I suppose I could put this question in the general or parenting forum but I chose this forum because I am interested in hearing the responses of our regular posters on this question.

We are living in interesting times. With questions spawned by the news about children, crime, education, war, racial relations and government among other things I started to wonder, after seeing a similar question on another site about what we are teaching our children.

So with that in mind, what book would you recommend, other than the Bible, the Quran or the Talmud that all children read?

The first one that jumped into my mind would be "Welcome to the Monkey House" by Kurt Vonnegut. The collection of short stories is a great commentary on the individual,government and society. It's thought provoking and I think a must read for everyone.

Old Yeller

every kid should read Old Yeller

Animal Farm either book or movie!

I wanted to kill Squealer and Napoleon myself!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...
Bar Ba Qued pork ribs! Slathered in Baby Ray's and a fat ear of corn drenched in butter and lightly salted.....




Ok I'm being bad again...


Still, Orson Wells was a trippy fellow in real life but this was one story of his that stood out about the human condition.
The story does really tell a scary story about human nature and government.

I think any of the old goodies would do.
Three musketeers,moby ****,war of the world,journey to the center of the earth,Swiss family robinson,black beauty,great expectations,treasure island,the oregon trail,ben-hur,robin hood to name a few might help.

"Of Men and Mice" by Steinbeck

Clan of the Cave Bear, by Jean M. Auel

any of the "Gor" books

that ought to pervert their twisted little minds

George Orwells, 1984
Playboy?

Doesn't matter. Unless this is a child with an exceptionally strong will and a bright mind, this will be like showing him cute panties while everyone around him walk naked.

He will chose the best method of accumulating learning experiences, and if that medium is full of crap, then he will learn crap.

Other than this you have not mentioned Bhagavat-Gita.

Every body should read "The Hobbit"

Harry Potter books
Nancy Drew Mysteries

Anything from Jules Verne:

Here is my hit list, I grew up on reading these. I've read the "Mysterious Island" about 5 times and the Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (Captain Nemo) about 3-4 times (The Mysterious Island is the second part of the Captain Nemo story).

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Around the World in Eighty Days

The Mysterious Island

North Against South



Anything from Alexander Dumas:

The Three Musketeers

The Count of Monte Cristo

The Black Tulip

The Wolf-Leader

The Last Cavalier


All these are feel-good, heroic and happy ending, and extraordinarily entertaining, the typical garbage today out there can't match these.

In the early 70's, I tried reading them at the request of a friend.
Come to find out, he could only grasp it when he was on acid.

Any book with Gene Autry in it.
He set great examples.

Anything by Robert Frost was influencial to me growing up. His poetry had many years of life's lessons put in such beautiful form.

All the books mentioned by the posters are certainly worth reading. Personally I wish kids and adults in this country read more but that's another thread.

I guess when I posted the question I was looking for reading relating to man, morals, government and society specifically. I suppose you could argue any book that features human beings facing challenges could fall into those categories.

Like I said I could have put this post in several different forums here. I have asked in the feedback section for a forum on boards that was dedicated to books and reading. After all there is one for television and movies right?

Thanks for the thoughtful replies.

One of the best fiction in the world, also teaching about delusional people with imaginary enemies and essentially bordering insanity:

I'm surprised they won't remake this into a movie again, this is all gold.

El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha.

- by Cervantes



Published in two volumes a decade apart, Don Quixote is the most influential work of literature to emerge from the Spanish Golden Age and perhaps the entire Spanish literary canon. As a founding work of modern Western literature, it regularly appears at the top of lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published.


The world of ordinary people, from shepherds to tavern-owners and inn-keepers, which figures in Don Quixote, was groundbreaking. The character of Don Quixote became so well-known in its time that the word quixotic was quickly calqued into many languages. Characters such as Sancho Panza and Don Quixote’s steed, Rocinante, are emblems of Western literary culture. The phrase "tilting at windmills" to describe an act of attacking imaginary enemies derives from an iconic scene in the book.

PLOT:
Alonso Quixano, a retired country gentleman in his fifties, lives in an unnamed section of La Mancha with his niece and a housekeeper. He has become obsessed with books of chivalry, and believes their every word to be true, despite the fact that many of the events in them are clearly impossible. Quixano eventually appears to other people to have lost his mind from little sleep and food and because of so much reading.

He decides to go out as a knight-errant in search of adventure. He dons an old suit of armor, renames himself "Don Quixote de la Mancha," and names his skinny horse "Rocinante." He designates a neighboring farm girl, Aldonza Lorenzo, as his ladylove, renaming her Dulcinea del Toboso, while she knows nothing about this. Eventually, he "acquires" his iconic "helmet"



Different ages have tended to read different things into the novel. When it was first published, it was usually interpreted as a comic novel. After the French Revolution it was popular in part due to its central ethic that individuals can be right while society is quite wrong and seen as disenchanting—not comic at all. In the 19th century it was seen as a social commentary, but no one could easily tell "whose side Cervantes was on." By the 20th century it had come to occupy a canonical space as one of the foundations of modern literature.

The novel was recently voted The Greatest Book of All Time by the Nobel Institute.

my daughters have a copy of;

"Boys put girls up on a pedestal, so that they can look up their skirts"..



a must read for anyone's daughter

All Roald Dahl books.


also

A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle

zionist protocols