The power of a "Just Right" book

A class of fourth graders came in today, and I believe they were engaged in a standardized test before they came in, because some of them were rather out of sorts and crabby - not like their usual selves. One young man in particular was running around the room and not doing what he was supposed to be doing, which was finding something to read and sitting down to read it. I had to speak to him three times, and then he told me, "I've already read all the books I want to read in here last year. There's nothing left in here that I want to read." I asked him to sit quietly by himself and I gave him a few minutes to cool off, and then I just quietly handed him a Calvin and Hobbes comic book. No - he wasn't interested, but another student saw it and was very happy to take it off his hands. Then I handed him "The New The Way Things Work" and "Gadgets" and "Technology Mysteries Revealed." Not only did he instantly light up and become interested, he checked two of them out and then proudly showed them off to some boys at another table. "The Right Book at the Right Time." That made my day.