Stevenson’s “Treasure Island” and “Kidnapped”; C. S. Lewis’s “Out of the Silent Planet” and “Perelandra”; Mark Twain’s boy books, and his “Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”; Jack London’s “Call of the Wild” and “White Fang”; Dickens’s “David Copperfield,” “Great Expectations” and “A Tale of Two Cities”; Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories; Victor Hugo’s “Hunchback of Notre Dame” and “Les Misérables.” Poe’s detective and horror stories; the Horatio Hornblower sea novels of C. S. Forester; all the “Oz” books; and in middle school, “Mario and the Magician,” by Thomas Mann, and Kafka’s “Metamorphosis.” For starters.Could they package these all in one nice ebook anthology?
January 17, 2014
"I think the books I read as a child made me want to write..."
E.L. Doctorow says, giving a quick list of things makes me feel this is exactly what a kid should read... for starters:
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31 comments:
Add The Swiss Family Robinson, Dracula and Heinlein's juveniles. For a modern boy I'd add anything by Louis L'Amour.
I read all of those as a teenager. I would also recommend "Count of Monte Cristo" and "Prisoner of Zenda" both of which have held up well and I reread them in the past month or two.
The "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" are also good and the "Harry Potter" booms are said to be excellent although I have not read them. I would also add "Watership Down." I read LOTR and Watership to my kids when they were preteen.
Harry Potter is incredibly repetitive, impossible to read out loud to a kid. The story is ok, but it's almost as if it were written for stoned people who cannot remember more than a chapter or two in the past.
The Hobbit, Watership Down ... great books and great to read to your kids. Looking forward to reading both to mine in a few years.
My kid is still to young for many of these yet, but I sure loved reading Peter Pan, Charlie and Chocolate Factory, Danny the Champion of the World, and Charlotte's Web to her.
Not just Heinlein's juveniles, either: The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress and Stranger in A Strange Land, at least--though I guess it depends on the upper age bound that you mean for "child".
"Harry Potter is incredibly repetitive, impossible to read out loud to a kid."
I didn't read them all, but did read most of them to my kids at bedtime & it went very well. Although some of the chapters were little long.
Watership Down. Also, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. As you might deduce, my boy's on a "sentient rodent" kick lately.
The Thornton Burgess books were wonderful - and still are.
Mark -
Harry Potter is what made my son a voracious reader. I tried to get him to read for himself (he was in 2nd grade) but he always said, "Would you read it to me? It is much easier for you."
I read HP 1, 2, and 3 to him. A friend gave us #4, which she hung on the back doorknob in a grocery sack while I was out of town and my son was going to a day camp. He saw the book in the bag , took it inside, and read it in one sitting of about 10 hours.
He has been a voracious, and fast, reader ever since.
I think I'd balk at Stranger in a Strange Land; like every book in which Heinlein gets on the subject of sex, it eventually goes loopy.
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, though, sure. Sci-fi with ideas in it is always good. Me, I'd throw in Lucifer's Hammer.
I suppose he doesn't include That Hideous Strength with the other two Lewis "Space" novels because of the opening, which is a devastating-but-long depiction of academic politics in action. A bit much for the average kid.
Great list, and I like that some (like his CS Lewis and Twain selections) point to less featured books. Twain's short stories should be on the list too, that's where his writing is the best. London's short stories likely too.
It's a great list because most of those are the exact books that led me to want to write more and books that I read again and again.
"A bit much for the average kid."
I think I started it 3 times before making past the first 100 pages, and then, wow.
I was a huge Farley Mowat fan when I was in elementary school. I've not gone back and read his stuff since then, really, but I know he was a huge influence. Mowat and London were my go to writers.
In high school I started reading all the James Michener books. I'd definitely recommend his stuff for the scope of his projects. I also read through much of Irving Stone's works, a great set of historical not-quite-fiction, but told in such a way.
For little kids, there are a couple of classics that are worth searching for. 1. Wilderness Champion and 2. Black Wings, both by Joseph Lippincott and both about animals, the first about a dog and the second about a crow. They are great for kids about 8 to 10 although reading is not as easy at those ages as it was 50 years ago.
Thornton Burgess books were read to me by my mother before I could read. I cannot be more adamant about reading aloud to little kids.
I also had the pleasure of showing my kids Watership Down about 20 years ago on a trip to England. It's a real place and the geography in the book is real.
Add Kate Seredy's books:
The Good Master (Newbery Honor 1936)
The Singing Tree
Amazing window into farm life, a strong willed young girl, and the impact of WWI on a farming family in Hungary. Out of the hundreds of books I devoured when young, this series was one of the most memorable.
As I child I managed to read many of C.S. Lewis' books- including the Space Trilogy- without ever realizing that he was writing from a Christian PoV.
As for Heinlein, many of his works are still a good read, but, if you re-read them I think you'll find that they seem very dated.
Some of the books Doctorow mentions, like Treasure Island and Kidnapped, were particularly appealing to me because of the N.C. Wyeth illustrations, which might challenge the ebook format. In the same category I'd include The Boy's King Arthur and Robin Hood.
As for C.S. Lewis, I'd include the Narnia books before the space trilogy -- a modern youngster would find the "science" in Out Of The Silent Planet so absurd as to be off-putting. Unfortunately, that's also true of much of Heinlein's juvenile SF.
In the 7th grade I was introduced to Kenneth Roberts' historical novels, and I thank my teacher, John O'Connor, for that to this day.
But actually the whole idea of picking out a bunch of books that grown-ups think kids should read, and collecting them in an ebook, is probably a mistake. Let the little buggers FIND the books they will love, as all of us did (and sometimes had to be cagey about what we were reading).
Peter,
As I child I managed to read many of C.S. Lewis' books- including the Space Trilogy- without ever realizing that he was writing from a Christian PoV.
Funny, me too. With Lewis, I mean, not with the Space Trilogy (which I stumbled on only in college). But I managed to read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe without noticing the Christian element at all, simply because I hadn't been brought up as a Christian, and it's the one religion they never cover in your Social Studies tour of world religions (presumably on the assumption that everyone already knows all about it. Which they don't, but never mind.)
Doctorow's list is good, except swap Lewis' Narnia books for the space trilogy.
Tolkien, Watership Down, Harry Potter, Mrs. Frisby... all great choices.
Roald Dahl's books provide great material from early childhood through the teenage years.
The original Mary Poppins books were very entertaining and utterly unlike the movie (but I repeat myself).
The Chronicles of Prydain books by Lloyd Alexander are good choices too.
"The Last Unicorn" is another good one.
Interesting choice of C. S. Lewis books -- the first two (but not the third) of his deservedly obscure sci fi trilogy, but none of the Narnia series. Seems like a strange choice.
I concur with Bob about Louis L'Amour and Heinlein's books, but I also concur with Michelle Dulak Thomson about Stranger in a Strange Land and Time Enough for Love.
Too many Brits on this list. I didn't get into reading until I was 19 because a lot of the stuff for kids and teens is a snore. I did like the spaghetti westerns and film noir when I was a kid.
Pretty good list except for Kafka. ELD certainly knows how to read good books, now if he could only write good ones.
mccullough -
Andrew Klavan is writing some rather thrilling books for teens - his Homelander series. I provide listening training for people who have learning difficulties. As a part of the program, the client reads aloud into a mic which filters his voice electronically, then feeds it back into his right ear. The reading aloud requires a lot of good books, and Mrs. Frisby is one I use and love. I also use A Wrinkle in Time and the rest of that series, Charlotte's Web, the Brian books by Gary Paulsen, and books by Kate DiCamillo. But I have several men in their late 20's and early 30's who also need thrillers with some action, but I don't want axe-murders, profanity, or sex. Klavan's new series fits the bill.
I read every book I ask my clients to read. These books get my pulse racing, too!
MDT,
Yeah, that's why the hedging about how young a person should read it. Myself, one of my term papers for English class in H.S. was a (vicious) takedown of the book, for that and other reasons. Still, overall, it's worth taking in.
And for sure Lucifer's Hammer. Actually a nice antidote to Stranger now that you mention it, including Pournelle's non-PC but waaaay saner expositions on the subject of sex.
That Hideous Strength is my favorite of all Lewis' fiction, though if I recall correctly I didn't encounter it until college.
Mika Waltari was a Finnish novelist who wrote historical adventures. One of his books, The Egyptian, won a National Book Award and was made into a movie. There's lot of gore and sex in his books--probably not up to Game of Thrones standards but enough to keep a teenager turning the pages.
Mika Waltari was a Finnish novelist who wrote historical adventures. One of his books, The Egyptian, won a National Book Award and was made into a movie. There's lot of gore and sex in his books--probably not up to Game of Thrones standards but enough to keep a teenager turning the pages.
Am I the only one who loves Lewis but not the Narnia books? I'd put the space trilogy over Narnia any day.
Freeman Hunt, it's not just you. I like the Narnia books, but not the way I like the space trilogy. I think the latter, and That Hideous Strength in particular, might drive a kid bats with unanswered and unanswerable questions, though. You end up lying awake at 3 a.m. wondering what are the other five of the Seven Genders, and cursing Lewis for telling us only those few tantalizing things about Sulva (the Moon).
At the risk of forming a "me too" chorus:
Yes, exactly.
Narnia entertains.
That Hideous Strength grabs you.
When our three boys were young, I put a great deal of thought into bringing books into our home - to own, to have available with no time constraints, to return to again - anyway, many of these titles that Doctorow listed - and the boys/ young men had a love of reading that naturally correlated with being productive successful students, and beyond. But today none of them have time to read!
Just this week I reread Doctorow's Ragtime. I enjoyed it as much as I did thirty (!!) years ago. Another book of his that I recall fondly is Loon Lake.
Althouse, I'm heading over to Amazon.
(The Portal makes me think of Star Trek)
When our three boys were young, I put a great deal of thought into bringing books into our home - to own, to have available with no time constraints, to return to again - anyway, many of these titles that Doctorow listed - and the boys/ young men had a love of reading that naturally correlated with being productive successful students, and beyond. But today none of them have time to read!
Just this week I reread Doctorow's Ragtime. I enjoyed it as much as I did thirty (!!) years ago. Another book of his that I recall fondly is Loon Lake.
Althouse, I'm heading over to Amazon.
(The Portal makes me think of Star Trek)
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