Student Book Club

By Lia Low, Amelia Kondor, and Hiona Oyama

Book club members in their weekly meeting (Lia Low).

As we, members of Templeton’s student book club, finish reading our first book of the year, we would like to write some reviews and recommendations for similar books. The Templeton Book Club is a club that was officially founded earlier this school year. Our staff sponsor is Ms. Nanda, our school’s librarian.

Last year, a small group of grade nine students wanted to join a book club part way through the school year, but Templeton did not yet have its own book club, which is why we created one this year. From December of 2021 to June of 2022, we read a total of five books. We explored quite a few different genres, including YA romance, mystery, fantasy, and dystopian literacy. As a group, we all decide on a manageable section to read over each week, so even some of our slower readers can participate. A couple of our favourites since first starting out have been Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab, and our most recent book, If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio.

If We Were Villains is about a group of seven fourth-year students studying Shakespeare in the fictional Dellecher Classical Conservatory. When one of these students dies mysteriously, the protagonist, Oliver Marks, wishes to return to his life from before the incident. However, as time passes, he slowly discovers secrets that his inner circle of friends have been keeping from him, and the truth about their friend’s death comes to light. This book was well received by the book club; most of our members were intrigued by the mysterious plot, and adored the characters. The book was written in the style of a Shakespeare play, with acts and scenes instead of parts and chapters. The author skillfully incorporated a lot of Shakespearean language and quotations, with characters using the Bard’s words in place of their own.

We would recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys Shakespeare or mysteries. If you enjoy slow-paced books, this could be the book for you, as the first two acts are dedicated more towards character development. This story focuses as much on relatable and flawed characters as it does on the dark and twisting plot.

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