Books and Bagels gather in the lower library every Friday morning to share book thoughts.
Hastings Senior High welcomes all grades to Books and Bagels.
This club, held by Janelle Gegg on Friday mornings in the library, hosts both teachers and students to indulge in a variety of treats and genres of books. To anyone interested in group discussions, sweet treats, and, of course, reading, this is the club for you!
When thinking about their next read, the group makes sure to include everyone’s ideas and genres, and if one book is chosen over another, there is a high chance that the second choice will be read further down the road. Even if someone does not get to read the book that they originally wanted to, there are some cases where they look forward to reading the book each week anyway.
“I must admit, for it being a high-school themed rom-com, I think I’m excited about it,” Kile said.
Books and Bagels was first organized by the previous librarian, Faye Friesen.
“Mrs. Gegg, this is her second year running the book club. When I was first back at HHS as a teacher, it was Mrs. Faye Friesen. She was the old librarian, and I know that she ran Books and Bagels as well, so I would say [it has been going] more than five years, that’s for sure,” Kile said.
While the group has covered many common and popular genres, there are always more to cover. As a team, everyone shares ideas and recommendations for future book reads.
“I’d like a classic to be a part of it…an example that came to mind would be a lot of things you’d read in high school, like ‘The Great Gatsby’ is a classic to me,” said Kile.
The group recently finished reading a rom-com, “Betting on You.” Throughout the book, everyone has an opportunity to ask questions to the group and learn others’ opinions on the novel so far.
“It’s a book about two characters, Charlie and Bailey, and they meet on an airplane from Alaska to Nebraska. And Charlie is this obnoxious boy who basically breaks all the rules, and Bailey is a girl who follows all the rules, so you can imagine that they have a conflict from the get-go… Coincidentally, they run into each other back in Nebraska in a couple of different instances, and now their friendship is growing, but the main premise of the book is, ‘Can boys and girls be friends without having romantic tendencies?’ And Charlie believes they can not be friends, and Bailey believes they can, and so they make a bet to see who’s right,” said Gegg.
As it says in the name, Books and Bagels occasionally offers a variety of different food items, as well as coffee and hot chocolate. Sometimes, volunteers in the group will provide other pastries, such as coffee cake, cinnamon rolls, doughnuts, and yogurt parfaits.
“We tried something new this last week, and we had yogurt parfaits, so everyone could choose their own flavor of yogurt and whatever fruit and granola they wanted to add to it. That was something different, but we usually have bagels, sometimes doughnuts, and sometimes other breakfast items,” said Gegg.
When reading, some find it nice to have a friend to share their book progress with. Mrs. Gegg herself, or others among the group, create questions that make everyone dig deeper into the story. The cozy atmosphere ensures that everyone is comfortable and relaxed with their fresh breakfast and intriguing books, until the bell rings, putting the meeting on hold until the following week.
“…It’s a great opportunity to meet people who like books and like to read, or just like to talk about books. Even if they’re not your best friends, or even if you don’t know them, it gives you a zero-pressure opportunity to find things that you might have in common or to share different perspectives with a group of people that isn’t necessarily your friends. And it’s also a good opportunity to see a different side of teachers because they’re a lot more relaxed, and you get to see their human side, not their teacher side,” said Gegg.
After their reading of Betting on You comes to an end, Books and Bagels’ will begin with Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson. It is never too late to join the club and make new friends over Books and Bagels!
