Members of the Rise and Read book club at Hope High School are, from left, Miguel Franco, Esvin Pineda, Ashley French, Tinaysha White, Linda Nanthavong, Edwin Vargas and Evin Rivard. Below, Edwin Vargas peruses a book; at bottom, Sera Rodriguez, right, never learned Spanish from her parents, but is now learning how to read Spanish with the help of librarian Jenny Fierro.

The Providence Journal / Andrew Dickerman

PROVIDENCE — This is a story about the little book club that could.

Last year, several teachers and librarians at Hope High School decided that a book club would be a great way to get teenagers enthusiastic about reading, which is particularly important in a school where so many students are reading below proficiency.

The staff — English teachers Jodi Timpani and Laura Almagno and librarian Jenny Fierro — created the Rise and Read book club, which met over breakfast in the school library Thursdays at 7:30 a.m. Their hope was that if the staff presented reading as something fun and social, then students might see novels as their friends instead of their enemies.

The students, mostly juniors and seniors, read four books, a mix of young adult fiction and traditional fiction that included Bento Box in the Heartland: My Japanese Girlhood in Whitebread America, and Wicked.

The teenagers said they were drawn to the book club initially as a way of meeting other students. But those who stayed said they did so because they discovered that reading offered a way into a fantasy world removed from their everyday lives.

“It’s more than reading letters in a book,” said 15-year-old Esvin Pimeda. “Now I imagine the story in my head. I understand what the characters are trying to say.”

Another student, Edwin Vargas, said that the book club “really opened my eyes that books can be interesting.”

While Timpani built interest in the book club among upperclassmen, Almagno and colleague Laura Maxwell created a feeder club for freshmen, who read Water for Elephants this spring.

A partnership with Borders bookstore began by happenstance, the way so many good things do. Timpani was buying books for her students when she bumped into Jane Flowers, the store’s sales manager. After a brief discussion, Flowers offered to host the book club at the Providence Place mall.

That conversation was the beginning of a fruitful relationship. The book club now meets quarterly at Borders, where students gather in the middle of store and discuss the latest work in front of a group of curious onlookers. Before Christmas, the teenagers wrapped gifts to raise money for the club.

More recently, Borders began a drive to collect books for the school library. So far, it has acquired more than 400 books. And Flowers said that the store is creating a section for young adult fiction, adding that she would like the students to write book reviews.

When the partnership with Borders began last spring, no one would have predicted that Hope would host best-selling author Jodi Picoult, whose latest novel is Change of Heart. When the author said she was looking for an informal setting for her Providence visit, Flowers immediately thought of Hope and the Rise and Read club.

“This is a great group of kids who are totally motivated,” Flowers said. “The commitment they show to their own education is phenomenal.”

On April 14, 600 people lined up at the high school to hear Picoult speak and the students escorted guests into the auditorium, cracked open boxes of books and flipped open the covers for the author to autograph.

As a special treat, Picoult, a mother of three, offered to meet with the students before the book signing. Two weeks later, students are still enthralled with the magic of meeting an author and some of them have practically memorized her advice to young writers.

“She told us to write about what keeps you awake at night,” Vargas said, “and the first thing you think of in the morning.”

“She said that writing was like a splinter,” said another student, Linda Nanthavong. “You keep working on it and working on it until you get it right.”

Timpani, who said she was moved to tears by the conversation between Picoult and the students, called the event “a teachable moment.”

“We’re forever in debt to her,” she said. “She personalized it for us. She created so much momentum.”

As Almagno put it, thanks to the book club, “it’s now cool for teenagers to read.”

lborg@projo.com