Re: Touch Children (or, recommend books to kids)
 

My first three capture every bit of identity, self-concept, courage, communication, archetypes, hero's journey, rites of passage and the search for wisdom. They are all incredible stories of adventure and completely captivating true-life stories that leave fiction in the dust.

Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod - Gary Paulsen
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage - Alfred Lansing
The Darkest Jungle: The True Story of the Darien Expedition and America's Ill-Fated Race to Connect the Seas - Todd Balf


Random recommendations to enlighten kids by giving them easy to read (except for HOD) yet heavily introspective stuff:
Virginibus Puerisque, specifically Chapter 6 "El Dorado" - Robert Louis Stevenson
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead - Tom Stoppard
Through The Looking Glass - Lewis Carroll
Heart Of Darkness - Josef Conrad
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas - Hunter Thompson


For balance, they should also read

Economics Lite:
Economics In One Lesson - Henry Hazlitt
The Candlemaker's Petition - Frederic Bastiat

Relevant and easy-to-read applicable economics:
Fooled By Randomness - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
A Random Walk Down Wall Street - Burton Malkiel

Economics Basics:
Wealth Of Nations - Adam Smith
The Theory Of Moral Sentiments - Adam Smith

The passion and intelligence in the revolution that US history teachers never expose kids to:
Common Sense - Thomas Paine
Rights Of Man - Thomas Paine
Jefferson Bible - Thomas Jefferson

The wisdom and honor of the far east:
Book Of Five Rings - Miyamoto Musashi
Hagakure - Yamamoto Tsunetomo

Re: Touch Children (or, recommend books to kids)
 

[ QUOTE ]
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas - Hunter Thompson

[/ QUOTE ]
o/u on parent complaints if a teacher were actually to teach this?

Re: Touch Children (or, recommend books to kids)
 

[ QUOTE ]
My first three capture every bit of identity, self-concept, courage, communication, archetypes, hero's journey, rites of passage and the search for wisdom. They are all incredible stories of adventure and completely captivating true-life stories that leave fiction in the dust.

Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod - Gary Paulsen
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage - Alfred Lansing
The Darkest Jungle: The True Story of the Darien Expedition and America's Ill-Fated Race to Connect the Seas - Todd Balf


Random recommendations to enlighten kids by giving them easy to read (except for HOD) yet heavily introspective stuff:
Virginibus Puerisque, specifically Chapter 6 "El Dorado" - Robert Louis Stevenson
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead - Tom Stoppard
Through The Looking Glass - Lewis Carroll
Heart Of Darkness - Josef Conrad
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas - Hunter Thompson


For balance, they should also read

Economics Lite:
Economics In One Lesson - Henry Hazlitt
The Candlemaker's Petition - Frederic Bastiat

Relevant and easy-to-read applicable economics:
Fooled By Randomness - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
A Random Walk Down Wall Street - Burton Malkiel

Economics Basics:
Wealth Of Nations - Adam Smith
The Theory Of Moral Sentiments - Adam Smith

The passion and intelligence in the revolution that US history teachers never expose kids to:
Common Sense - Thomas Paine
Rights Of Man - Thomas Paine
Jefferson Bible - Thomas Jefferson

The wisdom and honor of the far east:
Book Of Five Rings - Miyamoto Musashi
Hagakure - Yamamoto Tsunetomo

[/ QUOTE ]


Yess, that's what I'm talking about - great post. Love the 3 adventure, non-fiction suggestions particularly.

Re: Touch Children (or, recommend books to kids)
 

[ QUOTE ]
Great Gatsby
Separate Peace
1984
Brave New World
Lord of the Flies
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Farenheit 451
Of Mice and Men
The Scarlet Letter


[/ QUOTE ]

It's good to know that you enjoyed these selections, but what I'm looking for is outside the canon - supplementary reading materials that enlightened or inspired you.

In other words, what would be your recommendation for the kid who doesn't yet enjoy reading, who says that all the books in the library suck?

Re: Touch Children (or, recommend books to kids)
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
My first three capture every bit of identity, self-concept, courage, communication, archetypes, hero's journey, rites of passage and the search for wisdom. They are all incredible stories of adventure and completely captivating true-life stories that leave fiction in the dust.

Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod - Gary Paulsen
Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage - Alfred Lansing
The Darkest Jungle: The True Story of the Darien Expedition and America's Ill-Fated Race to Connect the Seas - Todd Balf

[/ QUOTE ]



Yess, that's what I'm talking about - great post. Love the 3 adventure, non-fiction suggestions particularly.

[/ QUOTE ]

I think both Five Rings and Hagakure will appeal to a subset of boys as well. Others, in the non-fiction adventure category:

*****Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man's Miraculous Survival - Joe Simpson
Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival - Dean King
Alive - Piers Paul Read

Re: Touch Children (or, recommend books to kids)
 

is no one even going to make a joke about the title of the thread? i feel like i've been meta levelled.

Re: Touch Children (or, recommend books to kids)
 

[ QUOTE ]
i feel like i've been meta levelled.

[/ QUOTE ]
inconceivable, imo

OP,

I think the standout from that Lounge thread I linked is The Things They Carried. Everyone likes it, especially the kind of boys who might otherwise have a distaste for literature, and it's got a ton of easy-to-spot writing techniques that you can mention and teach and discuss.

Re: Touch Children (or, recommend books to kids)
 

i'll try to stick to ones that haven't been mentioned yet ...

the baron in the trees (for non-readers); if on a winter's night a traveler (for readers) - calvino
the crying of lot 49 - pynchon
the people of paper - salvador plascencia
jitterbug perfume - tom robbins
ishmael - daniel quinn
the giver - lowry (?)

Re: Touch Children (or, recommend books to kids)
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Great Gatsby
Separate Peace
1984
Brave New World
Lord of the Flies
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Farenheit 451
Of Mice and Men
The Scarlet Letter


[/ QUOTE ]

It's good to know that you enjoyed these selections, but what I'm looking for is outside the canon - supplementary reading materials that enlightened or inspired you.

In other words, what would be your recommendation for the kid who doesn't yet enjoy reading, who says that all the books in the library suck?

[/ QUOTE ]

Honestly, I'm not sure. All I've really read outside of this is Harry Potter, Bringing Down the House, Busting Vegas, and some nonfiction stuff. I'd say Harry Potter in all honesty, but there have been all kinds of problems with that in the school systems and I think you'd have a hard time getting by with telling the kids to read Busting Vegas or One of a Kind.

Re: Touch Children (or, recommend books to kids)
 

[ QUOTE ]
is no one even going to make a joke about the title of the thread? i feel like i've been meta levelled.

[/ QUOTE ]

My thoughts exactly.