This study investigated the nature and degree of difference in students' behaviors, participation, and power structures in classroom based online book discussions versus face-to-face discussions using pseudonyms, to determine whether online discussion is a useful adjunct to face-to-face literature circles in involving all students as participants. The research team hypothesized that creating a safer, more egalitarian space for book discussion would offer marginalized students a more open avenue for participation in the construction of literary meaning and would add to the student generated knowledge base, and provide them with a sense of being valued in a classroom setting. This study found that in these three classrooms almost half of the participants would not have fully expressed themselves without the anonymous online discussions.