The Value of Reading theme is developed throughout the novel as protagonist Alec looks to reading for comfort, wisdom, and guidance and uses reading as a means of developing connections with his peers. Throughout the novel, reading is presented as both a source of entertainment and a useful tool for self-growth.

Alec’s reading habit is established in the very first chapter as a conflict for him when he cannot stop reading in school. However, it isn’t until Chapter 7 when the value of reading is really developed. After a difficult encounter with his bully, Kent, Alec turns to Charlotte’s Web in the car ride home to bring him comfort. Alec’s comfort books are “stories so familiar that they made reading feel like coasting downhill on a bike or water-skiing on a smooth lake” (33). The book is so comforting to Alec that he stays in the car long after they’ve arrived home to finish the chapter he’s on. The comfort Alec gets from rereading his favorite books shows how the value of some books is in their familiarity.

Alec also uses reading as a source of wisdom. Reading guides Alec in his decisions as he becomes more deeply entrenched in his rivalry with Kent.