All about Love book Club

Since the dawn of time, lovers, philosophers and our musical greats alike have pondered the meanings of love.

On April 4th, 2026, our P4L community explored the various meanings of love at our ‘Read Our bell’ Book Club with bell hooks’s All About Love: New Visions, the first in her “Love Song to the Nation” trilogy.

Participants shared their own journeys and understandings of love, and how those definitions of love have evolved over time. Here are a few key takeaways and discussion points we covered:

Defining Love: We discussed love definitions and ways love is shown, pointed out how love changes or grows based on one's upbringing, and approaches to love and love languages.

Love as an Action: We discussed bell hooks’s definition of love as “the will to extend one’s self for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth” (broader meaning of mental/emotional/physical well-being) p.4.

We then thought about, “How do we apply bell hooks’s insights and create a shared definition of ‘love’ within our families?

Going Against ‘Childism’: Childism is the prejudice and antagonism against children based on the belief that adults are inherently superior which can result in abuse and harm. We discussed how to honor children's autonomy and move away from discipline based on anger or fear; we talked about discipline approaches that teach children values and good decision-making and not just getting the child to stop the behavior in the moment

Self-Reflection and Regulation: We discussed the importance of calming ourselves down to avoid violent reactions; using affirmations to relate to our children and being aware of when our reactions are based on how our kids' behavior may make us look in public

The discussion motivated many thoughts, feelings and encouragements to define love and practice it more intentionally.

For more insights and ideas for how to apply bell’s lessons in your family, check out our Reflection & Family Activity Worksheet.

So when's the next book club meeting? Stay tuned for upcoming dates and details!