Marysville High Beat: New book club shares its reading addiction

Marysville High School's new book club is settling in nicely.

It made its first appearance at the school's annual Club Week, wherein the many non-sports-related extracurricular groups line up on 18th Street and await sign-ups, and held its first meeting the following week at lunch, in Room V.

Their first major order of business? Decide on a name.

"Basically, we sat down and came up with several ideas," says junior Brandi Danner, "which took a while — and after that, we voted."

Their final decision? Readers Anonymous.

Ask any member of the club why they decided on that particular name and you'll get several variations of the same answer, generally with a broad grin: "We're addicted to reading!"

The members of the club don't appear to be particularly interested in overcoming their "addiction," however —far from it. They are actively trying to worsen it — to increase their dependency upon their formidable ink-and-paper vice.

One of their chief methods of doing so involves a fairly new, best-selling dystopian novel by one Veronica Roth: "Divergent."

The club members have been reading the novel together for much of the year, and discussing it during their lunchtime meetings.

Although this appears to have been enough to satisfy their "addiction" for the time being, it has not been enough to satisfy their monetary needs: As a brand-new club, Readers Anonymous is somewhat lacking in the funding department.

To rectify this issue, they held a Read-a-Thon. The members first spent several weeks collecting pledges, and then, last Saturday, gathered in their usual meeting place with club adviser Mrs. Escheman and read for a significant portion of the day.

With their first major fundraiser behind them, the club is working its way toward becoming one of the more prominent clubs at MHS.

In comparison to the school at large, Readers Anonymous is fairly small, with only 20 members — but said members are spread across all four grades.

Despite their wide range, the club isn't happy with the number of "reading addicts" at the school — or in the area. They are doing their utmost to bolster and increase their ranks city-wide — even going so far as to promote their favorite activity to a younger age group.

This is why they have become "reading buddies" with some fifth-graders at Kynoch Elementary. They hope to show them that reading is more than just another dull, nerdy school-thing — it's fun.

"In fact," said Brandi, "that's why I joined in the first place — because it's fun. I love reading, and I thought the club would be a good way to get together with people who share my love of books."

Readers Anonymous has been calmly, firmly established; it does not appear to be going anywhere anytime soon. Their stone fortress is not, however, sealed shut and guarded by knights. The doors are wide open — and they let the student body know by including the following statement in the morning announcements every so often: "Readers Anonymous meeting in Room V at lunch. New members welcome."