Puzzles and Quizzes, the pack is available as a free download. The materials are designed to help pupils practise skills like logic, memory, problem-solving and general knowledge in an enjoyable and accessible way. The printable pack includes: A mini puzzle booklet featuring a mix of brain teasers...
It's All Greek to Me by Andrea Christodoulou - Reading Group Notes
Get your summer book club chat started with these handy reading group notes to accompany copies of It’s All Greek to Me by Andrea Christodoulou – a hilarious new romance novel filled with warmth, drama and Greek heritage. You can’t hurry love … unless it holds the key to a family crisis. Ismeena Eliades has hit a life stalemate. She’s bored of her job as an administrative assistant in the stuffy corporate legal world, fed up of her dried-up love life, and tired of drinking away her thirties....
Radio 2 Book Club Extract of The Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd-Robinson
That’s the trouble with stories, especially the ones you write for yourself. Sometimes you think they’ve ended, when they’ve barely begun… London, 1749. Following the murder of her husband in a violent street robbery, Hannah Cole is struggling to keep her head above water. The Punchbowl and Pineapple, her confectionary shop on Piccadilly, is barely turning a profit, and her suppliers are conspiring to put her out of business. So, when she learns that her husband had a large sum of money in...
