SASSNA is excited to offer a new, free program featuring weekly book clubs, for any level of reader, that are built around fun, friendship, and choice. Welcome to Next Chapter Book Club Sacramento!

about

Sacramento Autistic Spectrum and Special Needs Alliance (SASSNA), in partnership with the Sacramento Public Library, is bringing Next Chapter Book Clubs to the Sacramento region!

Next Chapter Book Club (NCBC) is a national program of Chapters Ahead, a nonprofit organization based in Ohio. NCBC was developed by Dr. Thomas Fish, the Director of Social Work at The Ohio State University’s Nisonger Center for Excellence in Disabilities. In 2016, NCBC received the Innovations in Reading Prize from the National Book Foundation. SASSNA has been licensed by Chapters Ahead to provide these book clubs in Sacramento!

Our book clubs are weekly opportunities for young people with developmental or intellectual diagnoses to read, learn and make friends in a relaxed, community setting. A group of four to eight readers, along with two trained facilitators, meet weekly for one hour to read aloud and discuss a book or other reading material. Any mentally-diverse young person can participate, whatever their reading or ability level. Our clubs are open to those who read proficiently all the way to those who cannot read at all!

Club members experience community inclusion, social connectedness, learning, self-determination and self-advocacy. Members, as a group, determine all aspects of their participation in club meetings (i.e. book selection) and are encouraged to express their opinions, wants, and needs. NCBCs are not traditional reading classes or tutoring programs. Although members may (and often do) improve literacy skills, the focus is on reading-to-learn, not learning-to-read. Equally important elements of the clubs are social interaction and community inclusion. The goal of NCBCs is for members to interact in new ways with reading materials, with each other, and with the community around them.

Details of SASSNA's next chapter book clubs

SASSNA, in partnership with the Sacramento Public Library, plans to host multiple book clubs, with four to eight readers per club. Clubs will be offered for different sets of ages, from children to young adults. We will provide as many clubs as we can in order to meet the amount of interested participants, but we will be limited by available resources, primarily trained club facilitators.

We are launching the program with one club. We hope to create a second club shortly thereafter. Future clubs will be created based upon available resources. Readers must enroll and be accepted into a club in order to participate. We are not accepting walk-ins.

For questions about SASSNA's Next Chapter Book Club program, please contact SASSNA.

Book club one | ages 10 - 13

• Meets each Tuesday from 6:30PM to 7:30PM.
• The first meeting is Tuesday, April 24, 2018. The club will meet weekly for a total of 24 meetings. Occasional Tuesdays may be skipped due to holidays and such (but the club will still meet for a total of 24 meetings). Youth are expected to attend most meetings.
• Meetings will be in the teen section on the third floor of the Central Sacramento Public Library at 828 I Street, Sacramento, CA 95814. After entering the library, take the elevator or stairs to the third floor and turn right to reach the teen section.
• There is no fee for this club. But we do ask that you consider monetary donations to SASSNA (we are a 501c3 nonprofit organization).
• Parents/guardians may stay during the meeting or leave. Club facilitators or staff can only be responsible for supervising youth from 6:30PM to shortly after 7:30PM. If parents/guardians leave during the meeting then please ensure youth are picked up on time.
• Youth do not need to bring any materials to the first meeting. Books or other literature for reading, and arrangements for them, will be determined at club meetings. Reading occurs only at weekly meetings - reading is not required in between meetings.
• All youth with developmental or intellectual diagnoses are welcome to participate (must enroll and be accepted in order to participate), whatever their reading or ability level. Our clubs are open to those who read proficiently all the way to those who cannot read at all. Youth may bring any reasonable accommodations that they need in order to participate and please let SASSNA know if a child needs us to provide a reasonable accommodation.

To enroll into book club one, please download, complete, and return to SASSNA the form below. The form may be returned to us by any of the methods (preferably e-mail or fax) indicated on our Contact web page. We will respond to enrollment forms as soon as we can. Please remember that a child's enrollment must be approved by SASSNA before the child can participate in the club.