A book for your child question....

[Warhawk]

I was wondering - if you could give your child a book to read to teach them about life, life skills, something in particular you consider important, etc., what would it be? I am assuming the child is a good enough reader to comprehend the work chosen and it is age-appropriate.

I don't want overtly religious works (bible, etc.), as I assume your child will be brought up with the religious upbringing of your choice. I'm looking for other lessons or ideas related by a book that holds special meaning to you for whatever reason.

Also, no dictionaries or encyclopedias or other purely "reference" sources. Assume these will be provided as well.

As an option/alternate (inspired by the draft threads), what about a book for you if stranded on a desert island?

What would you choose? Something on philosophy? Critical thinking? Your favorite comic book? Something by an ancient Greek or maybe a famous work of American fiction? Something more practical?






I have something I thought of right off the bat, but was wondering what others will come up with....

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I'll stick with fiction and one that can be read and appreciated beginning in middle school, again in high school and then again in later life:
To Kill a Mockingbird.

Then:
Of Mice and Men, Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, Grapes of Wrath, Catcher in the Rye, 1984 and Brave New World.

But TKaM first.

 

[GoGoGadget]

I'll stick with fiction and one that can be read and appreciated beginning in middle school, again in high school and then again in later life:
To Kill a Mockingbird.

Then:
Of Mice and Men, Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, Grapes of Wrath, Catcher in the Rye, 1984 and Brave New World.

But TKaM first.

Good list.

As for the original question, I can't think of one specific book that sums up every lesson I would want to teach. Though, since I think that exploration, imagination, and a thirst for knowledge are the things I would consider most important, reading in general would address that issue. I would encourage my kid(s) to read anything and everything they could get their grubby little mits on.

Well... everything that's appropriate to their level of maturity, that is. Don't know that I would encourage a 10-year-old to peruse the Penthouse Forum letters.

 

[Bricklayer]

 

[Jerryaki]

if a very young child, dr. seuss' oh, the places you'll go! if an older child, then orson scott card's ender's game and ender's shadow.

 

[Jespher]

The Phantom Tollbooth

Here's my favorite kids book that has a fun story, is infinitely re-readable, contains nice illustrations, and has great lessons on life all the way through. Synopsis is a bored kid who sees no point in the activities of daily life gets a tollbooth for a present and drives into another realm (called Wisdom). Wisdom is missing the princesses rhyme and reason, and its two capitols, Dictionopolis (The Kingdom of words), and Digitopolis (The Kingdom of Numbers) are warring against one another. Milo travels the land finding strange and amusing characters along the way until he finally sets out to rescue the princesses from the castle above the mountains of ignorance, along with his pals the humbug and Tock the ticking watchdog. He avoids the demons of ignorance by using his wits and his new found knowledge and brings the country together, uniting wisdom.

Favorite quote:
"Do you think it will rain?" asked the Whether Man?
"I thought you were the Weather Man," said Milo, very confused.
"Oh no," said the little man, "I'm the Whether Man, not the Weather Man, for after all it's more important to know whether there will be weather than what the weather will be." And with that he released a dozen balloons that sailed off into the sky. "Must see which way the wind is blowing," he said, chuckling over his little joke and watching them disappear in all directions.

More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phantom_Tollbooth

 

[Warhawk]

Good list.

As for the original question, I can't think of one specific book that sums up every lesson I would want to teach. Though, since I think that exploration, imagination, and a thirst for knowledge are the things I would consider most important, reading in general would address that issue. I would encourage my kid(s) to read anything and everything they could get their grubby little mits on.

Well... everything that's appropriate to their level of maturity, that is. Don't know that I would encourage a 10-year-old to peruse the Penthouse Forum letters.

Doesn't necessarily have to be comprehensive, by any means. Just looking for some ideas. Lists are fine, too.


My completely boring and practical responses:
The Boy Scout Handbook - which includes much practical information on topics such as:

fire building, camping, and cooking
swimming
knots
citizenship, including flag courtesy and history
physical fitness and health, including at least some discussion of puberty/sex
first aid

and The Hardy Boy Detective Handbook. Per wiki:

The book is composed of several didactic short fictional stories illustrating various actual crime detection methods featuring the Hardy Boys and their friends. Although some of the material is dated, the book remains a useful primer on topics such as basic forensics techniques, including the examination of fingerprints and shoe prints at crime scenes, as well as a brief introduction to the basic properties of various illegal drugs.

I really enjoyed both of these as a kid.

Some other selections:
Ender's Game and The Art of War. pdx has a nice list as well. I once had a girlfriend whose favorite book was "Oh, the places you'll go" - great choice. Another one here would be "The missing piece meets the big O".

And then you could venture into things such as Asimov's Foundation series, the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit books, Dune, and other mainstays of sci-fi and fiction.

Probably more than I could want to list here, but just interested in other responses and insights as well.

 

[Jerryaki]

and The Hardy Boy Detective Handbook.

lol, remember: "if you're on a stakeout and you need to give your partner a reference point on the street, pick something permanent such as a hydrant or storm drain, not an old tree."

ah memories.

 

[kennadog]

More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phantom_Tollbooth

This would be right at the top of my list. I love this book! Off the top of my head: To Kill a Mockingbird would be number one for me, Huckleberry Finn, Shel Silverstein's the Giving Tree, Seuss's The Lorax. I love anything by Steinbeck, especially Grapes of Wrath and Winter of Our Discontent. I also love much of Shakespeare.

I don't know how well they've held up, but I loved Beverly Cleary's books about Ramona, Beezus and Henry Huggins. I'll think on it some more.

 

[Warhawk]

The Phantom Tollbooth - I have never even heard of this book before. Interesting!

 

[bozzwell]

Don't know that there is a single book that I would recommend as _the book_ to read for my kids. It would have to be a long list, that gradually ropes them in with titles that will make them want to read more and more, so that by the time they're in high school/late teens they're well read.

Both my wife and I are voracious readers and have been since the age of 8. That first real book (i.e. not a picture book, but a real novel) is so important. Interestingly enough it was the same book for both of us: Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe". From then on, we both took on more and more demanding titles, moving from adventures, fairly tales and fantasy books onto Hesse (Steppenwolf), Goethe (Verter) and graduating on Sellinger before high school.

It's not foolproof though. I have three kids, 2 of them old enough to read. My daughter (10) took to Crusoe in a same way that my wife and I did and is following pretty much the same path without us having to do anything else. My son (8) was much tougher nut to crack. He just would not read unless he had to (for school) until we started gifting him sports books (baseball and football). Once he got into the habit of reading he took on "real" books too.

I just want them to read and read a lot without me having to chase them around with a book.

 

[kennadog]

The Phantom Tollbooth - I have never even heard of this book before. Interesting!

What is pretty amazing is even young kids will love this on the level of a great story, but it's quite fun for older kids and even adults due to the wordplay and puns. As an adult, I think it's a great book to read aloud to younger kids.

 

[AleksandarN]

The books I would give my kid are what I gave my nefew for Christmas last year the Charles Dickens The Illustrated Library vol. 1 & 2. You can not go wrong IMHO with titles such as Nicholas Nickleby, The Pickeick Papers, A Tale of Two Cities and that was just in volume one. In volume two you have Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and Great Expectations. I confess I read only half of them when I was younger but they left an impression on me still today.

The first book I would give my kid though would be Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. That book is a classic. A great book for any person let alone a kid.

 

[Jerryaki]

Seuss's The Lorax.

great, great book. my wife attributes her love of the environment and her subsequent choice to study it in school to this book.

 

[kennadog]

The books I would give my kid are what I gave my nefew for Christmas last year the Charles Dickens The Illustrated Library vol. 1 & 2. You can not go wrong IMHO with titles such as Nicholas Nickleby, The Pickeick Papers, A Tale of Two Cities and that was just in volume one. In volume two you have Oliver Twist, David Copperfield and Great Expectations. I confess I read only half of them when I was younger but they left an impression on me still today.

The first book I would give my kid though would be Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. That book is a classic. A great book for any person let alone a kid.

You hit on a couple of mine. I adored The Tale of Two Cities. I aslo liked Oliver Twist and I think A Christmas Carol is great.

Les Miserables...wonderful!

Some that had a profound effect on me: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn; Cry, The Beloved Country; Manchild in the Promised Land; Cancer Ward; The Good Earth

Others I would recommend: Red Badge of Courage; The Diary of Anne Frank; Kipling's Jungle Books (too fun!).

For any little one: The Tale of Peter Rabbit

 

[Kingzrool]

Dr. Seuss' oh, the places you'll go!, The Sneetches and The Lorax for youngin's.

The Phantom Tollbooth for a little older.

For teens, The Riverworld series by Phillip Jose Farmer. Just an awesome series about human behavior, the Sci-fi channel tried to do a mini series based on it a while back, but it was seriously lacking.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I think my favorite Seuss book was The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. Its been a while, but aside from the obvious ones like Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham it stands out the most to me from my childhood, and I probably had every Seuss book in existence at one time.

 

[Widowmaker2k]

Well, I'll admit to not being much of a reader myself, but there are some books that I really liked (many have already been mentioned).

- Of Mice and Men: Nice short little novella, interesting and touching, especially for folks living in Central California.

- Ender's Game: My dad told me all about it when I was young, but I never got around to reading until it was required for a college English course. Very good book.

- The Republic (Plato): Well, kind of heavy reading for a child, but great exposure to higher thinking. The allegory of the cave is amazing.

- Kite Runner: Another from a college required reading list, but it's very good. Some questionable content for younger children, but teenagers should be okay. I hear there is a movie out based on the book, but I haven't seen it.

- Atlas Shrugged: To be fair, I'm still in the process of reading this one, and at 1200 pages, it's huge. I'm totally enthralled by it so far, probably because it agrees with my personal philosophy of economic freedom.

 

[kennadog]

It was in elementary school that I came by my lifelong love of the mystery/detective/espionage type books. Nancy Drew started me off. As a girl, it was great to read about such an independent, really smart girl.

Later I moved onto Agatha Christie, which were wonderful little puzzles. Then in college I fell in love with Ross MacDonald's (real name Kenneth Millar) series of Lew Archer novels. My mania spread out from there, to include many authors. I was given one of Helen MacInnes's novels in HS and I was off and running on espionage stories.

I do remember hardly sleeping for a couple of days after I got "Fail Safe" for Christmas.

So now you know my guilty pleasure - mystery/detective books.

In elementary school I really loved reading biographies written for young readers. Among my favorite biographies: Helen Keller, Clara Barton, Jane Addams.

As a youngster, I also fell in love with young reader versions of Greek mythology.

I agree that you mainly want to find whatever books/reading material that will just get your kids to read. My brother has never been much of a fiction reader, but is a voracious non-fiction reader.

 

[kennadog]

I'm old , so it was hard to recall off the top of my head some of my really early favorites. Still I can't believe I forgot "A Wrinkle in Time."

I also think "The Polar Express" is wonderful.

One of my favorite early read-to-me books was "Blueberries for Sal." Fabulous illustrations.

A wonderful book that I still have and cherish (it's falling apart ) is a book called "Paddle-to-the Sea." It was Caldecott honoree. It's a great book to read to young kids and when they can read it's still fun for them and the illustrations are great. Of course, it's out-dated in many respects, but it's still a great adventure and the geography is still accurate. A little Indian boy carves an Indian in a canoe and sets it on a journey to the sea through the Great Lakes (hence the little carving's name).

My brother, the nonfiction reader got me reading John McPhee. This would defiitley have to be a HS or older reader. "The Control of Nature" was fascinating and soon I will read his Pulitzer-winning book, "Annals of the Former World" about North American geologic history. Incredible writer. By the way, he also wrote a book about Bill Bradley at Princeton.

Also for an older (HS) reader Norman MacLean. He wrote "A River Runs Through It," but I loved his book about early smokejumpers who died in the Mann Gulch fire. It's called "Young Men and Fire." He's a beautiful writer and the book is a very moving tribute.

 

[Kingzrool]

A wrinkle in time. Yes. Nice one.

How about the Serendipidy series by Stephen Cosgrove?

http://www.amazon.com/Serendipity-Stephen-Cosgrove/dp/084313819X

Seriously, I read a lot of these and still have some. Each one has a moral of the story that is plainly stated at the end. They are REALLY cute stories.

Serendipidy
Flutterby
Leo the Lop
The Dream Tree
I had at least 20-30 of them.

Funny that noone has mentioned "Are you there God? It's me, Margaret". I know I am not the only one that read Judy Blume books. Frecklejuice anyone?

Chronicles of Narnia kept me going for while as well.

 

[GoGoGadget]

There is a series of books that I read only a few years ago, even though they're aimed at teenage girls, by Francesca Lia Block that I absolutely love: Weetzie Bat, Witch Baby, Cherokee Bat and the Goat Boys, Missing Angel Juan, and Baby Be-Bop.

They're tiny little books -- I read all five in one afternoon -- and are, in my opinion, somewhat naively written, but they have a great sense of imagination, a great sense of humor, are very sweet, and (though this may be an instant stopping point to some) depict a family/group of friends with tremendous diversity in a way that I think really encourages acceptance BUT that doesn't hit the reader over the head with message or activism. There are gay relationships, straight relationships, and interratial relationships between the characters, but they all just kind of exist rather than preach.

 

[kennadog]

There is a series of books that I read only a few years ago, even though they're aimed at teenage girls, by Francesca Lia Block that I absolutely love: Weetzie Bat, Witch Baby, Cherokee Bat and the Goat Boys, Missing Angel Juan, and Baby Be-Bop.

They're tiny little books -- I read all five in one afternoon -- and are, in my opinion, somewhat naively written, but they have a great sense of imagination, a great sense of humor, are very sweet, and (though this may be an instant stopping point to some) depict a family/group of friends with tremendous diversity in a way that I think really encourages acceptance BUT that doesn't hit the reader over the head with message or activism. There are gay relationships, straight relationships, and interratial relationships between the characters, but they all just kind of exist rather than preach.

That sounds like fun. I'll have to write that down on my list for my granddaughter (someday).

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

I'll stick with fiction and one that can be read and appreciated beginning in middle school, again in high school and then again in later life:
To Kill a Mockingbird.

Then:
Of Mice and Men, Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, Grapes of Wrath, Catcher in the Rye, 1984 and Brave New World.

But TKaM first.

I would just like to say, for the record, that I hate your list... in fact, if you threw The Scarlet Letter and Fahrenheit 451 on there, I might have to find you and kill you...

Mockingbird is the only book on that list that I would ever read more than once on purpose. Regarding the OP, I can't contribute as I don't grok the question.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

For some reason that doesn't terribly surprise me.

 

[kennadog]

OK Slim. I'm probably exposing my cluelessness here, but I'd really like a definition of "grok." Thanks.

 

[Mr. S£im Citrus]

For some reason that doesn't terribly surprise me.

It doesn't surprise you that I hate your list, or it doesn't surprise you that I don't grok the OP? If it's the former, then why, particularly given the praise it's received by others in this thread? And, if it's the latter... what are you trying to say?

 

[Kingzrool]

OK Slim. I'm probably exposing my cluelessness here, but I'd really like a definition of "grok." Thanks.

Grok means to understand so thoroughly that the observer becomes a part of the observed—to merge, blend, intermarry, lose identity in group experience. It means almost everything that we mean by religion, philosophy, and science—and it means as little to us (because of our Earthly assumptions) as color means to a blind man.

Stranger in a Strange Land

But loosely, it just means to understand.

 

[Löwenherz]

While not a classic novel, I'm hoping to use the Calvin and Hobbes series to spark the joy of reading into my potential future children while unconciously instilling them with what I consider good values.

I know, that seems to be a stretch with the ultimate ADHD child as a protagonist, but at the heart of the stories are themes of individuality, imagination, exploration, curiosity and friendship while touching on subjects including bullying, commercialism, the environment and even death among many others.

Plus, the comic format makes it more visually appealing and accessable to children, somewhat like a more grown-up Dr. Seuss.

 

[Kingzrool]

While not a classic novel, I'm hoping to use the Calvin and Hobbes series to spark the joy of reading into my potential future children while unconciously instilling them with what I consider good values.

I know, that seems to be a stretch with the ultimate ADHD child as a protagonist, but at the heart of the stories are themes of individuality, imagination, exploration, curiosity and friendship while touching on subjects including bullying, commercialism, the environment and even death among many others.

Plus, the comic format makes it more visually appealing and accessable to children, somewhat like a more grown-up Dr. Seuss.

sigh

No one got it when I went as Spaceman Spiff for Halloween.