Reading aloud brings group closer together at East Regional Library

Published on November 25, 2024

This isn’t your ordinary book club.

On a recent Tuesday in November, about a dozen adults clambered into the meeting room at the East Regional Library to read, listen to and enjoy Chapter 22 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. Nobody seems to mind that it took months to finish a novel they began reading in June.

The One at a Time Book Club is designed specifically for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities to enjoy reading aloud in a friendly, supportive peer group. It meets 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Tuesdays at East Regional.

Reading among friends

The core group of participants, students from a nearby adult day school, arrive together in a time-worn white passenger van. The book club has helped cement friendships already formed through familiarity with each other and the library, which they had already been visiting often as a group to check out books.

“We came up with the idea because we knew this was an underserved population,” said Adult Services librarian Lynn Holt. “It started at East Regional because they already had this group coming on a pretty regular basis.”

Building confidence

The format allows anyone who is comfortable reading aloud to take turns. Those who read have gained confidence and skill through practice. After some snacks and socializing, it didn’t take long for the room to be filled with alternating voices strongly delivering the hilariously written prose, punctuated by shared laughter.

“We’ve got some folks who are really very confident about reading out loud,” Holt said. Others are not as adept at reading words on a page but love hearing and engaging in the stories. This is true for the general population, too, and is why all the library’s book clubs include titles available as audiobooks to be more inclusive.

Serving everyone

Christy Jarett, a librarian at East Regional, said developing the book club was a good fit because the participants already loved their visits there. “They’re just really good library patrons anyway,” she said.

The club chose to read The Lightning Thief from a couple of choices. Aimed at middle-grade readers, Jarrett said the book is easy to read while the subject matter and story are interesting. Further, Percy must overcome dyslexia, which makes him more relatable.

“It’s all joy for us,” Jarrett said. “We’re just trying to find ways to serve everyone.”

Reading together provides a social benefit that reading alone doesn’t achieve, as well as immersing everyone in the room in a friendly environment with mutual dignity and respect.

Making new friends

“This is an opportunity to read together, to build on that community,” Holt said. “They’ve become friends with us, the staff, they tell us about their personal lives, and we get to check on them and see how they are doing. I learn a lot from them and I have a really good time.”

Hadley, who attends regularly as part of the group, said her favorite books are fantasy novels. “I like having a community of people I can just rant about books with,” she said, as a book she brought about warrior cats sits on the table next to her.

Jeff also enjoys the sessions. “I love learning about the characters and stuff like that,” he said. 

It's apparent the group members have made friends with each other. As he was reading aloud, Kenderick (pictured in the top photo) would pause briefly to make sure Lauren, sitting next to him, could find her place in the book. Then Lauren would turn to help Jeff find his place.