Once a month, students gather early on a Thursday morning to discuss the latest book they have read together over bagels and cream cheese. Edina High School’s breakfast book club was started 16 years ago by Ms. Swenson, the main librarian and Ms. Cosgrove, a retired teacher at EHS. The point of breakfast book club is to create a space for students to gather and add more reading into their schedules other than books assigned for school. “We wanted to create a space for students to have fun with reading and get introduced to adult books. We want to give students an opportunity to build their personal library as well.” said Swenson. The book club has proven to be quite successful, inside and outside of EHS, “When a lot of people hear about our book club, they’re surprised it’s still going on… We’ve had a book written about us, article in the Star Tribune, morning TV has done spots on us.” The book club enjoys many unique opportunities due to all of the attention that it has garnered. Students in the book club have a chance to meet or Skype with the authors of the book they are currently reading. “When Robin Sloan gets up at 5:30 in the morning in his PJ’s with coffee to talk to us, that’s a really cool opportunity [that I think] most students don’t come across.”

Swenson encourages curious students to join the book club. There is no pressure, no essays to write, it is just a way to get together with books and people one may not usually come across. “In this era of so much technology and so many things competing for your attention, this book club is a way to kind of take a break from that and relax.” said Swenson. Although the book club has succeeded, that does not mean it comes without struggle. “We started this club with grant money, then for a few years we were added as a line item on the school budget [we were taken out due to budget cuts], and now we mostly rely on membership dues to get by.” said Swenson.

The breakfast book club offers a book along with bagels and discussion with fellow students when one joins. “It’s really cool that the school cares so much about reading.” said Swenson. Students interested in being an author are able to talk to authors about what the job is like, and any avid reader can join to expand their library and meet other students. Contact Ms. Swenson or visit the media center homepage to learn more about breakfast book club!