For the 2009-2010 school year, the book club has been divided into two parts.  Tier One is an “open course” for GenJ members only. Students may join at any point, and are free to read as many or as few of the books as they wish. (Students can decide to be involved one month and not the next.)

This course is divided into two semesters with a two month break for summer (July-August).  Tier Two features some more advanced literature, and is designed for students looking for a real challenge.  It combines the Tier One list with a second list, for a total of twenty books.  Tier Two participants must read every book on the list, and write a book review for every book on the list.  Their book reviews will be graded on a scale of 1-10, and at the end of the year the student with the most points will receive a $100 gift certificate to Barnes and Nobles, second place a $50 gift certificate, third place a $25 gift certificate, and three runners up will receive a book of their choice by any of the authors on the book club list.  Students will also be required to write up monthly summaries of their readings from My Utmost for His Highest, which contains 365 small, daily devotionals.  Because of the amount of reading and writing involved in Tier Two, we recommend that it be used as one full high school literature credit per semester.

Book Club Communication:
GenJ Book Club Chats: For the fall semester of 2009 and spring of 2010, the Book Club Administrator will host one chat per book, usually at the end of the month. Students should come prepared with comments and/or questions about the current book.

GenJ Book Club Forum: GenJ formed the GenJ Book Club forum thread as a place for students to post thoughts and questions regarding books on the 2009-2010 reading list. Feel free to start a thread discussing key chapters or themes from your favorite book. However, please do not post on this forum unless you are actively involved in the Book Club.

Book Reviews: 
To verify completion of this course, students must write a minimum 500 word (but not to exceed 750 words) book review for each book. All book reviews are due one week after the book chat, and should be emailed in a Word attachment to GenerationJoshua@hslda.org. Please include the name of the book in the subject line of the email. 

Note 1: At the top of your book review, please include the following: the title of the book, your name, your address, and the word count of the book review. (You can get the word count from your computer by selecting "word count" under the "tools" tab.)

Note 2: A Book Review is not the same as a Book Report. To read the differences between a book review and a book report, please visit the GenJ Book Club forum.

In the book review, you should demonstrate that you've grasped the basic themes and topics of the book. The book review must be checked for proper spelling and grammar and sent by Word document attachment to GenerationJoshua@hslda.org with the title of the book in the subject line. Please use 12 pt font size and a Times font for all your submissions. Book reviews must be submitted no later than midnight (EST) one week after the book chat. Book reviews submitted after the deadline will not receive credit. Neither will reviews that do not have proper grammar and spelling, or do not meet the 500-750 word count guideline.

Generation Joshua does not grade book reviews; however, GenJ will certify students' participation by sending each student a certificate of completion after receiving his or her book review. 

Questions? Feel free to email any book club questions or comments to us at GenerationJoshua@hslda.org. Please be sure to type "book club" in the subject line.

Book Club Archives: Looking for good books to read in your spare time? To view book club reading lists from previous years, click here.