Every Wednesday during flex, Lindsay Kircher, an English and Speech teacher at New Berlin West, and Barb Uhen, the librarian at NBW, host the Book Club in Kircher’s room (104). April 22, 2026, was Kircher’s birthday. Uhen gave Kircher a present for her birthday: “Meet the Newmans” by Jennifer Niven, a book by an author Kircher knows and has been wanting to read. In Book Club, everyone celebrated her birthday with multiple flavors of cupcakes, which were delicious. Then the group talked about what’s happening in the book “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir that most group members are reading, and how everyone feels about it, since we are about to finish it.
In Book Club, read books from different genres; sometimes the teachers pick the next read, or the whole Book Club group will have a big discussion about the next book everyone wants to read. Callie Fruit, a sophomore at NBW and a member of the Book Club, said. “I enjoy Book Club because it lets me explore genres that I wouldn’t normally read, and learn about them. The club members are also very kind.” In the past, the Book Club has read “Animal Farm” by George Orwell, “Remarkably Bright Creatures” by Shelby Van Pelt, and “The Silent Patient” by Alex Michaelides.
Book Club is welcoming to everyone, has a very positive atmosphere, and allows you to meet new, awesome people. For example, if the Book Club is reading a book, and you started it and didn’t really like the beginning, no one forces you to read it; that’s the best part, you don’t have to finish it. Sometimes people don’t even start the book and just come for the people and the food! Yes, we do have tons of yummy snacks at Book Club, which is honestly another bonus. If it’s someone’s birthday, they can bring a delicious sweet, or if it’s Kircher’s or Uhen’s birthday, you can often expect sweet goodies like cookies or cupcakes, which adds to the fun and festive atmosphere of our meetings.
Two club traditions that are in Book Club are, one, Kircher being the best teacher she is, she buys every person a book of her choosing for that person’s birthday. She does this every year if you are in the Book Club. She does not have to do this, but out of the goodness of her heart, she does, and it’s very kind of her to do that. My freshman year was my first year in Book Club, and the book I got for the first time was “We Were Liars” by E. Lockhart. In my sophomore year, I got “The Last Song” by Nicholas Sparks, and I loved and finished both those books.
The second thing is that, as the last full month before school ends, the Book Club will host a group book exchange on May 27. So it’s where every person in the Book Club, whoever intends that flex that day, brings any book of their choice, so it can be romance, thriller, or science fiction; it does not matter. Everyone has to wrap their book they got, so no one knows what the book is, and then everyone picks a random number, and if you get one, you go first; if you get five, you go fifth. So then that person, when it’s their turn, picks any book in the middle, and then that’s your book, but after everyone is done, you can swap your book if someone else also wants to swap their book. It’s a really enjoyable experience that brings everyone together for one last time, gathering before summer break. But it also allows everyone to share their favorite reads over the whole school year, and what books they are excited to read during the summertime.
