Who We Are
Welcome to Durham Book Club!
a program for all of Durham's middle school students
What is Durham Book Club?
Durham Book Club is a student-led group that unites Durham's middle school youth through the power of reading.
DBC is 100% student run.
Yes, you read that right! Our Student Leadership Team plans, designs, organizes, and executes our four programs that are all about books, reading, and writing.
Our largest program is DBCreads when we read with hundreds of middle schoolers throughout the summer. From April through July, we come together to hear from authors, play book-related games, and make new friends.
DBC welcomes all students and is supported by grants, donations, and community sponsorships that make it possible to provide books and materials to participants.
StrongHER TogetHER is excited to host DBC alongside Durham librarians, local booksellers, middle school staff, and other adult volunteers from throughout the community.
What is the Student Leadership Team?
The Student Leadership Team (SLT) is made up of our middle school student leaders and our high school partner liaisons! We are all very passionate about books, reading, and everything in-between.
At our weekly virtual meetings, we plan and come up with all activities and events. This includes designing this website, fundraising and grantwriting, and creating marketing plans. From book selection for DBCreads in the fall, to inviting interesting authors and professionals to our podcast, going all the way to leading the author meetings and creating the book-related games and challenges in the summer months, we're super busy and have a lot of fun.
Check out the DBC Student Leadership Team and current members below and be in touch if you would be excited to hang out with friends, old and new, in shaping this year's reading season of Durham Book Club.
Email Us!
Meet Our Student Leaders
Jasleen (she/her) loves reading, art, and playing with her cat and dog. Her favorite book is Wildfire.
Grace (they/them) is an 8th grader at Ignite Online Academy. They enjoy reading books, cuddling with their old grumpy cat, Chewie, and playing video games, like Splatoon 3 and Zelda TotK. Her favorite single book would be Small Town Pride, and her favorite series would be the Aru Shah series.
Alex is in 7th grade at Githens Middle School. He loves to play soccer and baseball. This is his second year in DBC. He loves to read. He’s had tons of fun on the team, doing activities and meeting the authors. He likes the welcoming and including environment.
Jack has seen all the Marvel movies, he plays soccer, and reads a lot! He likes Star Wars, Percy Jackson, Harry Potter (he's a gryffindor), and enjoys video games like Mario Kart, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, and Super Smash Bros Ultimate. His favorite books is Class Trip.
Meet Our Partner Liaisons
Mira is a 10th grader at Riverside High School, and one of Durham Book Club's first ever Partner Liaisons. She's been involved in book club since it started in the summer of 2020, and is so excited to be participating again this year. She can't wait to see what the fifth year has in store for us!
Maeda is a 10th grader, and she loves reading, music and being outside. She has been in Durham Book Club for three years. Her favorite book is Little Thieves by Margaret Owen, but loves basically any book she reads. Maeda's so happy to be a part of our amazing DBC community!
Jemma is a 9th grader at Durham School of the Arts, and is in her 4th year of DBC! She loves reading and has done Battle of the Books since 4th grade. She loves being on the Student Leadership Team and enjoys meeting new people every year. She is excited for this year's book club and the ones to come!
Xay (he/they) is a part of StrongHer TogetHer, which is how they found out about Durham Book Club. One of their favourite books is 1500 Miles from the Sun. They play two instruments, Double Bass and Guitar. They go to Durham School of the Arts and are in the 9th grade.