To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of Sylvia Plath’s modern classic The Bell Jar, we have recruited five reading groups to read, review and blog about the book.
About Beddow Library Reading Activists
We are happy to introduce each member of the Beddow Library Reading Activists, who are excited to be taking part in the project. Let’s meet them:
Sian
Hello, my name’s Sian and I’m 16 years old. I live in Portsmouth, across from a graveyard. I love creative writing more than anything as well as reading. My favourite books are The Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, and the manga Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba.
Katie
Hello, my name’s Katie, I’m 19 years old and I live in Portsmouth. I am currently taking a gap year before going to Queen Mary University where I will be studying English. In my gap year I am volunteering as a classroom assistant in a reception class and I also volunteer in an adult English class at my old college. I work part-time at Debenhams and in my spare time I enjoy reading, going out with friends, eating and watching films. I’m also interested in fashion and music, My top three reads are The Bell Jar (which is why I’m enthusiastic about taking part in this project), The Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger and Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, I am a keen writer and enjoy writing poetry in my spare time and I hope to be poet/playwright or journalist when I leave university
Josh
Hi, my name is Josh and I’m 13 years old and I’m in Year 9. My hobbies include swimming, geocaching, drama and reading. I am ginger. My favourite books are My So Called Afterlife by Tamsyn Murray, Tarzan by Andy Briggs and Battlefield by Chris Ryan.
Lottie
Hello my name is Lottie, and I am 11 years old. My favourite hobbies include crafts, acting, English/creative writing, Latin/languages, swimming, netball and gymnastics. My top three books are Lily Alone by Jacqueline Wilson, all David Walliams books and Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney. I now go to school but used to be home tutored.
Emma
I’m nearly 20 years old living in Portsmouth, working at Schuh and Tesco. I’ve plenty of hobbies, most of which are creative; I enjoy art (drawing, manga, pastels, painting etc), reading, nail art, photography, TV shows (Dexter, Vampire Diaries, Misfits, The Big Bang Theory). I’m part of Reading Activists Beddow, Portsmouth which I enjoy a lot.
Top reads
The three favourite group reads from the Beddow Library Reading Activists are:
* Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
* The Spook’s Nightmare by Joseph Delaney
* If You Could See Me Now by Cecelia Ahern
Get involved
Read more about the groups participating in the project and find out how they are getting on.
Are you and your book club reading The Bell Jar this year? If so, we’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment below or email.
Find out more about Reading Activists.
Run a young people’s reading group? Please do add it to the site – we’d love to see you here.
Find a young people’s reading group to join.
