How a book club for middle school girls is giving them the chance to grow | March 8, 2017

Books | Women | Mentoring

Luisa Porter / The Commercial Dispatch/AP

 

 

by Isabelle Altman

March 7, 2017 Columbus, Miss.—Four years ago, eighth graders Wrishija Roy, Laurel Yarborough and Damare Baker all read "Fat Chance" by Leslea Newman in a girls' book club at Columbus Middle School run by Emma Thompson, then a senior at the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science.

Now MSMS seniors themselves, they're back at the middle school reading the same novel, which tells the story of a girl with an eating disorder. This time, though, they are leading the book club.

"It's been nice to give back to the girls because I know how helpful it was for me," Yarborough said. "And I just hope I'm having the same effect."

The Women Influencing Lives Through Literature – or WILL – program is Thompson's brainchild. She wanted a way to mentor younger girls using literature.  Read more....