Oct. 19, 2025- Revisiting Favorite Books

This fall I am teaching a Children’s Literature class at our local University.  One of my favorite classes to teach, it is like a semester-long book club gathering.  I immerse these future teachers in books and literature and we read, discuss, share, examine, laugh, cry, and plan.

The students were recently put in groups where they are reading and working their way through a selected children’s novel.  Each group has a different title.

While I love hearing all of their comments and reactions to what they are reading, some of the most animated and passionate comments were shared by students who were reading the book for the second ( or third) time.  They had first read the book as a youngster themselves, and now they were back, reading it again.

I loved hearing how some favorite parts or aspects of the story still resonated with them, and I adored hearing them share the things that they had not noticed or grasped during the first reading, but that they now found so powerful. Yes, some of that was likely due to the fact that the first reading was done as a child and they are now an adult. But I also think that there is a much more profound force at work.

When we read a book, we always bring our own experiences and perspectives with us. They are often the prism through which we view the story and create meaning as we read.  Stories and books often change us as well.  They add to our world-view, our philosophy of life, our understanding of others, and often, our own identity. 

When we reread a book, whether it is a month later, a year later, or five years later, we are not the same person who read it the first time. 

So when my elementary students are looking for books to read and I suggest a title that they say they have already read, I will remind them that it is okay to read a book again.