like water for chocolate

This is a sample of the questionnaire/registration sheet I gave my participants upon their arrival to the first book club session. To both get a sense of the type of readers my participants were and the reading environments they grew up in, I asked these questions:

THE BLACK LITERACY PROJECT REGISTRATION SHEET

You are invited to participate in a reading group that I’m starting in tandem to my coursework in AFR 406: Crafting Research. Over the semester we’ll read two texts (The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins) and discuss them. To participate please fill out the information below.

Name:                                                               Date:                                         .

Major:                             Class:                             Age:                                     .                                            

Would you say that you enjoy reading? (yes/no). If so, how did you come to enjoy it? If no, what would it take for you to enjoy it more? What are the things that you like most or least about reading?

What books did you read in High School?

What is your favorite book or book series?

Who is your favorite author and why?

What books, if any, have changed your life?

Are there books that you read recently that you wished you read as a young teen?

—————————————————————————————————————-

By signing here you are consenting to the use of information you provide in this sheet as well as excerpted materials/conversations/notes from our discussions in my coursework.

Signature:                                                     Date:                                         .

From these questions I hope to draw out their natural inclination to either fantasy novels, novels that take one outside of their known world, or realistic novels that depict a mirror of blackness for young readers.

So this Sunday marks two weeks of the book club, and its going well (for the most part). Currently we’re working with The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah, a controversial text to say the least. Here’s an excerpt of our very first discussion:

BCBG (Book Club for Black Girls): Session One

In our conversation, the girls have picked up on the themes I have been toying with in my research: the effect of environment in reading, how black womanhood is construed in YA lit and literature in general, the type of characters they would like to see. I talk a lot this first session (because most of them didn’t get a chance to read the book yet) but the members mostly drive this question of what type of black girl they would like to see in books.

This group is thoughtful and approach the text and topic of discussion with relish, which I appreciate. They’re nerds just like me, and I don’t know how this project would be formed if I had someone who disliked reading. This makes me wonder once again if my research will unknowingly have an implicit bias, but once again this research is on the women here at this institution in this particular project….

Anyways all this is to say, this is where we’re at now, and I’m enjoying it.