Importance of Classroom Libraries

Today when conferring with a student the importance of maintaining a classroom library was confirmed.  The student was reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid Hard Luck.  He talked about what he liked about the book so far.  Then he asked if I wanted to hear him read from the book.  I love to be read to, so yes, please.   The selection was about Greg telling his mom that he was bored.  I asked if he ever did the same thing and how would his mom respond.  He connected with Greg.  He then shared that his mom would tell him to read, but that was boring.  My mouth dropped.  This is a student who was very happily reading in class, laughing at what he was reading, and able to connect to what he was reading.  My response "What?  Reading is boring?"  He then explained "At home I don't have any interesting books.  I have read them all.  Your library has lots of interesting books.  I like reading at school because there are lots of books to choose from."  So I will continue to visit the used book store, shop at the library sale, use my Scholastic points, and use any other means to acquire books for my classroom library.  I also reminded the student that he had borrowing privileges from my classroom library so that he would not find himself bored at home again.