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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not let DD read the Percy Jackson series for the 4th time....?

80 replies

BraveMerida · 15/10/2013 13:58

I mean the whole rick riordan series from Percy Jackson through to the follow on series of the heroes of olympus for the 4th time? I loves them, but I'd rather she reads a wider selection of books.

Is this normal? Wwyd? Dd is 8.

OP posts:
Original poster
BraveMerida · 15/10/2013 13:59

She loves them...not I....

OP posts:
MadameDefarge · 15/10/2013 14:00

The process of rereading is called overlearning. Let her get on with it.

QueenofallIsee · 15/10/2013 14:01

My daughter has read and reread Harry Potter, Twilight, numerous favourite classics - i think its wonderful your DD is reading so well at 8 and you should let her get on with it. My lad (also 8) adores a set of books called 'Wolven' - in an effort to wean him off them I used Amazon to find similar recommended titles and it worked a treat. So if she loves Percy, try Phillip Pullmans trilogy etc to see if they float her boat.

BadRoly · 15/10/2013 14:01

Dc2 is 10 and reads the same books over and over again - but he's reading and it's age appropriate (rather than 'first reader' books) so why not?

If she's happy reading them, I wouldn't sweat it - she'll find something else that hooks her and be into that soon enough!

BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 15/10/2013 14:01

Just leave her be......she is reading, who cares if its something she has read before. When I was a kid I read books over and over again, I think if my mum had starting making stipulations I would have gone off it altogether.

HulaHooperStormTrooper · 15/10/2013 14:02

My dd is 7 and her current favourite is The Secret Garden - I think she must be on her fourth read by now.

As long as she is reading then whats the harm? She has forever to read everything else and tbh after recently actually looking at a Jacqueline Wilson book I bought her (wtf?!!?) I am relieved!

Must look out for the PJ books though - I find it really hard to find suitable books. They tend to be challenging and too old in their subject matter or ok in the subject matter but too easy for her.

HulaHooperStormTrooper · 15/10/2013 14:04

Although that said, if you think she has an interest in Greek Mythology why not have a look for other books along that theme?

prissyenglisharriviste · 15/10/2013 14:05

Totally normal. Ds1 has read these at least forty times. It makes me crazy, but some kids do it. The more you stress over it, the less likely she'll be to read anything else. Believe me, I know. I've tried. Grin

Ds does read other stuff now, but he only read rick Riordan for two years, over and over and over and over and over and over and over.

Have other books around, but don't ever suggest she reads them.

BlingBang · 15/10/2013 14:08

My son LOVES PJ, has the whole series and has read them again and again which is great as we have spent a lot of money on books so at least we have had our money's worth! He also reads loads of other authors and series. Why not just buy her a new book and start reading it with her - she'll soon get the bug for something else.

Original poster
BraveMerida · 15/10/2013 14:09

Thanks, good to know other children reread the same books.

Yes, i'm pleased she is reading. Recently, She's made diversions into Malory towers and naughtiest girl, she's got books 1 to 7(?) of the Malory towers, she finished book 3 and instead of carrying onto book 4, she went back to Percy Jackson book 1 again....she's all over the place, she reads like 3 or 4 books at any one time and drives me up the wall as she doesn't keep track of them...maybe I'm being a bit OCD here....

OP posts:
Mumsyblouse · 15/10/2013 14:09

Weird to control what someone reads in their own private time, even your own children- if there's a requirement to read set books (reading books) this is separate, and if you want to widen her experience, buy her lots of other books, but the words 'not let read' exploded my head!

NoComet · 15/10/2013 14:09

I've reread HP and PJ and his dark materials as a teen I read and reread all the dick francis books and assorted other thrillers.

DSIS and I also endlessly replayed various story records and tapes. Drove DM demented with Hitch hikers, which is not her sense of humour.

DDs both reread stuff. Dyslexic DD1 especially reread all the twlights getting more of the detail each time.

Books are like music, you return to old friends.

sonlypuppyfat · 15/10/2013 14:10

Kill Joy! Just be glad she's reading mine would never pick up a book.

NoComet · 15/10/2013 14:11

Or indeed like favourite films. Once you know the ending you can take your time and wallow in your favourite bits.

Original poster
BraveMerida · 15/10/2013 14:11

Mumsy...I apologise for your head. But I thought the words "not let read" suited the context of AIBU...

OP posts:
harryhausen · 15/10/2013 14:11

Blimey! Let her get on with it and be very proud.

I must have read Enid Blytons Malory Towers (the whole 6 books) literally about 15 times when I was about 8. I also re-read a fantasy series (5 books) at least 3 times. Even as an adult, I will reach for a Harry Potter book when I want to feel cosy and comforted with little challenge. I has been really beneficial to me. I'm a life long book lover and my career is now in books.

Let her enjoy it. My dd is 8 and can read at least 2 yrs above her age group - but she's yet to find a love of reading. I showed her Percy Jackson the other day and she just shrugged.

Mumsyblouse · 15/10/2013 14:12

bravemerida I think it is you with the issue, why does she have to read books in order or continue with a series once started. You clearly have lots of rules and regulations about your own reading, but lots of people read in a much more chaotic way- whatever they fancy, several books on the go at once, depending on their mood, liking one book in a series more than the others- I really think you must let this go!

Original poster
BraveMerida · 15/10/2013 14:12

She has access to Lots of other books at home and from the school library.

OP posts:
TEErickOrTEEreat · 15/10/2013 14:14

I still read the same books over and over and I'm 44.

becsbornunderadancingstar · 15/10/2013 14:15

I've read my favourite books a dozen or so times. There are some books that you just fall in love with, and the intensity of the love you feel while reading is much more important than having a 'wide selection'.

When I was a kid I'd read all my favourite books twenty or thirty times.

MissStrawberry · 15/10/2013 14:16

YABU

Doesn't matter what you think of them. Let her read them. I can't see anything wrong in letting a child read anything they want however many times they want. My DD has read the whole HP series 7 times. What is wrong with that? She also reads many other books.

steppemum · 15/10/2013 14:18

op - as a kid and now I have several books on the go, I like different things at different times, depending on my mood/tiredness.

re-reading is not a negative, it has lots of advantages, including massively helping them with speed.

For the same reason, if a child gets hooked on a rubbish series (think endless endless famous five for example) it isn't actually a problem, it builds up fluency and speed and confidence.

If they like reading and can read well, they will read other things in their own good time!

MissStrawberry · 15/10/2013 14:18

I think you are being very silly tbh.

She is reading. There are no rules to say she can't read something else for the second or more subsequent time before finishing another series. My DD often has 5 books on the go at any one time.

NoComet · 15/10/2013 14:20

Said dyslexic DD1 does the several books at once thing.

I have no idea how some one who didn't even learn to read until they were 11 (Feb of Y6) and still, at 15, makes up NN for characters who's names she can't read does this.
But she does and she follows the plots and remembers the books years later in far more detail than I can.

Part of it is certainly that some of the books she is rereading and some are school set texts so endlessly analysed, but a lot of it is just the way she is. She doesn't do people and gossip, celebs or TV soaps. So has room in her head for books and songs and drama scripts and I guess that's not so bad.

CarefulUpThere · 15/10/2013 14:21

My head just exploded too!

I've always loved reading and rereading and don't get how some people just read a book once. I get different things out of a book on different readings.

I'm sure my mum secretly rolled her eyes when I was reading Mallory Towers for the millionth time, but she hid it well, and tbh I'm not sure I would have forgiven her if she had banned me from reading it.