I've had the conversation lately with a classroom teacher and her group of 6th grade girls about rereading books...we all agreed that there is value in it. However, some people see it as a waste of time. I can understand that to a point. And the point is, that we always pick up something new from the author each time we read their ideas. We bring with us new experiences, opinions and perspectives when we read a book again. For example, I read The Secret Garden as a child and again as an adult. Instead of simply thinking this was a "good" book, I was able to compare it to all of the other books I've read and see it for what it truly is...a classic. Thank goodness! Also, there's a practical reason for rereading books and that is simply because we enjoy them. As the teacher pointed out to her students, "Don't some of you watch a movie more than once?" Um, yes. Yes, we do. 
It's Book Fair week in our school library and I'm caught up on my required reading. My student crew is handling the cash register and fair responsibly, so I'm taking my supervisor's job very seriously and sipping coffee while bossing them around. Seriously, I'm spending my very much desired and rare down time reading books from the collection that my daughter may enjoy reading next year when she enters sixth grade. I'm starting with Rodman Philbrick's Freak the Mighty. Our school library owns a classroom set and a group of sixth graders usually read them with one of their teachers each year. I've never read it...so here we go! I'm also excited that we own the movie...LOVE reading books and watching the movie! Here's a blurb from the back of the book. Feel free to join me as I read! 
"Max. Freak. Best Friends. Forever. I never had a brain until Freak came along.... That's what Max thought. All his life he'd been called stupid. Dumb. Slow. It didn't help that his body seemed to be growing faster than his mind. It didn't help that people were afraid of him. So Max learned how to be alone. At least until Freak came along. Freak was weird, too. He had a little body---and a really big brain. Together Max and Freak were unstoppable. Together, they were Freak the Mighty." 
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry is a fast favorite for many upper elementary and middle school
At this time of year, I'm just thankful for a little quiet time to spend with family. I rarely have any, but when I do, I love just sitting and watching as my kids grow into their own personalities. One of them can be quite compassionate and hysterical. The other can be quiet and contemplative. While confined to the car with them for approximately 12 hours this past week, I was reminded that in order for them to be confident in themselves, I have to remember to show confidence myself. I am a confident reader, but have been criticized in the past for reading "too much". Reading is a big part of my life. Some may say it takes up too much time, but I defend that critique wholeheartedly...it's my job. I like what I do. I've worked a long time to become a librarian and guess what librarians do? They read. They have to. Most of the time I read for work and some people just don't understand how that works. How am I to recommend books/authors to students when I'm not familiar with the material? Once I get to know a student, I can usually place a book in their hands that I know with 90% assurance they will love! It's not magical. It's not a talent. It's the product of work. Reading. Why am I standing on the soapbox shouting to the world? I really don't know. Guess I felt it necessary to take some of the guilt from my fellow readers for spending so much time buried up in a book. I admit that some people neglect responsibilities and that too much of a good thing is a bad thing, but shouldn't we all strive to be the best _____ we can be? 
I had the opportunity to do just that this past week. My daughter struggles with the concept of "reading as homework" and really, who can blame her? When I'm "required" to do something, I find myself enjoying it less. As a school librarian, I KNOW that reading at home is ESSENTIAL to growing a reader/writer, but I wonder how many less students would read at home anyway, even if we didn't require it and provide a grade for it? I won't be conducting this experiment any time soon, but I do wonder... Anyhow! I picked up an additional copy of Touch Blue, by Cynthia Lord to read along with my daughter. And as I knew it would be, the story was delightful. It's the story of Tess, who lives on an island just off the mainland. The government has decided that unless they can add to their school's enrollment, the doors will be shut. So one of the islanders comes up with an ingenious plan to have the families take in foster children. Their hearts are pure and the concept appears to work until Tess' family welcomes their foster child to the island. He's angry. Has been in numerous foster homes. Misses his mother and wants to return to her. What ensues is a heartbreaking story of acceptance, with themes of HOME and LOVE and FAMILY. What makes a family anyway? I love Lord's books, so I flew through it. Leaving my poor daughter waaaay behind. I was pleased to be able to talk to her about the book and answer some questions she had about this realistic fiction novel set in Maine. Some of the vocabulary was foreign to her and some of the concepts, such as lobster trapping. Hopefully my daughter will finish the book this week and we can get her book report finished and turned in! Shew!
My next book will be Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George. She won the Newbery Medal for this in 1973. I'm excited to share this book with my December Book Breakfast members even though some of them have already communicated to me in no uncertain terms, that it's just "not as good a book as what we have been reading". Ha! Love that they're becoming literary critics! I'll attempt to help them understand the significance of this story, as it was released in 1972. (I was months old, btw).