Bookclubs

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Christianne’s Bookclubs, created in 1996, help families interact around quality literature. These parent and youth clubs promote the sharing of values, effective communication around challenging subjects, and a love of literature in a warm and stimulating setting. Select books are presented to help families navigate through the tough and tender issues they encounter throughout life.

If the Bookclub you are interested in has already started, please call us to see if there is still room. We will prorate the registration fee in this instance.

Join us for a monthly parent and youth bookclub designed to get you talking - about literature, but also about the way you see the world, the values you share and the experiences that have shaped you. Each month, parents and children read a book together, and then join us for a high-quality craft, a challenging puzzle, a book-themed snack,and a lively discussion. At least once a year, bookclubbers will have the opportunity to meet with local authors.

We believe that a family that reads together, stays together. A love of literature is caught, not taught. What better way to spread the contagion than to surround oneself with those passionate about books. Lyceum bookclubs promote the sharing of values, effective communication around challenging subjects, and a love of literature in a warm and stimulating environment. Bookclubs offer parents and children a special night out together, spent engaging in, and celebrating literature.

Dr. Christianne Hayward has been educating children and adults for over forty years. She established her unique parent and youth bookclubs in 1996, and now facilitates 13 bookclubs, 8 writers’ workshops, and literature and art classes for children and youth at the Lyceum. She also acts as an educational consultant for families, works as a teacher consultant, facilitates parent groups in the ANCHOR Program at the Vancouver Child Study Centre, and is the mother of two sons.

We believe...

Books are gateways into other minds and other lives. Reading builds empathy - not just with those close at hand, but with those who we may never meet - those who live in other places, those who lived at other times.
When we read together we share an experience. The time we invest in reading together helps build stronger relationships and deeper ways of communicating. We can say to each other, “It’s like the way Bilbo longed for adventure.” We can say,“It’s like the way Anne Shirley escaped into her own imagination.”
Reading together gives us a platform to discuss the tough and tender issues of life. We often mean to discuss challenging topics with our children, but busy schedules get in the way. Time spent reading together allows these conversations to happen organically. What’s mentionable is manageable.
When we put aside time to read together and talk about what we’re reading we say two important things to our children. The first is that we value literature. The second is that literature touches and illuminates our lives; that what we read can have a powerful impact on the way we see and experience the world.
When we give our children a love of literature, we give them a gift for life.