As the world struggles through this strange time in history, we are left with only technology and our creativity to stay social. Although I do like to Facetime and Zoom with my friends, I wanted to think of something extra special to bring my friends and I together during this crazy time.

I thought of the idea to create some kind of non-contact book club when I was looking through my house to find a good book to read with all of the time that I now have. Unfortunately, the most interesting book I could find was a biography on Thomas Jefferson. I definitely didn’t want to read more about Thomas Jefferson than I already have to in school, and as we are currently limited in our abilities to purchase a new book or pick one up at the library, I sent a text to two of my friends who I knew liked to read. From there arose our Social Distancing Book Club.

Here’s how it works. Each of us wraps two books in wrapping paper with brief notes attached to check in with each other and provide a short summary of the book for the friend that is receiving it. Then we deliver a packaged book to each friend’s door step, leaving each person with two new books to read.

About a week after we all delivered the first set of books to each other, we rotated, meaning that the book I gave to one of my friends was delivered by her to our other friend, and so on. As of right now, I have read three books: “Born a Crime” by Trevor Noah, “Counting by 7s” by Holly Goldberg Sloan, and “Nest” by Esther Ehrlich, which all vary in topic from growing up in South Africa during Apartheid to a bird-obsessed girl whose mother becomes deeply depressed after being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.

Having this book club with my friends during a time of social isolation has kept us connected and away from a screen. When this is all over and in the past, I hope to remember that out-of-the-box thinking that allowed my friends and I to create something memorable together during an event we never thought we would experience.