Raising a rereader

tell us, what books do you love to read, and read again?

Today is one of those Tuesdays (because new books come out on Tuesday) when I’m especially excited about a new release: Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart. I loved Stuart’s Booker prize-winning novel Shuggie Bain, a heartbreaking but funny coming-of-age story set in Stuart’s hometown of Glasgow, Scotland. So of course I’ve eagerly awaited his new book. Checking out the reviews has also reminded me that maybe it’s time to reread Shuggie Bain. Same thing with the new television adaptation of Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko—rereading is a pleasure we often deny ourselves because we think we should read so many books in a month or a year.

Bea rereads books all the time, even after we’ve just checked out a tall stack of books from the library. Harriet, of course, has her favorites too (the Mog books, anything by Cynthia Rylant or Rosemary Wells). I asked Bea why she loves rereading books, and what she gets out of the experience.

Belle: I notice you rereading books a lot. Why is that?

Bea: It can bring me back to parts I missed or can’t remember. Sometimes you read a book, and you love it so much you think you won’t forget it, but parts of the book disappear from your memory.

Do you ever just read one specific part of a book? I do that sometimes with novels I love that have something distinctive about them… like in William Maxwell’s So Long, See You Tomorrow, there’s a chapter that begins with the narrator, much older, thinking about visiting a Giacometti sculpture (Palace at 4 a.m.) at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It seems to have nothing to do with the present-moment story, but of course it does, because it’s about memory.

Yes. One of my favorite parts in Temple Alley Summer by Sachiko Kashiwaba is where they read a story in a magazine. It’s a very interesting and cool story, and it plays a big part in the book. So I go back and reread it. I don’t know how many times I’ve reread that part—maybe five times.

When I was little, I loved reading the Frog and Toad books to Sky because they were so funny. And when I got a little older, I reread my copy of Little Women so many times—I also read a school library copy of Little Men, but it wasn’t that great (go figure!) What are some of your favorite books to reread?

I think the books I’ve reread the most are the Merci Suárez books by Meg Medina. They have so many twists and turns, and it’s never boring, even though you know what happened. The characters are just really interesting and real. Same goes for the Birchbark House books by Louise Erdrich.

I love those! And the book series we’ve probably listened to the most is the Ramona Quimby series.

Yep! I also like reading my dad’s old Calvin and Hobbes comics because they’re so funny.

Nonfiction books are useful to reread. For example, The Girls’ Book: How to Be the Best at Everything is an ideal guide for doing… well, most things. Like how to win a staring contest, how to ice skate, what to do if zombies or aliens attack, or how to do a handstand.

Poetry is also great for rereading. You can just open up to a random page and enjoy a poem! I like Shel Silverstein.

And I like rereading books with beautiful art, like Goddesses and Heroines: Women of Myth and Legend by Xanthe Gresham-Knight and Alice Pattullo. And basically any book about myths! Today I won three candies in a trvia contest because it was about Greek myths.

So what about you, Frog Troublers? Is there a book you especially love rereading? What’s your favorite thing about rereading?

P.S. to our writer friends: Shuggie Bain was rejected by forty publishers before it found a home!