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Intro
Hi everyone and welcome to Books Between - a podcast for educators, librarians, parents, and everyone who loves middle grade books!\\xa0 My goal is to help you connect kids between 8-12 with fantastic reads because I believe that a book can change the trajectory of a child\\u2019s life.\\xa0 And I want to help you introduce kids to those amazing, life-shaping books and bring you inspiring (and fun!) conversations with the authors and educators who make that magic happen.
I\\u2019m your host, Corrina Allen - a mom of two tweens, a 5th grade teacher, and just back from an awe-inspiring visit with my family to Niagara Falls. If you have ever have the opportunity to go, there is nothing quite like standing on a rocking boat within the mist of the roaring horseshoe falls and gazing up 170 feet at over 3,000 tons of water thundering over those cliffs every second. Do go you if\\xa0 you can - it\\u2019s impressive, we learned a TON, and it\\u2019s one of those things that should be experienced at least once in your life.
A quick reminder to help out your future self and set yourself a reminder for Monday nights at 9pm EST so you can catch the #MGBookChat Twitter chat - we have scheduled some great topics and hosts later on this summer and fall. So I will see you there.\\xa0
This is episode #75 and today\\u2019s show starts with a discussion about the benefits of rereading and then I bring you a conversation with Scholastic librarian Deimosa Webber-Bey.\\xa0
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Main Topic - The Benefits of Rereading
Our main topic today is a discussion around rereading books. Over the years, my own thinking in this area has evolved a lot. As a young teacher who wanted to make the most out of absolutely every precious second of classroom time, I had a rather negative view of students reading a book for pleasure that they had already read before. If a kid was picking a novel for a book club or a book report, I wouldn\\u2019t let them select a book they had previously read. Thinking back, that really did seem to be the norm among my colleagues. Like them, I viewed it as cheating a little bit!\\xa0 As if they wouldn\\u2019t be as engaged in the text a second time around or they weren\\u2019t challenging themselves enough. Basically - I considered rereading a book in school as a waste of a learning opportunity.
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It wasn\\u2019t until about 5 years ago that a friend had a conversation with me that changed my mind. We weren\\u2019t even debating the merits of allowing kids to reread books, we were just chatting. She asked me, \\u201cCorrina, what\\u2019s your favorite movie?\\u201d\\xa0 And I said, \\u201cOh! The Princess Bride! I\\u2019ve watched it like 50 times\\u2026..\\u201d\\xa0 Oh. Ohhhhh\\u2026\\u2026.
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And that\\u2019s when it hit me. It was that one friendly person inadvertently holding up a mirror to myself that made me reconsider the misconceptions I held and start to realize there are huge benefits to experiencing a text, a film, multiple times.\\xa0
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I mean - if you think about it - watching a movie or tv series over and over again - is a commonly shared and even celebrated social phenomenon.\\xa0 I hear lots of people talking about how many times they\\u2019ve watched The Office or Black Panther or Star Wars. In my house, it\\u2019s a running joke how many times my husband\\u2019s Facebook status is \\u201cwatching Casino Royale\\u201d
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So today, I\\u2019d like to explore with you some reasons why rereading is so satisfying, some academic benefits, and a few ways to enhance the rereading experience for the kids you work with.
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Why Rereading is so Satisfying
Let\\u2019s start with why rereading is so satisfying.\\xa0
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Academic Benefits
Aside from simply making you happy, rereading texts multiple times does have academic benefits that can boost reading skills. For example -\\xa0
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How to Enhance Rereading for Children
Clearly, there are some huge benefits when children reread, and I think with the right approach we can enhance that experience for them.\\xa0\\xa0
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As I wrap up my summer and think ahead to how I want to support readers this school year, embracing rereading and helping students harness the power of experiencing a text more than one time is going to be a larger part of that.
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I\\u2019ll end this section with some wise words from Dav Pilkey, author of Captain Underpants and Dog Man who has said, \\u201cNobody complains when musicians play the same songs over and over or when basketball players run the same plays over and over. So why do we complain when children read the same books multiple times?\\u201d
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Well said.
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Deimosa Webber-Bey\\xa0 - Interview Outline
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Our special guest this week is Scholastic Librarian Deimosa Webber-Bey! We chat about encouraging kids to read more over the summer, what books she\\u2019s been loving lately, and what Scholastic is doing through their Summer Read-a-Palooza challenge to get more books in more kids\\u2019 hands. And there is absolutely still time for you and the kids in your life to help out with that. I will drop a link to the 2019 Scholastic Summer Read-a-Palooza in our show notes and right on the MGBookVillage website so you can check that out. Also - a big part of the conversation that I have with Deimosa is around the results of the latest Scholastic Kids & Family Reading Report and the link to that is right there as well and definitely worth your time to explore.\\xa0
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Take a listen.
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Q: How did you come to work for Scholastic?
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Q: Something that has been on my mind lately as I\\u2019ve wrapped up the school year with my students is the knowledge that if they don\\u2019t read over the summer, they are going to lose so much of the progress they\\u2019ve gained this past year.\\xa0 And what has helped me articulate that \\u201cSummer Slide\\u201d research to our parents is the Scholastic Kids & Family Reading Report. Could you tell us a little bit about that report and share some of the findings that really stood out to you?
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Q: Scholastic has done so much research in this area!\\xa0 From your point of view, what do you see as the main things that educators and families can do to keep kids reading over the summer?
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Q: I love that Scholastic always has a fresh reading campaign for kids every summer - and I love that this year the campaign is supporting a great cause. Can you tell us about the Scholastic Summer Read-a-Palooza?
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Q: What are you reading right now? And what are some titles that are on your TBR list for the summer?
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Thank you!
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Links:
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Deimosa\\u2019s website - http://runawayquiltproject.org
Deimosa on Twitter - @dataquilter
Deimosa on Scholastic - http://oomscholasticblog.com/post/summer-reading-imperative-commentary-deimosa-webber-bey
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Books we chatted about:
Five Nights At Freddy\\u2019s: The Silver Eyes (Scott Cawthorn)
Transformed (Megan Morrison)
Internment (Samira Ahmed)
Puerto Rico Strong: A Comics Anthology Supporting Puerto Rico Disaster
Child of the Dream: A Memoir of 1963 (Sharon Robinson)
Miles Morales (Jason Reynolds)
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Closing
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Alright - that\\u2019s it for our show this week. If you have a question about how to connect middle grade readers to books they will love or an idea about a guest we should have or a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.
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Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can find an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org.\\xa0 And, if you are liking the show, please help others find us too by telling a friend, sharing on social media, or leaving a rating on iTunes or Stitcher.
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Talk with you soon!\\xa0 Bye!
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