Kids book clubs take page from adults The second-grade girls excitedly discussed the meaning of the words "gallant," "posh," "Goth," and "soap dodger." "What image is the writer trying to put into your head?" asked Nicholas Baker, who runs the children's book club. "Um, he uses poisonous because he wants you to think of her as a rattlesnake," said 8-year-old Meryl Sampson, sitting cross-legged in her school uniform. Baker, an erudite Brit who lives in San Francisco and is the father of a fourth-grader, leads four children's book clubs in San Francisco and Marin. Across the Bay Area, children are taking a page from adults, who have long gathered in homes to dissect and debate books. Reading clubs for kids ages 6 and up are being held in homes, being encouraged by schools and being offered by bookstores. Steven Sautter, who runs a book club for middle schoolers at Books Inc.