If you have children in your life, you’re probably familiar with them enjoying their favourite book over and over again, whether that’s having it read to them, or reading it to themselves. There can be the thinking that it may be of more benefit to them to widen their reading experience and to try out new reading material. But, did you know, there is much more value in rereading books than might first be apparent.
Let’s look at five benefits of rereading:
- Rereading develops reading fluency and comprehension skills.
As children reread favourite books, they become more familiar with the language and the structure of that language. Words start to make more sense and the way in which language is structured also starts to make more sense. Hearing parents or caregivers reading the same words and sentences over and over again, enables children to get past the mechanics of how reading works and focus more on understanding what the story is about.
- Rereading builds a bigger vocabulary
Reading is a great way to grow a child’s vocabulary and the more they read the same vocabulary over and over again, the more they start to recognise and understand the words. Repetition is the best way to build a child’s vocabulary and rereading favourite books is a great way to do this.
- Rereading creates a positive reading experience.
When a child wants to reread a book or a series over and over again, it is really important not to dismiss this or make the child feel like a lesser reader because of it, especially as it could put them off reading altogether. It really is wonderful that they love reading a book so much that they want to do it again and this should be seen as a huge positive.
- Rereading develops confidence
The more a child reads the same book over and over, the more familiar they become with the words in it and the story, their reading becomes more fluent, and their understanding of the story deepens. Combining all these elements together develops a child’s confidence, making them more likely to read more.
- Rereading is comforting and creates special memories.
Familiarity breeds comfort. How many of us have a film or TV show that we love to watch over and over again? Or a favourite book that we enjoy repeatedly dipping into? Sometimes indulging in these familiar worlds is similar to giving ourselves a warm hug and it’s no different for children. Entering a world of familiar characters and scenarios over and over again, allows them to relax and enjoy being in that world as there are no surprises and it is somewhere they want to be. If the book is a favourite that is being reread to them by a significant adult in their life, this can enable the child to form happy reading memories, not only of the book, but also of the time spent with their significant adult and bond that it created between them.
As you can see there are great benefits that come from children rereading. It really should be encouraged and celebrated. After all, if we want great readers, we also need great rereaders!
