Purpose

• Serves as the official book club for Starr’s Mill High School

Details

• Assigns three books a month to members
• Provides open discussion on books/topics within books
• Hosts guest speakers from the community who visit to discuss assigned books

Officers and sponsors

• Sponsors: Lela Crowder and Rick Wright
• President: senior Dana Gould
• Vice President: senior Ashton Long
• Treasurer: senior Laura Callan
• Secretary: sophomore Rebecca Tian

Ex Libris is Starr’s Mill book club, sponsored by English teacher Lela Crowder and media center specialist Rick Wright. They meet after school on the first Wednesday of every month in the Media Center. At each meeting, the club officers, including President Dana Gould and Vice President Ashton Long, present three new books for the club members to read throughout the next few weeks. They also discuss the books they read last month and have guest speakers from the community come in to join the discussion.

“It’s an awesome club. I love being able to be in a casual setting and do what English classes are supposed to do with the books they read,” Gould said. “It’s always fun to see everyone happy and talking about the books they’ve read, enjoying themselves. I really do love it.”

Ex Libris aims to encourage reading for all students at Starr’s Mill. The club has existed for around fourteen years and has had members with many differing interests. “We’ve always had a nice mix of kids. Some are into sports, some are artistic, academic, not so academic,” Crowder said. “We want all different kinds of kids in our club. That’s why we choose different [genres of] books every month.”

At meetings, the club tries to provide an open, comfortable place of discussion for its members. Because some of the books they read may include controversial topics, the club gives their members a chance to speak freely and voice their opinions.

“I didn’t have anything like this in high school. I love young-adult literature, it has a finger on the pulse-point of today’s society. There are books that are fun but relevant,” Crowder said. “The book club gives [students] an outlet to talk about those things with no pressure. As an English teacher, kids talk about how they can’t read for fun, but at book club they can.”

Ex Libris hosts two different events annually: Read-A-Thon and Feed Your Need to Read Week. They both aim to stimulate more reading among the Mill’s student body.