Each year, English Honor Societies creates Book Club Kits to help chapters strengthen their bonds and build a sense of community. By reading the same book and engaging with carefully designed activities, chapters can connect in meaningful ways while deepening their ties to the international Society. These kits highlight works by convention and webinar speakers, reframe commonly taught texts through fresh perspectives, and provide thoughtful guides to frequently banned books.
What’s Inside Each Book Club Kit
- Discussion Questions: Questions invite participants to actively engage with the text and one another, encouraging lively and meaningful conversations.
- Opportunities for Connection: Prompts guide readers to draw connections between the featured work, other texts in the Book Club Kit collection, and wider literature.
- Literature as Praxis: This section bridges literary study and lived experience, helping readers connect the text to pressing campus- and community-level social justice issues.
- Further Reading and Resources: Each kit includes a list of recommended texts and community resources to enrich understanding and inspire further exploration of key themes.
Service Projects
We encourage chapters to consider service projects related to book club conversations. Each Book Club Kit provides valuable resources for how to better understand many of the issues addressed in contemporary literature. Chapter members should consider the many ways that these resources may inspire individual or chapter actions. Remember: no project and no action is too small! Volunteering time and skills is also a valuable resource. Hosting open discussions about issues raised in Book Club is a way of serving individuals, groups, and communities. Service through words is an important part of raising awareness.
You might also consult various Literacy Programs and Literacy Councils in your community. Valuable resources can also be found by visiting the websites of some of our Society’s sponsors and partners, including:
- Lambda Literary
- National Council of Teachers of English/National Center for Literacy
Education (NCTE)
Book Club Service Award
Any chapter that completes a service project is eligible for a Book Club Service Award of $200. These awards will be distributed after service projects have been completed by chapters. Chapters can be funded for one project within the award period.
Application Guidelines
Organize and host a service project based on a book club kit and apply for award money after your activity has been completed. Submit to the Service Committee via email (sigmatdapply@niu.edu) with the following materials in a single PDF:
- A cover letter, signed by the Chapter Advisor (or sent from the Advisor’s email address), confirming that the activity or event took place
- A narrative, not to exceed 500 words, describing the service project and its relation to the Book Club Kit
- A list of all participating persons or groups
- Pertinent supplemental materials (event program, flyers, website, social media posts, campus news story, etc.)
- Contact Information:
- Advisor Name
- Advisor Email
- Chapter/School
- Payee Name
- Payee Mailing Address
However you choose to build your book club experience, don’t forget to share it on social media with Sigma Tau Delta! We love to see all the wonderful things you put your mind to!
Book Club Kit Archive
Visit the Book Club Kit page of our website to access the Book Club Kit Archive and check back regularly for more kits to be released on this year’s convention and webinar speakers.
More from Footnotes: October 27, 2026
2027 Convention Update
English Honor Societies Webinars
Upcoming Regional Events
Cambridge Undergraduate Summer Program
