We're reading this book because it's a great story.

In Kelly Gallagher's Deeper Reading, he notes that many of our students don't understand what it is like to lose yourself in a book. They are missing the moments that many of us remember as readers. That wait-a-minute-what-time-is-it moment. Our students don't understand what it is like to have the moments of a book linger in your mind long after the book itself is over.

There are moments from books that stay with me now, and Gallagher brought these back to mind for me. I remember the exact second that the horses hooves landed on Tom Booker's skull in The Horse Whisperer. I still feel vindicated when I think of Susan Hayes and the urine she substituted for her unfaithful husband's cologne in Sullivan's Island. My heart still hearts when I think of the great earthquake that snatched Elizabeth from the earth in On Leaving Charleston.

There are more moments from literature that make me happy, sad, vengeful, or vindicated. I know what it is like to lose myself in a book. I know what it is like to lose track of time, look up at the clock and realize half the night is gone, and still not be able to sleep for fear of losing that deep connection. I want my students to feel that love for reading. I know that telling them to read just because I said so isn't enough. They have to have that first experience in order to be willing to come back. I had it. It was when Rhett turned to Scarlett and said, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." My heart broke for her because over the course of the novel I had become her.

That was my moment and it led to so many others. What was yours?