PBS Utah’s Book Club in a Box is a curated collection of resources and materials for book club hosts to facilitate an in-depth conversation on a film paired with a book to explore its relevance to the community. Each box includes one book and DVD, discussion questions prepared by a humanities scholar, recipe ideas for refreshments for the book club, and information on service organizations relevant to the topics, PBS Utah SEVEN guides, station membership information, and instructions for continuing the conversation through social media. Book Club in a Box is available to any book club host at no cost on a first-come-first-serve basis.
PBS Utah’s Book Club in a Box encourages private book clubs to engage in deep conversations about stories that are not only entertaining, but also educational, informative, and relevant to Utahns. Tapping into the conversations of book clubs has been a key component to the success of this project and the station’s ability to extend the life of its locally produced films. Participants self-select the content they wish to discuss, which means they are (most likely) invested in the issues explored through the curated material.
Book Club in a Box won the Community Engagement Award for a local project at the 2019 NETA Awards (National Educational Telecommunications Association).