I'll skip the details of the story and its writing, as other reviewers can attest to the quality of the book. Instead, I want to comment on how this book has the power to change a child's behavior and make him love books.
I was first introduced to this book almost 35 years ago. As a recently immigrated child having difficulties adjusting to the school, I got into a great deal of trouble for acting out in the classroom.
A kind teacher who saw my potential assigned the book to me during a parent-teacher conference. It made a huge impact on me -- it might seem like hyperbole, but this book may well have shaped my life. It instilled a great hunger for reading, and a love of learning.
Over the years, I had forgotten the details of the story, but not its broad outlines. Two of the (to me) central themes: engineering and self-sufficiency, sticks with me to this day.
I now have my own kids. I have been increasingly concerned that the older one had not yet developed a sufficient interest in reading. I tried to get them started on this book, but was initially met with indifference when I tried to read the opening chapter to them. My wife did not back me up on this at first, either.
But I persisted, and after a couple more tries, reading little by little at first before bedtime, I got the boys interested in the story. The real breakthrough came a few chapters in, when the boys begged to keep going. By the time we finished the book, they were fully absorbed into the book - there were nights when I (or my wife, who had also gotten into the book) were reading for nearly an hour! Some nights, we simply read it out to them. Other nights, the boys stayed up to read the words along with us.
They have now asked to have other long-form stories. I think the boys have now graduated from short 10-page picture books.
One of the best part of all this came this morning, about two weeks after we had finished the book. The boys aunt and cousins came over to visit, and the older one excitedly shared this book, reading it out to his aunt!
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