This year Mrs. Katie Kauffman, the Norwin High School librarian, started a new Global Literature Book Club (beginning in October), to help students fulfill Global Scholars requirements and to read for enjoyment with other like-minded students.

Q: What is the Global Literature Book Club and what are they planning on talking about? 

“Global Lit Book Club is an opportunity for kids to read and discuss a book that’s global in nature,” Mrs. Kauffman said. “The book that was selected (Born a Crime by Trevor Noah) is also on the WIRC list, so some students who wish to participate might just want to talk about a book that they’re reading for WIRC. Many students are planning to achieve their Global Scholars certification through Mrs. Llerena’s Global Scholars group. This book would fulfill a media literacy requirement, therefore if students decide to lead one of the meetings, then they would receive credit.”

Q: Who started the Global Lit Book Club? 

Mrs. Kauffman started the Global Literature Book Club at Norwin. “I started the club in hopes that students could get credit for Global Scholars,” Kauffman said. “A lot of the meetings will still be student-run.”

Q: What inspired you to start the club?

“Mrs. Llerena is very passionate about Global Scholars and it’s infectious,” Kauffman said. “When she had started asking for some help finding good books that students could read to fulfill some of the requirements, I got aboard right away. I was able to purchase a number of books for the library that would help fulfill those requirements. It seemed to make sense to have some kind of a club where students could receive some of those credits needed in order to become a Global Scholar.”

Q: When will students meet for the club? 

”We’re trying to start it in October,” Kauffman  said, “to give students a chance to sign up, get parent permission, but also read a little bit of the book. It should only be four meetings, so we’ll talk about a quarter of the book each meeting, which will also give students a chance to create questions if they want to lead some meetings and get activity credit for Global Scholars.”

Q: What is a quick summary of Born a Crime by Trevor Noah? 

“It is a memoir and true story of Trevor Noah,” Kauffman said. “The book is called Born a Crime. He was born in South Africa at a time when apartheid was still raging, so there was a lot of racism. Being a child who had a black mother and a white father, there were a lot of rules about what he was allowed to do. It’s a fascinating look at a historical time period in South Africa. Trevor Noah is also a comedian so he uses a lot of dark humor to get really important topics across in a way that is engaging.”