School Membership
Learning from strong examples
Writing drafts
Looking for evidence and examples
Revising to meet publishing criteria
Proud students!
About the Spaghetti Book Club
The Spaghetti Book Club develops confident readers and writers through writing and publishing book reviews.
The Spaghetti Book Club is a fun and engaging literacy program that teaches kids reading comprehension and writing skills through writing, illustrating, and publishing book reviews.
Our program develops confident readers and writers and encourages kids' love for reading by giving them an opportunity to make meaningful connections with the books they read and share their insights, thoughts, and opinions with a global community of readers. Publishing online is a huge motivator and reward for kids. It is a thrill for them to see their work published online! (Read more about us.)
By participating in the Spaghetti Boook Club, students learn how to:
- Write strong summaries
- Construct meaning from text
- Make personal connections to what they read
- Formulate and express their opinions
- Compare literary works
- Use text-based evidence to support ideas
- Make inferences and find lessons
- Revise their writing using details and examples
- Write for a purpose
- Write persuasively
- Write and publish for an intended audience
Membership
Memberships include our comprehensive book review writing curriculum and the publishing of student book reviews and illustrations. We offer a variety of membership options to best meet the needs of teachers, schools and districts. All memberships include:
- Easy-to-follow lesson plans to help teachers guide their students through the book review writing process
- An engaging slideshow to support the lessons with links to strong examples of reviews to discuss
- Spaghetti Book Club publishing criteria
- Parent/Guardian consent form
- Publishing of book reviews and illustrations on the Spaghetti Book Club website
- A class home page and individual student home pages with students' self-portraits and links to their reviews
Book Review Curriculum
Our curriculum includes easy-to-follow lesson plans and all the materials necessary to guide students through the book review writing process. Lessons include:
- What is a book review? Deconstructing a book review and learning its components and purpose
- How to write a summary How to write enough to get the reader interested without telling too much. Avoiding spoilers
- What is an opinion? Formulating and expressing opinions using supportive evidence
- What is a recommendation? Making recommendations considering audience and content
- Revising: Making good reviews great Clarifying; adding details and examples
- Editing and meeting publishing criteria
- Optional lessons: Getting the reader’s attention. How to write a great hook. Using a thesaurus to use more interesting language.
- Mini Lesson: Reading and discussing examples from our site to learn the elements of a book review: summaries, opinions and recommendations
- Group Work: Modeling and practicing how to write book reviews by collaborating on a group review
- Independent Work: Applying what was learned by writing individual reviews
- Sharing reviews for peer feedback
- Revising and editing to meet publishing criteria
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Workshop Membership
Whole Class Reviews
- Lesson plans
- Publishing Criteria
- Slideshow
- Consent forms
- Class home page
- Student home pages
- Publishing of whole class reviews
Note: Best for teachers of young kids (K/1) & Library Media Specialists
Workshop Rates 5 reviews $30/class 10 reviews $50/class
Standard Membership
Individual Reviews
- Lesson plans
- Publishing Criteria
- Slideshow
- Consent forms
- Class home page
- Student home pages
- Publishing of individual student reviews
Single Classes (1-9 classes)
15 reviews $50/class 30 reviews $75/class 60 reviews $99/class 30 additional reviews $25
School (10+ classes) 15 reviews $40/class 30 reviews $50/class 60 reviews $75/class 30 additional reviews $25/class
Standard+ Membership
Individual Reviews & Scanning
- Lesson plans
- Publishing Criteria
- Slideshow
- Consent forms
- Class home page
- Student home pages
- Publishing of individual student reviews
- Scanning of artwork
Single Classes (1-9 classes)
15 reviews $75/class 30 reviews $99/class 60 reviews $125/class 30 additional reviews $30 School (10+ classes) 15 reviews $50/class 30 reviews $75/class 60 reviews $99/class 30 additional reviews $30/class
"The Spaghetti Book Club provided my class with a rare opportunity to publish their writing for a real audience. My students are beaming with pride about having their work on line, and the staff at Spaghetti Book Club made the process incredibly easy for me... Thank You Spaghetti Book Club!"
Each lesson follows a consistent format:
Book Review Publishing
Submitting Reviews
Submitting book reviews is easy through our online forms. Teachers simply enter their class list, copy and paste their students’ reviews into our online forms, and either attach scanned artwork or mail illustrations for us to scan. Consent forms may be faxed, emailed or sent through regular mail. For more information on submitting reviews, see our FAQ.
Meeting Publishing Criteria and English Language Arts Standards:
What makes our program unique is that all reviews are read by our staff and must meet our publishing criteria in order to be published on our site. We provide a checklist and questions to help students write and revise their reviews to meet our publishing criteria. If reviews do not meet our publishing criteria, students are given the opportunity to revise and resubmit their reviews. This submission, review, revision, and approval process is similar to what published authors experience and is what makes publishing a gratifying and rewarding experience. For more on the submission and approval process and our publishing criteria, see our FAQ.
Our publishing criteria are aligned with English Language Arts (ELA) and Common Core State Standards. Our criteria require students to write summaries, formulate and express their opinions with text-based examples and details, and make recommendations. ELA Standards, including Common Core State Standards, require that students are able to understand and respond to literature, including the ability to analyze, infer, compare, critique, and express opinions on literary work using text-based evidence. Students are also required to write for a purpose and for an intended audience. When students' book reviews meet our publishing criteria they are meeting (ELA) and Common Core State Standards as well.
Publishing Reviews:
When all reviews meet our publishing criteria, they are published within five business days of receiving reviews, artwork and consent forms. Classes receive a home page featuring the students’ self-portraits and links to their reviews, and students get their own home page with links to their reviews.
We encourage classes and schools to host Publishing Celebrations to recognize and celebrate the students’ hard work and accomplishments. For more about Publishing Celebrations, see our FAQ.
Membership Options
Spaghetti Book Club offers two program options. Our Standard Program is designed for students to write and publish individual reviews. The Workshop Program is for students to write and publish reviews as a group. Memberships are available for individual classes and school-wide participation.
Standard Program (individual book reviews)
Our Standard program is designed for students to write and publish individual book reviews. Membership packages vary based on the number of reviews submitted. This program does not include scanning services. Teachers scan their students’ self-portraits and review illustrations and upload them with their students’ reviews. Our Standard “Plus” option includes scanning services. Teachers mail their students’ self-portraits and review illustrations for us to scan.
Workshop Program (group book reviews)
The Workshop Program is a budget-friendly and short-term alternative to our Standard Program. The Workshop teaches students the same critical literacy skills as our Standard program; however, in the Workshop, students write and publish book reviews written as a class/small group rather than individually. The Workshop is designed to meet the needs of teachers who may not have the resources to purchase or the time to implement our Standard program.