LCYA Reading Club’s 4th Online Book Discussion

Literary for Children and Young Adults (LCYA) Reading Club held the 4^th online book discussion on 12 March 2021. This discussion raised a book by Katherine Applegate titled “Wishtree” as the discussion material. This discussion was held in Zoom and attended by 40 participants.

This discussion talked about the topics contained in the book. The event, which was attended by members of the LCYA club and several lecturers, discussed the opinions and views of all participants on the events or moments that occurred and was told in the book.

The discussion flowed smoothly. Participants expressed their views on the questions posed by the Moderator. The question itself was a critical question about the events that took place in the book.

One of the participants, Rr. Arielia Yustisiana, lecturer at the Faculty of Communication Studies, English Language Study Program, Widya Mandala Catholic University Surabaya, said that holding this discussion was a very good event for students and other people to explore their thoughts and interests in reading literary works, such as children’s literature.

“This event invites us to read more extensively, in my opinion, because we inevitably want to participate in analyzing the books that we want to discuss at the event. I agree if this event continues,” said Mrs. Arielia.

Mrs. Enny Anggraini, as the supervisor of the LCYA Club, said that this event could be a means for students and lecturers, who are often busy and don’t have much time to read, to have the opportunity to enrich their reading.

“This reading club event can be a means to enrich our reading with discussion, so we are “forced” to read and make time for it. The book that is the subject of discussion is also the book of choice, good in quality, so you don’t have to bother looking for books to read,” said Mrs. Enny Anggraini.

She also hopes that in the future, more and more people will join this event, both inside and outside the USD, and will be more active in joining this discussion.

To ensure the quality of the discussion, the selected book must also go through a selection process. The selection of books that became the material or topic of this discussion was carried out carefully. The PIC team from LCYA made the selection by proposing candidate books that would be the subject of discussion.

“We, from the PIC reading section, select the candidate books that will be used as material for the book discussion, and then we continue with the discussion and voting on which book to use,” said Cherry Larissa, the PIC Reading of LCYA club.

The book, Wishtree, is written by Katherine Applegate and was published in 2017. This book tells the story of an oak tree called “Red” from which people in the city hang their dreams, hopes, and dreams by hanging ribbons, scraps of paper, and others. “Red” has a friend a crow named “Bongo”. The story of this book revolves around a boy named Samar, who comes from a Muslim family who recently moved to the neighborhood. Several difficulties and problems began to roll and became the core of the story of this book.

 

Journalist: Vincensius Radhitya

Editor: Desca Geovani Kristi, Cherry Larissa Hendranata (QC)