I run a homeschool book club in my local community, and we recently read Clayton Byrd Goes Underground. We have five different age groups meeting in separate rooms at the same time, and I’ve taught different ages over the years. This year, I’m leading the Tweeners (4th and 5th grade boys and girls), and we’re having a ball! If you’re interested in learning more, please check out How to Start a Book Club and the ongoing list of our Heritage Book Club Monthly Picks.

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This book deals with some heavier topics, but it’s expertly written with care and compassion, and the kids really enjoyed it. Rita Williams-Garcia is a beloved author our group is familiar with because some of her other books have been past book club reads, including One Crazy Summer, P.S. Be Eleven, and Gone Crazy in Alabama.

The book examines a young boy’s experience with profound grief as Clayton unexpectedly loses his beloved grandfather, Cool Papa, and is left to process alone without the support of his demanding mom. Clayton becomes overwhelmed and runs away to find solace in his grandfather’s Bluesmen band, experiencing many life lessons along the way.

The ending of the book is satisfying and hopeful but also realistic (not unbelievably perfect). I think this is just the type of story to bridge older elementary and young middle school readers to the more complex family dynamics often seen in middle grade fiction (and real life).

Introduction

This is a video of the author reading Chapter 1 aloud with a little theatrics to set the mood. I had it playing while the kids settled into the room. In hindsight, I would have sent the video out to families ahead of time because Chapter 1 is written in a fun, bluesy style that can take some getting used to, but the rest of the book is easier for kids to read on their own.

We started our time together with an icebreaker question. I asked the kids to share a time that they felt like no one understood how they felt or what they were going through. We also talked about why the kids liked or disliked the book. I ask that question for every book, and the kids’ answers are so insightful.

Discussion Questions

For the rest of the session, I intermingled group discussion with clips from the author’s interview with Reading Rockets.

I relied a lot on the Clayton Byrd Teacher’s Guide provided on the author’s website to come up with my questions for the group. The children were most enthusiastic with these questions:

• Why do Clayton and his mother clash so often? What does he do that makes her angry? What does she do that makes him angry? Describe her personality and her attitude, besides anger, towards Clayton. Analyze the scene where she gets him from the police, and what it shows about their relationship.
• According to Cool Papa, “Happy people need the blues to cry, and sad people need the blues to laugh” (pp. 2-3). What do you think he means by that? Relate his words to his declaration that “a bluesman ain’t a bluesman without that deep-down cry” (p. 6). By that definition, do you think Clayton becomes a bluesman during the story? Why or why not?
• Discuss the book’s title and why you think the author chose it. Why does Clayton get on the subway, and what challenges does he face because of it? Does anything good come out of his underground journey? What other meaning could there be to the idea that he goes “underground” besides his subway trip?

Virtual “Author Visit”

The Reading Rocket author clips are in a playlist, and each one is really short – only a minute or two. We didn’t watch all of them, but it was fun to hear Rita Williams-Garcia’s voice throughout our book club meeting. It felt like we were having a visit with a famous!

At the end of the meeting, I gave each child a book charm to add to their book club chain and introduced next month’s book: Talkin’ About Bessie by Nikki Grimes

I can’t even express how much I enjoy teaching book club! It’s one of the highlights of this season in my life.

Bonus Material

I didn’t show this video from We Need Diverse Books to my book club kids, but I watched it, and I loved hearing the author of Clayton Byrd Goes Underground and school librarian discussing the importance of books as mirrors and windows. YES to that! To learn more about the importance of diverse books, check out Chapters 4, 5, and 6 in my book A PLACE TO BELONG.

More Book Club Lesson Guides

If you enjoyed this Clayton Byrd Goes Underground book club lesson plan, you may enjoy reading about some of our previous meetings:

• Clubhouse Mysteries: The Buried Bones Mystery by Sharon M. Draper
• Ways to Make Sunshine by Renee Watson
• Ansley’s Big Bake Off by Kaityln, Olivia, and Camryn Pitts
• The Toothpaste Millionaire by Jean Merrill
• The Last Last-Day-of-Summer by Lamar Giles
• Justin and the Best Biscuits in the World by Mildred Pitts Walter

You can find me on Instagram at @heritagemomblog. See you there!