Kassidy Wilkinson

One student talks about how attractive they imagine the main protagonist is, another describes the negative effects mental health can have on a student, and a third just blatantly states that she hates the ending of her book. The club Page Turners, led by President senior Ellie Knaggs, meets every Tuesday in the library and is a place for students to come and talk about books. “It’s just a place to come and bring so many ideas and opinions into play,” Knaggs said. “We have had some really great discussions in the past, sometimes it’s just talking about like ‘Oh yes, I love that trope’ or ‘this fictional couple is so cute.’ Sometimes the [author] talked about this really heavy topic like abuse or hunger or war and I think it’s something we should talk about and so we will.”

Around the table, smiles dance on the faces of club members. They laugh with each other and talk about the cliché boy-meets-girl romance tropes and the different perspectives books give on historical events. It’s not a traditional book club, it’s the Page Turners club, a community of book lovers.

Page Turners meets every Tuesday in the library’s Jedi Temple where they discuss their favorite books, plots, and literary characters. This club also holds library events including author visits and book-related movie nights.

“Page turners, unlike some book clubs, is a place where you come and you talk about books but we don’t have set books to read each month,” president senior Ellie Knaggs said. “It’s just [for students who] like to read, however often [they] read, whatever [they] like to read. If you enjoy [a book], come, let’s talk, let’s share that.”

The club name was changed to Page Turners after its original name of Book Club. The leadership of Page Turners and the club sponsor, Ms. Burns, wanted to change the name to let students know it was not a conventional book club, according to Knaggs. They thought the name Page Turners would be less intimidating than the term “book club.”

“People would associate book clubs with the requirements or the need to read a lot and we wanted it to be a lot more open,” Knaggs said. “We wanted to start fresh and let people know this [club] isn’t what you think it is. Come find out what it is, it’s Page Turners, it’s just a place for people who want to read.”

Last year was a trial run for the club, according to Knaggs. After the people that had been going to the club for years graduated and the previous sponsor, Ms. Barnes, left the school, Knaggs and Vice President and senior Suzy Smith had to formally create the club again. For the previous book club there have been many changes.

“We now have a lot more people, and we do a whole lot more,” Knaggs said. “It’s just grown and it’s absolutely wonderful. We have events and we have discussions and we have so many new faces and new ideas that we didn’t have before. It’s really great to have kind of started this thing.”

For junior Meg Allaka, her favorite part of the club is talking about her favorite characters and being a part of a community of people that all like to read.

“This club has made me read more because I’m eager to tell people about what’s going on in my book,” Allaka said. “I like when we talk about [books] and I [can] give more updates about my book. I’m either fangirling or am like ‘I hate this.’ And I don’t feel like I’m forced to read.”

Page Turners is more than just discussions about whether a book is good or bad, Knaggs said. The club brings in the author’s opinions and their own experiences to talk about the events in the book. It is a group of people that come together to talk about many different subjects, both lighthearted and heavy.

“It’s a place to come and bring so many ideas and opinions into play,” Knaggs said. “We have had some really great discussions in the past. Sometimes it’s just talking about like ‘Oh yes, I love that trope’ or ‘this fictional couple is so cute’ or sometimes the [the author] talked about this really heavy topic like abuse or hunger or war and I think it’s something we should talk about and so we will.”

Another member of the club, junior Addie Johnson, has really enjoyed coming to the club to discuss and make connections while talking about books, she said.

“It’s one thing to just talk about a book, but when you’re talking about a book with someone else that has read the book and enjoyed it it’s just so fun,” Johnson said. “[You] sort of bond over it [when] you talk about your favorite characters and talk about what you liked and what you didn’t like. Sometimes friendly debates come up and it’s so fun.”