

School Books That Set Us Up For A Lifetime Of Depression - AlleyRow
http://www.manolith.com/2009/05/05/top-5-grade-school-reads-that-set-us-up-for-a-lifetime-of-depression/

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zimbabwe
_It’s one thing when you read these books on your own but the thing is - being
GRADED on books that scar you for life - at that age - is a lot like a
Rorschach test being conducted using human blood to a classroom of fresh faced
12 year olds who so far have cakewalked through life and don’t have a care in
the world._

The problem with English classes in a nutshell. You ruin a beautiful thing
when you assign it a grade, no (or exceedingly few) exceptions.

That one comment aside: This is not only listspam, it is not at all Hacker
News, it doesn't stimulate me in any way, and it's _wrong_. Bridge to
Terabitha is about enjoying life in the face of that threat of its cessation;
The Giver says that we should not accept our assigned place in society and
that it's possible to be different; The Diary of Anne Frank illustrates the
beauty in a single human life and reminds us that everybody is amazing (a
lesson that many of us online tend to forget); and I wrote about Catcher in
the Rye a few days ago, but it's not a bad thing to address alienation at a
young age, because it's certainly there before most of us turn ten.

~~~
tptacek
I think I agree with you about English class?, but I'm sure I disagree with
you about whether this is fit for HN. Geeking out about books from grade
school is absolutely stimulating: it made you talk about the meaning of The
Giver, Ann Frank, and Catcher In The Rye.

~~~
chris11
I agree with the original comment. I don't have any problem with talking about
books from grade school, and I do agree with you in that this has started an
interesting discussion.

But I'm pretty much only finding the discussion interesting. While there is
nothing wrong with the list of books, the article seems to be mostly listspam.
It seems like he just gives a brief overview overview of the book and then
complains about how inappropriate it is for grade school.

For example, I haven't read The Giver, and this article doesn't really give me
any reason to do so. There are no themes discussed, well except that it sounds
like the book might involve free will and predestination. All I really get
from the description is that the book paints a really depressing picture of
the future. I am more inclined to read the book from its description on
Wikipedia.

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dmlorenzetti
For terribly depressing books aimed at kids even younger than grade school,
check out the Thomas the Tank Engine series.

The basic lesson is that any deviation from the rules will be punished
severely. One of the trains likes flowers so he leaves the tracks to smell
them. Punishment: the entire village jumps out of the field to scare him.
Another train gets vain about his new paint job. Punishment: he is bricked
into a tunnel for a year, until he rusts. Oddly, little kids eat this stuff
up.

I don't know if it's blind allegiance to trains, or if they really like the
moral world portrayed.

~~~
ars
I have a book called "The Rainbow Fish", which I refuse to let my kids read.

I think it has a horrible message, that individuality is bad, and you must
give away all that is special about you in order to conform.

I never bothered to look it up till today, and I see that wikipedia has an
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Fish> about it, with almost exactly the
same criticism I made.

Why do adults write such books (including the ones you mentioned) for kids?
And why do other adults allow them to become popular (AKA buy them)?

~~~
tptacek
Dude, The Rainbow Fish is just a book about sharing. You know, like stickers
and crayons and stuff.

I'm pretty sure we can take _any_ children's book and, with some rhetorical
gymnastics, reconstruct Harrison Bergeron from them.

~~~
ars
I can see how you can read it that way. But the fish has to give away parts of
it's own body! And not just that, but give away the very thing that makes it
special.

And it's not like sharing one crayon when you have a box of them, no, here it
has to give away every single one of it's scales until every fish has exactly
the same amount.

To put it in human terms, it's like if a girl in class has long pretty hair,
and all the other girls are jealous, so they make her cut off pieces of it to
give to all the other girls.

Or in less dramatic terms, if I have a box of crayons, I don't just share one
with the kid next to me, I go around the class and hand one out to each and
every kid, until every kid has exactly the same number of crayons.

I also don't like the message from the friends, who _insist_ on receiving the
item. Sharing is about giving, it is NOT about demanding that the other person
share with you. (Or snubbing them until they give you want you want.)

~~~
tptacek
The friends don't insist on receiving the scales. The friends are annoyed when
the Rainbow Fish uses them as a reason he's better than they are. Which is
exactly what little kids do when they get some awesome toy or a neat set of
markers: show them off, and refuse to share.

~~~
ars
Then the message should be about not showing off, rather than give it all
away.

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tptacek
There was that book about the two friends, where the one friend pokes a
beehive with a stick and the bees swarm him and it turns out he was allergic
to bees and then he dies and I think his mom brings the other kid a pie or
maybe it's the other way around.

Either way, we read that in 4th grade. We never had to read Terebithia,
although my son likes that story. I won't let him read the bee book.

~~~
tlrobinson
Sounds kind of like _My Girl_ , one of the few films that can make me cry.

~~~
tptacek
I think it might have been "In Watermelon Sugar". Yeah, that's the one.

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buugs
The only problem I found was Lord of The Flies and To Kill a Mockingbird in
6th grade because we were in an advanced english class, not really the best
books for a younger audience.

On the other hand I read the Rye in 9th grade and found it to be a very
interesting and relatable book and even though it is not the best book for a
young audience there is not much of a difference when you have reached high
school.

~~~
ubernostrum
I read "To Kill a Mockingbird" in fourth grade. I liked it. I still like it.

Personally I think it's a book that grows with you.

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Raphael
"The Giver" was pretty cool. It had a thought provoking premise and a good
buildup, despite the homoerotic undertone.

I must admit that I didn't get "The Catcher in the Rye". Sure, I get that he's
frustrated with everyone, but it annoyed me that there were only about three
scenes playing on repeat.

