"The power of the NCBC to influence not only the lives of the people who participate but the lives of those around them is incredible and goes far beyond just that night, that book, and that circle of friends. Put together a few simple yet elegant ideas like NCBC and, who knows, perhaps people will really have the chance to lead lives of quality of their choosing. Pull up a chair, grab a latte, and let’s read this book and talk about it."
-Michael L. Wehmeyer, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Special Education Director, Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities Senior Scientist, Beach Center on Disability

"Several years ago my daughter joined her first Next Chapter Book Club. Her self-confidence as well as her sight reading skills immediately improved. She considers the members to be her friends and looks forward to each meeting where they read, they talk, and they laugh together. Members are enriched by the experience, as is the community around them. May this book make it easier for new Next Chapter Book Clubs to form across the country!"
-Kathy Bachmann, Parent of an adult with Down syndrome

"The Next Chapter Book Club (NCBC) is a nationwide network of over 130 book clubs to help adolescents and adults with disabilities (and all levels of reading abilities) read, discuss books, and socialize. Next Chapter Book Club: A Model Community Literacy Program for People with Intellectual Disabilities is a step-by-step guide to creating just such a club in one's own community. Chapters spell out how to form and sponsor a club, find and train volunteer facilitators, attract members, choose an ideal meeting location, build literacy skills, select books, and much more. Tips, tricks, and suggestions fill this user-friendly manual, and the eighteen appendices provide all the blank forms, reports, and surveys one will need to get one's club off the ground. The forms are also present on a companion CD-ROM for ease of printing and duplication. Next Chapter Book Club: A Model Community Literacy Program for People is a 'must-have' for anyone interested in starting a book club to enrich the lives of people with intellectual disabilities, especially librarians. Highly recommended."
-Midwest Book Review

"Next Chapter Book Club: A Model Community Literacy Program for People with Intellectual Disabilities by Tom Fish, PhD, and Paula Rabidoux PhD, CCC-SLP, focuses on a unique literacy and community inclusion program. The Next Chapter Book Club (NCBC) was developed by Dr. Fish and his colleagues at the Nisonger Center of Ohio State University.

The premise of the book is to provide opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities to read together, learn to read, talk about books, and make friends in a fun community setting. The authors believe that learning can and should be a life-long process for people with intellectual disabilities and not something that stops once they graduate from high school. They share their experience and provide the practical nuts and bolts as well as the proper steps to take in order to get a book club running in a community.

Next Chapter Book Clubs include five to eight people with intellectual disabilities of all ages and reading disabilities. Two trained volunteers are on hand to facilitate the discussion. NCBC members choose how they structure their club, which books to read, and when and where to meet.

This book is a complete how-to manual with instructions for forming and sponsoring a club, finding and training volunteers, attracting members, selecting a host site, and choosing books. The books usually are adapted or abridged literary classics from the NCBC library.

In addition, the book includes 21 appendices on intake forms, monthly facilitator reports, member and parent/family survey forms, the NCBC Library, a five-level scale of literary skills, and other tools and forms for managing a book club. The appendices are included on an accompanying CD.

This is an exceptionally well written and methodical publication that is applicable for parents and educators who understand the importance of literacy and social community exposure for people with intellectual disabilities."
-ADVANCE for Speech-Language Pathologists & Audiologists, October 1, 2009

"Librarians supporting programs in special education, social work, or rehabilitation counseling will find value in this book."
-CAPHIS Consumer Connections