/lit/ children's books

>>9813427
Not pic related that's for sure. It's message is horrible.

>>9813444
sorry, forgot to mention
pic is the only book i fully read before i was 15

>>9813444
What was the message?

>>9813427
Rainbow Fish is communist vomit.
I'm not even anti-communist. The entire thing- there's this fish- he's got no friends, because he's got shit nobody else's got. So then, he starts giving his shit away and suddenly they want to be friends with him? That's fucking bullshit! I HATE IT. You're teaching kids that they can buy friendships and being exploited is a good thing. Fuck that!

If you want good children's books, here's what I read as a kid

Tortall Series
Dinotopia
RL Stein
Animorphs
Pern Series
Xanth Series
Swiss Family Robinson
Deltora Quest
American Diaries
Enchanted Forest Series
Narnia Series
Roald Dahl books (any of them/all of them)
The Phantom Tollbooth
Holes
The Secret Garden
Squire's Tale series

>>9813472
communism

How does he feel about graphic novels? Lately there's been a booming market for graphic novels targeted toward younger age groups (elementary/middle): Bone and Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales are both good. Bone is more of a fantasy/adventure setting and Nathan Hale's books cover historical topics in a graphic novel format such as the Underground Railroad and WWI.

I read Holes to my 3rd graders every year. It's a solid novel that would be an easy read for middle school. I know there's a companion book called Small Steps that follows the lives of a few of the characters post-Camp Green Lake, but it seemed a bit too mature for my class. I can't speak for its quality though because I've yet to read it.

>>9813474
Are all these suggestions for a 13 yo boy that only plays 18+ vidya?

I do remember he read holes for English class and thought it was oaky

>>9813489
i think graphic novels would be good too. he has a short attention span. he wants quick action and no real story building

>>9813496
I read Holes around 8th or 9th grade personally.
He might like the Watchmen, it's kind of edgy.

>>9813496
>Are all these suggestions for a 13 yo boy that only plays 18+ vidya?
No, but they're all good and comfy. If he want's something exciting, I suggest Pern, Dinotopia and Roald Dahl.
Pern is borderline adult, Dinotopia has dinosaurs and shit and Roald Dahl has gratuitous murder. The Witches, would be a good place to start.

Swiss Family Robinson IS an adult book- but it's the first book I ever read and it changed my goddamn life. Everything I like is because I liked that book. I mean, I read the children's adaptation way back then, but the adult one is just as great. It's about a family that gets shipwrecked on an island and they build a treehouse and fight tigers and pirates and shit.

American Diaries is - well, it's what it sounds like. It's fictional diaries of girls in america- but I remember them being pretty great, actually, and really brought the past to life. There was this one about a girl that gets kidnapped by indians and one about a girl who was with the donner party.

>>9813472
A fish has pretty scales and no one likes him. An octopus tells him to give everyone else his scales and suddenly he's popular.

Messages
>change so others will like you.
>your gifts are mean less without friends
>to have friends you must pay others
>being better if than others is wrong and should be avoided.

>>9813427
Same. I never got much into reading until I was 15. However, there are a few books that really interested me. I don't know your brother, so take my list with a grain of salt.

Animorphs
Dune (That might be too long, though)
Bionicle (Chronicles, Adventures, Legends)

There are some graphic novels that are worth a shot
DBZ
Bone
Astro Boy
Watchmen (Pretty much, baby's first Makes-you-think comic. He might like the gritty violence, given that he plays M-rated Vidya)

>>9813520
>>9813526
thank you
I'll pick up some Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales, Watchmen, The Witches, Swiss Family Rombinson and a few Roald Dahl books.

>>9813496

A few others I can recommend are Sidekicked and its companion Minion as well as novels by Stuart Gibbs. Gibbs does mystery novels for the middle school audience. He has three series: Spy School, which follows a middle schooler at a covert school for the CIA, Space Case, which involves a group of teens trying to solve a murder on their moon base, and Belly Up, which is a similar premise but with the murder of a hippo at a zoo.

He might enjoy Scott Pilgrim with all the references to gaming. There's sex in it but it's pretty mild.

>>9813547
good choices

Surrender by Sonya Hartnett

This might seem kind of out of left field, but Kokoro by Natsume Soseki. I feel the terseness of the chapters would suit someone with ADD.

>give 13yo kid speed
>be surprised he plays vidya till early morning

>>9813768
Exactly this. Reading probably won't be stimulating enough for him. Maybe get him to play some chess? Not that that's inherently better than video games.

>>9813760
>>9813768
>>9813781
You're misunderstanding ADD.
First of all, Ritalin has a different effect on people with ADD/ADHD. It doesn't have a speed effect, it has a calming effect. Same with caffeine.
Secondly, we hyperfocus on things that a) are inherently engaging -like vidya- always new music, new things to see, new puzzles to solve etc and b) are interesting to us. We can spend just as much time reading as playing vidya, but it has to be interesting.

The ADHD will make reading for long periods difficult. Start him on graphic novels, as teenage boys are often more open to reading comics. If he does fine with them, move him on to proper books.

>>9813781
What are you talking about? Chess sharpens the brain. Vidya dampens it. Chess is much better - plus, for someone with ADD, a very good thing to help with his concentration and patience.

OP, unless you are a strong influence on your brother, he will not listen. It's very good you are trying, but very unlikely you can do anything about it. Teenagers simply will not listen.

>>9813427
>he's 13

give him something that will thrill him. ham on rye by bukowski for example....or something with sex and violence.

its the only way you will compete with adhd fuelled gaming

>>9813427
Mein kampf

>>9813478
>>9813544
And I always thought it was about sharing. So this is the power of thr red pill...

>>9813768
>>9813781
never said i was surprised of him playing till early morning. I mostly blame my parents for not checking on his medicine intake times and implementing a stricter bedtime regime. I'm his brother, not his father.

>>9813830
I'll do this. He read all tintins and quite a few donald ducks in the past.

>>9813838
we barely speak, but he copies a lot of my behavior. I also heard him brag about me to his classmates a few times.

>>9814046
Are you saying you're not your brother's keeper?

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>>9813427

I read Cat's Cradle when I was 14, and I quite liked it. Got me reading for good. Force him to read the first few pages just to see if he likes it. And then BAM. He will finish the book, and read anything you throw at him.

>>9813427
I have ADHD too, and I have to say that reading isn't easy when you have this disease. It made me quit reading for several years because I couldn't stay focused, I couldn't even finish a sentence without forgetting the beginning of it, and had to read it 3-4 times to understand it completly.

It took years of meds, therapy and training before I could read normally again.

So maybe reading isn't the best for him. Of course you should try to motivate him, but if it's difficult for him he definitely won't stick to it.

Maybe try educational videos on YouTube, comics or graphic novels. Audiobooks may be easier too.

>>9813427
The Gigantic Book of Pirate Stories sounds like the perfect book for a kid like him.

Its a massive compilation from many great writers, containing practically every noteworthy pirate story in existence.

Also since its a collection of mostly short stories, its not a chore to read nor does it have to be read cover to cover.

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>>9813427
I think you are me, except my brother is 11. He's on summer break so he stays up all night watching vain 'Youtubers' or playing video games. I guess I did the same thing at his age and that would be just fine if not for the fact that he is barely literate. I tried to get him started on Hatchet and the Hobbit but both were too difficult for him (although he did show interest and made a good effort). Unfortunately I feel like he is at a point where he is only interested in mature subject matter due to consumption of video games and other media and will no longer be interested in the childish themes that books on his 'reading level' tend to have.

I don't mean to hijack your thread, but does anybody know of any works that even a monkey could read but also have somewhat mature and interesting subject matter? I'm talking something easier than even Paulsen but with adventure, danger, etc.

On the thread topic, has your brother read Catcher in the Rye? Pretty much what you described with a relatable character, mild profanity and sexuality.

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>>9813427
I don't know. Pretty cool story about a housecat struggling to prove himself to wild cats.
>action
>betrayal
>cats
Why not?

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>>9814531
>I tried to get him started on Hatchet and the Hobbit but both were too difficult for him
>does anybody know of any works that even a monkey could read but also have somewhat mature and interesting subject matter? I'm talking something easier than even Paulsen but with adventure, danger, etc.

got you covered bro

seriously, this and icewind dale trilogy are great for kids too old for harry potter and shit. easy to read and entertaining af. plus both trilogy books combine to make one continuous story. they're perfect books for kids who really don't want to read but like adventurous stories, imo.

after that, its a lot easier to move onto tolkien, dune, once and future king, etc.

>>9814531
Shit, I can't remember what they're called but I work in a school and we have books in some of the catch up reading classes that were made for just that reason. Gory horror and crime stories that are less than 20 pages long and about as easy to read as OP's picture.

>>9813427
SCHOPENHAUER'S ON WOMEN

>>9813427
I'd reccomend The Recruit, the first installment in the Cherub series. IIRC It's a book about a 13 year old with about the same attitude as the typical 13 year old(relatable main character) that becomes orphaned and joins a secret crime-fighting organization for teenagers(enjoyable power fantasy). Pretty competent writing as well, and has themes a 13-year old would find relatable, such as personal responsibility, the individual vs authority among others.

It's the perfect book, TRUST ME.

>>9813427
Goosebumps. Not even memeing.

>CAPTCHA: 6 tries.

>>9813874
yeah this entire model of relationship that exists and functions across basically all social animals is actually a plot cooked up by karl marx and his acolytes to justify a bankrupt political ideology

>>9813427
>main character interesting to teenagers
>babby's first violence and sex themes
The Giver

why not just let him enjoy his vidya, sheesh

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>>9814531
>giving a 11 or 13 year old Catcher in the Rye
Wrong kind of mature, m8.

>>9813427

Hey man if you care about your brother you gotta tell him to stop staying up late playing video games and get some sleep instead.

If he doesn't have the self-control not to than ask your parents to take away his electronic devices at night.

Staying up late looking at screens completely fucks up your brain and of course the damage caused by this is exponentially worse if it occurs when major brain development is still going on. If your parents allows your younger brother to stay up late every night it will cause life-long cognitive impairment, or at least in the sense that he won't have the cognitive abilities that he might have had he not fucked up his brain development.

If you somehow were able to convince him of the importance of this and get him to stop staying up late every night it would be just as beneficial for him if not more than if he became a /lit/izen tomorrow and started with the Greeks.

https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/03/18/extended-sleeplessness-leads-to-irreversible-brain-damage

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3880190/

>>9813496
>Are all these suggestions for a 13 yo boy that only plays 18+ vidya?

Karl Edward Wagner. His short-stories are edgy, meme related stuff. If he likes fantasy then his Kane books are basically Conan with violence, sex, drugs, weirdness dialled to 11. His prose is simple, quick, and varied enough for kids to pick up a dictionary now-and-again.

>>9814579
this looks nice! OP look at this post

>>9815880
What's wrong with that? I read it around that age.

>>9814579
Thanks anon, this is exactly what I was looking for. I think I vaguely remember my friends reading this when I was a kid.

>>9815403
This.

>>9815428
Get out.

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>>9814531

> my brother is 11
> hobbit
> too difficult

why is everyone ignoring the elephant in the room? The Hobbit is written for literal children -- and I mean that in the sense that most 7-8 year olds can, and will, read it. It's a very simply written book. If your brother can't read it by age 11, I don't know how much you can really do. It seems that he's never read any books in his life, or he's just not very verbally intelligent.

>>9817874
Yeah I know that's why I said he's barely literate. He's not retarded or anything (he speaks normally and socializes well with other children) it just seems that he was never made to read. I think it's in part his worthless parents, the degradation of our public education, and the distractions of technology that plague children nowadays. He may very well be a lost cause but I gotta at least try to set him on a better course.

>>9813427
i forgot abt that book!
thanks, anon

>>9817894

You're a good older brother at least!

>>9815403

The Giver is more for middle-late elementary school... just because people read The Giver, Fahrenheit 451, etc. when they're 21 and then brag about how good they were on reddit, doesn't mean they are reading teenager/adult fiction. It's very much for children. It honestly should be inanely didactic for anyone teenager or older, but that's an idictment of reddit, not the books

>>9813544
Ok Ayn, we get it

>>9817864

Why do you believe it's appropriate to attempt to essentially force your hobbies on other people who have no interest in them?

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he could like this one

>>9818277
>lol don't make kids read lol just let them do whatever xD let them be themselves lol don't make them do math lol thats lame like lol just play video games xd

>>9818537

you didn't answer my question

>>9818537

>responding to a valid question with an ironic shitpost

very classy, true /lit/

>>9815139
>All social animals selflessly share their most valuable possessions with every species they can
Somebody who posted in this thread actually believes this shit.

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>>9818599
>>9818602
I was just busting your balls, but I'll be serious now. Not OP btw.

>Why do you believe it's appropriate to attempt to essentially force your hobbies on other people who have no interest in them?

There is a big difference between forcing your hobbies onto a child and educating a child. For some reason, parents these days don't like to play an active role in the education of their children. So many parents are entrusting the state to raise their children and I think we all know what has become of public education in America. The schools are ideologically biased and have rock-bottom standards due to 'No Child Left Behind' policies.

When I was a senior in high-school the majority of my English class was all but incapable of reading out loud. I distinctly remember a girl in my senior history class asking the teacher "Who won the civil war?". In senior English we spent nearly an entire class debating the existence of mermaids (I think it was because of a viral-video that claimed to capture a mermaid on film) and the vast majority of the class was in agreement that mermaids do, in fact, exist. And the most terrifying part: I went to school in a very wealthy New England community that is touted for having one of the best public school systems in the country.

I think it's clear that OP is trying to be a positive influence in the shaping of his brother, not trying to 'force his hobbies' on him.

>>9814826
Goosebumps will probably seem very tame and boring to a kid that's used to playing M rated games, as OP claims.

>>9813427
Any novel by Elmore Leonard.

>>9814588
That sounds perfect. I'll try to look into it, thanks Anon.