HarperCollins Children’s Books, Farshore and the School library Association have collaborated to create a toolkit for setting up social book clubs in school, based on the findings from their ‘Social Reading Spaces’ research.
The resources are free and contain everything you need to know, including information on selecting students, setting up book club expectations, creating a welcoming space, choosing books, structuring book club sessions and overcoming boundaries to engagement.
Social Reading Spaces was conducted over 12 school weeks between October 2024 and February 2025, conducted over 12 school weeks between October 2024 and February 2025 to trial an innovative new approach to book clubs. 17 school libraries across the UK, from the Shetlands to Torquay, ran social book clubs with no expectation or pressure to read place on the students, instead fostering conversations and book talk in a relaxed and pressure-free setting. It was a resounding success. Of the over 400 children who took part, 84% said it was a worthwhile experience and 60% said they were more interested in books and reading after the study. For some young people it was transformational. One school measured the Reading Ages of the 32 boys who took part pre- and post-trial using STAR Reading Assessment data, which revealed that these students’ Reading Ages increased by an average of 1 year and 3 months, compared with a five-month average growth in reading age for the entire year group.
The new Social Reading Spaces Toolkit will enable school librarians, and indeed all those who work to support and encourage young readers, to use the evidence from the study to gain the necessary support for running similar book groups.
Other supporting resources include an advocacy presentation, designed to help teachers and librarians advocate for investment in social reading spaces style book groups to their Heads of Department, Senior Leadership Teams, Governors or PTAs.
Authors including Alexander Armstrong, Anna James, B.B Alston, Derek Landy, Lemony Snicket, Ross Welford and Salomey Doku have also written letters sharing stories about their own relationships with reading and books, which school librarians can share with book club participants.
Find out more on the SLA website here.