STUDENTS CREATES VIRTUAL BOOK CLUB FOR YOUTHS
Group has more than 100 members across Corona-Norco district
An Eastvale student used his time in distance learning to unite kids through a love of reading.
In fall, as the coronavirus pandemic continued, Nathan Kaller, an eighth-grader at River Heights Intermediate School in Eastvale, was at home recovering from COVID-19 with his family, attending classes online and feeling disconnected from classmates. So in October,
he started a virtual book club with other students, hoping to mentor younger students while providing a volunteer opportunity.
“With reading, you get to socialize with other people,” said Kaller, 13, who is also president of his school’s National Junior Honor Society chapter. “It’s a good way to forget about all the bad things going on in the world.”
Elementary and secondary schools in the Corona-Norco Unified School District reopened in March, but the book club continues its weekly online format and has grown districtwide.
The club serves three elementary schools, and includes more than 100 students in kindergarten, third and fifth grades. Sixteen eighth-grade student volunteers — all National Junior Honor Society members — from River Heights lead the online groups, which rotate children’s books weekly for younger students and engage them in discussions. Older students read longer books and play games.
Nicole Elmore, Kaller’s teacher, said he approached her with the idea early in the school year. Kids look forward to hanging out with club members at the end of a long week, she said.
“The conversations are great, the kids are genuinely excited to work with their eighth-grade buddies,” Elmore said. “A club like this is important for more reasons than just promoting literacy. It provides students with the vital social interactions they are missing from not being physically in school… (it’s) an opportunity to escape the isolation of being stuck at home by diving into a good book.”
Kaller said that, by rereading children’s books with younger students, it’s “nice to come back to the books we grew up with.”
Kaller said that he’s learned and grown, despite others telling him he’s too young to lead the club.
“I’ve become more persistent,” he said. “I hope to get kids more excited about reading, and teach that teens my age can read and make an impact in the world, right now.”