I have this thing for rereading books. I like to revisit favorite titles and try to get at least a five-year interval to have another read. The Power of the Reread is a post I wrote a few years ago. The post is about the continuation of the philosophy first heard from Dr. Rachel Schmidt, Professor Emerita of Classics and Religion at the University of Calgary and is still a great source of joy in my reading life. The space and time between readings through older and questionably wiser eyes almost always gives me a new insight into the story.
For the past year, I’ve been into drawing birds. It started as a project I’m working on that grew out of our bird feeder hobby developed during the pandemic. The bird-drawing obsession might be the reason why, whenever I walked past my office bookshelves this spring, one book called out to me, demanding a reread.
Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt
Okay for Now kept calling, and around Memorial Day, I finally listened. I began to read it for at least the third time. Doug Swiateck and his struggles, failures, and successes in his new home of “stupid” Marysville, New York, captured me once again in this National Book Award finalist from 2011. In no time at all, I was delivering groceries in the Spicer’s Deli wagon alongside Doug, navigating a tenuous home life in The Dump, and spending hours studying and drawing from the Marysville Free Library’s display copy of John James Audubon’s The Birds of America under the guidance of library volunteer Mr. Powell. It was a fantastic ride, and I was reminded of two things:
- Gary D. Schmidt is a master of his craft.
- Okay for Now is a masterpiece.
I highly recommend reading it if you have yet to discover this title.
After finishing Okay for Now, I turned to one of my online library accounts for Okay for Now’s 2007 predecessor, The Wednesday Wars, winner of a Newbery Honor. Holling Hoodhood hilariously navigates school, home, and relationship issues after being forced to study Shakespeare by Mrs. Baker, a teacher who “hates” him. He must endure this horrific duty during his Wednesday afternoon alone time with Mrs. Baker because he is a Presbyterian outcast who must stay while everyone else attends their Catholic or Jewish schools for the afternoon.
These two books… My God, they are good! Shakespeare and Audubon were used as foundations to build two near-perfect works of middle-grade historical fiction.
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After finishing The Wednesday Wars, the inspiration hit to keep on a Gary D. Schmidt reading streak, so I returned to the online libraries. While trying to decide between Orbiting Jupiter, The Labors of Hercules Beal, and Pay Attention Carter Jones for the next reread, I ran across a new-to-me title, 2021’s Just Like That. I clicked the cover and read the description. Another Gary D. Schmidt book set in late 1960s New York with a main character named Mary Lee Kowalski. Wait! Mary Lee Kowalski from The Wednesday Wars has her own book? Who knew? Not this guy!
I clicked “BORROW” and started reading. My heart was torn open in the first few pages. If you’ve read Just Like That, you know what I’m talking about. If you have not, put it on your TBR list behind The Wednesday Wars and Okay for Now. Once again, Gary D. Schmidt has me hooked and I’m reading as fast as I can between summer ball games, swim meets, garden/yard work, etc.
My conclusion from this Gary D. Schmidt revisit experience, beyond a reminder of the skill put on the page by one fantastic middle-grade author?
Read an old book. Read a classic. Reread a book you love. Read for the different perspective time and maturity bring. Read for the magic it creates. Read now because summer reading is some of the best reading there is.
The take-home message? When a book beckons, just as Doug Swiateck and the Arctic Tern called out to me, listen. Accept the literary summons and start reading because you never know in what fantastic directions that book might lead you.
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YES! A reread of a favorite author comes with so many delights and perks. You never know what you glanced past the first time that may hit home on the second read. The more I write, the more I enjoy and admire authors I’ve read and the cleverness and craft they weave into the story behind the scenes, giving me, the reader,a seamless, rollercoaster ride. We write from a combination of our experiences, emotions and stories we absorb. A worthy challenge to write from that place to give others the thrill of a second or third reread.