Chapter III: Children's Stories - Or why to keep them to read again and again

“Many, if not most, of the best and most lasting children’s books have multiple levels, some of which are not fully accessible to their most likely readers…at least, not on their first read-through at age eight or ten or fifteen.” - Patricia C. Wrede

      I touched - manhandled, really - this subject when I discussed The Giver and its following books. They are books for children and for young adults - you can see a layer or two, sometimes more if you read looking hard enough. But you do not have the life lessons necessary to fully appreciate everything when you are eight or ten or fifteen.

       When I read ElfQuest for the first time - a graphic novel dear to my heart and certainly the subject for its own blog post soon enough - I was five. I had learned to read laughably early and comic books, while not my usual fare, kept me satisfied between library trips. ElfQuest was a simple adventure to me at that time. When I read it again at age ten, I realized bits of the social layer, the complciated dealings between elves and humans and trolls, and that I could apply it to the world I knew. I then read it again every year, yearning to learn something new. It wasn't until I was eighteen that I noticed how many tens of ways love was expressed, just in the first four books. I didn't understand until I was nineteen why the elves spent their time before war the way they did, why it mattered so much to experience life in a frenzy before dealing and facing death. Whether it's a whole new lesson or noticing one new nuance to a panel, ElfQuest treats me to a novelty every time.

       The same happens with all the children's books I read. I have shelves in my room dedicated to the books I read when I was younger, from picture books (I still learn from those) to "Independent Readers" to YA, and even the fantasy fiction I read far too early. I make a habit of rereading those when I can. The Giver gets a new reading every year, ElfQuest every two; Ender's Game makes the rounds every two years as well, while books like The Westing Game and Dealing with Dragons (by the author of that lovely quote) and its subsequent books get back into my hands every three or four years. And those are just the titles that are frequent. I've done this so many times - it's really no wonder my "to-read" shelves take so long to get any smaller.

       If you've never given yourself the pleasure of revisiting an old favorite, do so. You'll notice little things you never knew you'd missed, and maybe find a lesson or two that were hiding between the lines, waiting for you to experience just the right things in life. A book is never, ever the same twice.