Jackie Fuller of the Henrico County Department of Mental Health & Developmental Services, at right, reads “The Canine Connection” with Next Chapter Book Club member Katherine. (Photo by Jay Paul)
You can read swiftly or slowly. You can read on your own, with some help or not at all. It doesn’t matter how you read, as long as you appreciate a good story.
That’s the joy of the Next Chapter Book Club, a new program offered by Henrico County Public Library that brings together book lovers who have intellectual and developmental disabilities.
This Tuesday morning, five members of the book club have gathered in the sunny reading room at the Tuckahoe Area Library to begin reading “The Canine Connection” by Betsy Hearne. It’s a collection of 12 short stories: some poignant, some funny and all inspired by dogs.
“I really encourage everybody to read,” librarian Dena Zundel tells the group, “but you don’t have to if, for some reason, you don’t want to.”
Club members take turns reading a page of the story to the group. For some, Zundel uses a technique called “mirroring.” She’ll read aloud, a word or two at a time, and the reader will repeat them. But there is no stress in the silences; everyone waits patiently for the reader to speak.
Founded in 2002, Next Chapter Book Club is a national program for people with Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy and other disabilities. “Our members (including some who cannot read) love books for the same reasons most people do,” the organization’s website explains. “They enjoy being transported to different worlds where they meet interesting characters and learn about exciting new things.”
The organization has set an ambitious goal: to establish a Next Chapter Book Club in all 3,000 counties and all 17,000 public libraries in the United States by 2026.
In partnership with Henrico Area Mental Health & Developmental Services, the county library launched the first local chapter of the book club in January 2018. Up to eight members (age 16 and up) can participate at a time. They read one book in each eight-week session.
Participants in the Next Chapter Book Club at the Tuckahoe Area Library (Photo by Jay Paul)
The goal is not learning to read, but reading to learn. The books selected are called “hi-lo,” meaning high interest and low reading level — books that are both challenging and accessible, in other words. The members of each club help decide which books to read. Mysteries are popular, as well as animal stories.
The point is to allow book lovers to participate in the discussion regardless of their reading level, explains Maggie Allbee, programming librarian for Henrico Public Library.
The story the group reads today, called “Lab,” is about a teenaged girl who loves rescuing animals, to her mother’s dismay. It sparks several lively conversations — about parents and siblings, writing and pets. At the story’s climax, the mother goes into labor during a storm, and the young protagonist must help deliver the baby.
“Could you help somebody deliver a baby?” Zundel asks the group.
“I would!” Rauna says.
“I won’t,” Naomi says.
A discussion about childbirth follows: what it feels like, and what happens.
“It’s awesome, isn’t it?” Rauna says. “It’s a good experience for a woman. I like this book.”
Zundel, assistant manager of the library, has worked at Tuckahoe for 18 years. She knows how reading can bring members both joy and frustration, she says: “I’ve always had a little bit of a struggle reading aloud, because of just being a kid and not being able to do it, getting in trouble in school. ... So I really feel for them, and I think they’re awfully brave to give it a try. And they’re great.”
“It actually is a good thing for me to do, because I actually like reading,” says Virginia, who checks out books from the library every Friday. “It shows people how smart I really am, because of my disability.”
“It’s good to read to the group, because it makes them feel good inside,” Rauna says. “That’s what I like about it.”
“It’s different,” Jasmine, one of the group’s quieter members, says about reading as a group. And the story? “It’s great.”
The next session of the Next Chapter Book Club begins June 12. Register here, or contact Maggie Allbee at mallbee@henricolibrary.org.
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