Julie at the launch of Getting Help with Gas
Julie’s book, The Book Club
Julie’s story
Favourite Beyond Words book: The Book Club
Julie Anderson is a Book Club expert - so much so that she even authored her own book on the subject! She knows first-hand how fantastic books and Book Clubs can be to help people make friends and have fun.
After meeting one of our team at a discovery café at her local library, Julie started reading our word-free picture books and found that she really enjoyed them. After attending a Book Club, Julie was so interested that she decided to start her own Club. She said:
“I think Book Clubs are brilliant. They’re really good. You meet new friends. I met my friend Mandy through a Book Club. I hadn’t seen her for 20-odd years. We’ve been friends ever since. I met an old friend I’d met before and got closer through my Book Club.
I enjoy doing it. The books are good, the people are good, and I see my friends as well. It makes me feel good to do Book Club.”
Julie's Book Club is famous at Beyond Words, because it is our only international one! After they went online during the Covid 19 pandemic, they were joined by two international people - one from Finland, and one from Scotland. To make sure everyone feels included, Julie hosts one Book Club on Zoom and one in the Deal Library.
But her fame doesn't just end there! Julie is one of our authors, working on a book all about what she knows best - Book Clubs. She even took part in a book signing on the launch date.
“I’m proud of what I’ve done. I had a lot of fun writing the book. It was a bit hard and a bit easy. I had some help. Showing how good the Book Club can be was my favourite part of writing the book.
My parents came to the book launch - they didn’t know what was going on. I said ‘come to the library’ when we did it - they said ‘why’? I said ‘just come to the library’, so Mum and Dad came. They didn’t realise I’d authored a book - they were really surprised. They’re really proud.”
When we asked Julie what her advice would be to anyone wanting to start their own Book Club, she offered this advice:
“Go ahead and do it! Speak to someone at Books Beyond Words and go ahead and do it. It’s worth people doing, especially with adults with special needs and people that can’t talk that well. We’ve got people who come with complex needs and we use sensory books with them and they really enjoy it. ”